Ask the Gardener: Caroline
February 2022
Every month we will ask one of our wonderful community gardeners some questions about their own gardens and gardening habits. Hopefully you’ll find some inspiration in their answers. If you’d like to share some thoughts about your own garden, please get in touch.
This month we heard from Caroline.
Tell us about yourself:
My name is Caroline. I am the Chair of the Wymondley Community Garden and I live in Great Wymondley. I am a finance analyst, currently working full time at home. I am married to Stuart who is a mechanical engineer.
Favourite plant or flower?
My favourite flower, and scent, is rose.
Favourite season?
My favourite season is summer, I just love all the colour in the flower beds.
How often do you get out to the garden?
In the summer I like to get into the garden every day. Some days it’s only for a very short time, and all I get to do is water the vegetables. On the weekends I like to spend as much time as possible outside.
What do you enjoy most about gardening?
I love the connection to the earth and growing flowers and vegetables from seed. This year I grew pumpkins for the first time and they were my biggest joy!
What’s your favourite and least favourite job in the garden?
My favourite job is planning vegetable bed layouts and planting out seedlings.
I love to draw little sketches of the beds to plot out what to plant where. I change my mind often but I like to have a vague idea.
My least favourite job is weeding! Urgh, they’re relentless and a boring job
If you could have any type of garden, what style would you have?
I would love a country cottage style garden with lots of different heights of I love cottage gardens. Full beds, exploding with colour, with a good variety of plants and different heights.
Where do you get inspiration for your gardening from?
I have a very haphazard gardening style. I don’t read plant labels so end up planting small, short plants too far back in the beds and then needing to move stuff around! I say next year will be better but it never really is!
What is the biggest challenge when you garden?
Time (and knowledge).
What is your favourite gardening tool and why?
My brother in law bought me a very cool garden trolley for my last birthday. I load it up with all my tools and a bottle of water and I can move from our garden, to our garden plot, to the community garden pretty easily. I love it!
As winter continues we lose the vibrant colours in the gardens. What sorts of winter plants, trees or flowers do you like to see in the garden that stand out and keep giving colour?
I love holly. We have one in the front garden and use it for decorating.
If you could rid the world of one plant or weed, what would it be?
Bind weed! It’s a complete menace and takes over if you don’t tackle it often.
What wildlife do you most look forward to seeing in the garden?
Butterflies are my favourite thing to see. We have a large buddleia in our back garden that teams with them and brings me so much joy
Our gardening club sessions are held from 9am-12pm on the third Saturday of every month. Free to attend and all ages and abilities welcome.
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