My Cottage Garden: The Plan vs The Reality

Many of you have spotted my cottage garden border this year, usually in the background of a ‘negroni in a hammock’ shot whilst I’m recovering from a week of intense shopkeeping. And a few of you have asked what’s growing in there, so here’s

what I planned, and what actually happened!

Negroni with a backdrop

The foundations

I built (strong word for lining up some bricks) a border in lockdown as a temporary vegetable patch before we got the allotment. We had some leftover bricks from a log burner installation the year before, so I made an edge with those and lay some cardboard over the grass, followed by a load of homemade compost. It’s about 2 metres wide by 1 metre deep.

Brick lined border on the right (Arthur for scale!)

Perennial-wise, it has a sage plant, which is prolific and bushy, a fragrant jasmine, a peony, a dahlia and a sedum - so a good basis of foliage, as well as guaranteed pops of colour in Spring, Summer and Autumn respectively.

Perennials for year round foliage

The plan

This year, I attempted to grow a range of classic cottage garden annuals in staggered sizes, from geraniums at the front of the border to Sunflowers at the back. In between, there are Snapdragons, Statice, Honesty, Poppies and Cosmos. And wrapping around the trunk of the jasmine are some Sweet Peas. I grew everything from seed except the geraniums, which I got in the GreenHouse plant swap in April. Seeds were a combination of self-collected (sweet peas, poppies and honesty - you can read more about this here), pilfered from the Herboo range in the shop (cosmos and sunflowers) and new-to-me flower farm seeds from Winnow Farm (cosmos, snapdragons and statice).

The reality

Well, everything germinated! All except the poppies were started off in seed trays or small pots - I reuse waste coffee cups from the shop as plantable plant pots, as they compost over the summer into the soil. The poppies were direct sown near the front of the border and the geraniums were planted along the front edge. When planting out, I put the sunflowers in a row about 20cm apart along the back fence, then the cosmos, then a mix of snapdragons and statice and honesty, planted quite close together in the rest of the space .

The Cottage Garden border at its best

I think it looks fantastic and some of the colours are amazing. And it's brought me so much joy, watching the flowers bloom at different times and fill out the border beautifully. Plus all the bees and butterflies that have visited, bringing a gentle hum of movement too. I have cut a few flowers to put in vases indoors, especially the cosmos which have been flowering the longest, but mostly I'm taking cut flowers from the allotment. The statice and honesty will dry well too.

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However... everything seems to have grown to the same height! The cosmos are the tallest, but not by much, and the sunflowers behind them haven’t quite outgrown them (yet?). The poppies are very tall for the front, so with the statice, snapdragons, poppies, honesty and the dahlia in the middle, everything is about knee high.  And the sweet peas haven’t really done anything under the jasmine, possibly there isn’t enough sunlight for them there.

What will I do different next year?

First, I need to make a little path down the middle of the border so I can reach the flowers (& the weeds) at the back without stepping on the ones at the front.

I’d also like to add in Hollyhocks, probably along the back fence as they should grow very tall. I’ll keep a similar plan for the middle, with more short plants along the front edge, either geraniums or something else, in order to get the staggered look I was aiming for. Send me your ideas on the back of a postcard!

Bec's Recs for a Cottage Garden

After the success of this year's annuals, I strongly recommend Winnow Farm seeds (not an ad, we don't stock them at The GreenHouse so I paid for my seeds fair and square). I've also grown some veg from them, and all are doing great.

We do stock Herboo seeds in their funky card packets in the GreenHouse (so this is sort of an ad!). Their seeds are ideal for smaller spaces and are chosen for the UK climate so, as with Winnow Farm seeds, you can be confident they'll germinate and do well in your garden. Herboo seeds are all half price in the summer sale, and there are still a couple of packets of sunflower and cosmos seeds if you fancy having a go next year. Full selection available in our North Street store.

Herboo Flower seeds available in the sale