🌺Enchanting Gardens: In the present day We Go to @SelwaCalderbank (The Nostalgic Gardener) In Brussels #GardeningTwitter #LoveGardening

Welcome to my sequence about gardens and their gardeners.

Over the subsequent few months I shall be including to my common #SixOnSaturday posts with Sunday spots for fellow gardeners.

Meet up with earlier posts on this sequence under:

Fred and his backyard in Normandy, France right here.

Sarah and her Australian backyard right here.

Páraig and his Irish backyard right here.

Let’s discover out extra about Selwa and her backyard.

Please are you able to inform us the place on this planet you reside and the way lengthy you might have been together with your present backyard and allotment (in case you have one).

I’m a Brit residing in Brussels, Belgium. We’ve been right here nearly 15 years (Gulp! How did that occur?), having thought we’d simply come for a two or three 12 months journey overseas, however like many expats right here, ended up staying longer. We purchased our present home six years in the past, largely as a result of I used to be seduced by the potential of the backyard! I even have an allotment, which I acquired final 12 months. 

What’s the major soil kind? And what are the advantages or challenges of this soil?

We’re on clay right here. It’s splendidly fertile – roses develop like mad in it – however could be powerful to work and dries to a concrete-like consistency in sizzling summers. 

Have you ever made any main modifications to your backyard or have you ever any new plans for modifications?

Sure! It was just about a clean slate after we arrived – laid to garden, backed by a mature hedge and a few pretty previous brick partitions, and a few mature bushes that overhang the backyard from our neighbours’ facet. I used to be immediately reminded of my childhood residence within the Kentish countryside – and was clearly pushed by nostalgia. Dwelling overseas has made me much more nostalgic, that’s why I’m ‘The Nostalgic Gardener’!

We now have made large modifications – a decked terrace was put in, excellent for sunny lunches outdoor, I’ve created a tiny woodland glade, added a rooster coop for our Pekin bantams, a composting space, a raised veg mattress and borders full of vegetation. I additionally added a mini-wildlife pond and a log pile for the bugs (it’s at the moment being occupied by just a little mouse). The backyard shouldn’t be giant – readers of my weblog have remarked that I make it sound like I’ve a small property after I write about it – however I’ve learnt you can create separate areas with their very own particular environment, nevertheless small. 

Do you might have a specific backyard type that you simply attempt to maintain to? ie natural, cottage backyard, rose backyard and so on

I’d describe my type as romantic cottage backyard – nostalgia once more! – coupled with a powerful dedication to backyard in a sustainable and eco-friendly method. I imagine that our gardens could be a lot greater than aesthetically-pleasing locations for human occupants; they’ll and must be residing habitats and biodiverse ecosystems. I feel typically we overlook that this earth isn’t right here only for our personal gratification, and the identical precept could be utilized to our gardens. Gardening on this method offers me immense pleasure, and I can guarantee you that if you happen to create welcoming and diverse habitats and lay off the pesticides, then the wildlife shortly makes itself at residence.

Inform us about a few of your favorite vegetation and why you want them.

Oh goodness, this can be a powerful query! I might write pages about this. I do love my roses as they achieve this effectively right here, and I embrace a few of the less complicated, single-flowered ones that bugs take pleasure in, together with the hybrid musk rose ‘Ballerina’, which welcomes you on the entrance gate. I additionally adore the traditional cottage backyard vegetation like geraniums, nepeta, campanula, alliums…and plenty of herbs, that are so useful for his or her fragrant leaves, their flowers and their makes use of within the kitchen. I’m at all times working out into the backyard to choose some chives, origano, rosemary, sage or winter savoury to enliven a sandwich, an omelette, a salad…there’s nearly no dish that may’t be improved with a herb grown within the backyard! I additionally recognize simplicity in vegetation – as I reply this I’m sitting on the terrace watching the grasses and their pretty seedheads sway within the breeze in our mini-meadow (mainly an overgrown garden!). 

I do know that you’ve simply began a gardening publication, inform us extra about this mission.

I began The Inexperienced Gardening Publication this spring. The thought is to supply sustainable gardening recommendation and inspiration, in addition to share environmental information linked to vegetation and gardening, and guide and podcast suggestions. I’ve a background in journalism – I used to be an power journalist for a few years – and I nonetheless write articles about gardening and the atmosphere, so I additionally share these within the publication. If this speaks to you, then you may enroll on my weblog, the publication is free: The Inexperienced Gardening Publication – The Nostalgic Gardener

I’d wish to thanks Rosie for this chance to inform your readers about my backyard!

It was a pleasure to seek out out extra about your backyard, Selwa.

For extra weblog posts and updates from Selwa comply with her weblog The Nostalgic Gardener.

Instagram: @the_nostalgic_gardener

Twitter: @SelwaCalderbank