Tales from Area 52

Tales from Area 52 We are a leading supplier of hanging baskets to domestic and business customers in the Bradford area

Ey up everyone, this morning I cracked on with a job I’ve had planned for some time now, the clearance and re-planting o...
31/08/2026

Ey up everyone, this morning I cracked on with a job I’ve had planned for some time now, the clearance and re-planting of a border immediately behind the house that sits beside the path and above the rest of the garden.
Once I removed the majority of the perennials in the border I dug a trench that was over a spade depth deep and added plenty of well rotted manure as well as John Innes No3 to beef up the removed soil that then went back, repeating the process across the whole border. Most of the perennials were cut back and re-planted and I also added the Alstromeria and Helenium plants that I’d recently purchased. All the bulbs I dug out have gone back as well and there is still some scope to add to the border, but for now I’ll just let it get settled.
The small wall at the side of the border is going to have flags on top of it to give a cleaner finish once I’ve cut them and we can then reorganise the pots.

Ey up everyone, this morning after Park Run we headed across the border to visit RHS Bridgewater, the newest of the main...
29/08/2026

Ey up everyone, this morning after Park Run we headed across the border to visit RHS Bridgewater, the newest of the main RHS Gardens. It’s opening was delayed by covid but we’ve visited regularly in order to see the progress being made by the team there, and we also find it easier to get to Salford than Harrogate, which as we all know is just a town with a teashop.
At the moment a new addition, The Yangzhou Scholars Garden is being constructed in the Chinese Streamside Garden which on its own is absolutely stunning. The new buildings already look impressive and the whole thing should be open later this year.
A visit to the plant shop saw me purchase another Helenium to add to our collection, this one being Lemon Sundae.

Ey up everyone, in the greenhouse I’ve been busy pricking out seedlings, particularly the Spring Cabbage ‘April’ and Fox...
28/08/2026

Ey up everyone, in the greenhouse I’ve been busy pricking out seedlings, particularly the Spring Cabbage ‘April’ and Foxglove ‘Alba’ which were sown a few weeks ago.
Once large enough, all of these plants will go outside, the Spring Cabbage at Area 52 where they will get some protection if the weather is too severe. The Foxglove will cope with whatever the winter throws at them before flowering next year.

Ey up everyone, for some time I’ve been looking at changing a bed at the back of the house which is raised above the mai...
28/08/2026

Ey up everyone, for some time I’ve been looking at changing a bed at the back of the house which is raised above the main garden.
The plan is to fill it with rich colours that last throughout the summer, and the plant that fits the bill perfectly is Alstromeria. This hardy perennial flowers from very early summer until the first frosts, regular dead heading promoting fresh flowers for several months.
The varieties chosen are Summer Paradise River Valley, Inticancha Moon, Inticancha Mirabel, Inticancha Hula and Inticancha Bryce.
These particular variations are compact, reaching a maximum of 35-40cms tall so windy conditions shouldn’t bother them and the flowers will provide not only plenty of colour, but a rich source of food for our bees.
The plants like plenty of nutrition as well as free draining soil, so lots of manure will be added to this bed during preparation.
On top of that I will give them a protective mulch once they are in the ground.
It’s all part of a wider reorganisation of the area immediately behind the house that will also see a reassessment of the pots.

Ey up everyone, it’s such a relief to many that it’s finally started raining. We had a fair bit here in the West Riding ...
17/08/2026

Ey up everyone, it’s such a relief to many that it’s finally started raining. We had a fair bit here in the West Riding and it’s rained on and off during today with more forecast tonight as well. It’s going to take an awful lot of water to get down in the soil, but at least the rain that has fallen, along with the lower temperatures will slowly help the lawns to recover. I can’t recall ours looking as bad as they do at the moment, but I’ve never been worried because grass is remarkably adapted to recovering from drought conditions.
Another great plus with the wet ground is that it might tempt any slugs & snails to venture out once darkness falls. This will of course provide the natural food for our resident hedgehogs. We’ve been feeding ours for some time now as they are struggling to find their natural diet. As a result, the rescue centres have been overwhelmed with hedgehogs that are starving and it’s likely that hundreds of them have died from lack of food.
Needless to say we’ll continue to feed ours up to the point where they start to hibernate.

Ey up everyone, when I began to craft the garden when we moved here in 2011 I double dug the borders, adding lots of man...
16/08/2026

Ey up everyone, when I began to craft the garden when we moved here in 2011 I double dug the borders, adding lots of manure and other organic matter which acts as a slow release fertiliser as well as a sponge, holding plenty of water. The drought of last summer had little effect on the herbaceous borders, largely as a result of the earlier work.
We never water the borders, only to get a new plant established. After that it has to look after itself and they generally respond by putting down deeper roots that search for nutrients and water. This summer the plants have not coped well at all and at the moment the main border doesn’t look well at all.
It’s purely down to the lack of rain, but also the realisation that the subsoil needs replenishing with organic matter.
During the autumn the plan is to divide the border into sections, temporarily remove all plants and then double dig once again to add the muck. It’s basically going down at least two spade depths, removing all the soil before putting in a spade depth of manure and covering back over with half the soil I removed in the first place. It’s back breaking work, but it will have to be done and I’m very fortunate to have a very good friends with a lady who stables her horses very close to where we live. They’ll provide the necessary materials that I require, bless ‘em,

Ey up everyone, it’s hardly surprising that the weather over the last couple of months has caused no end of problems in ...
16/08/2026

Ey up everyone, it’s hardly surprising that the weather over the last couple of months has caused no end of problems in the gardens.
It’s been particularly cruel to some of the raised beds at Area 52, which by their very nature dry out quicker than soil at ground level. Where we’ve had successes, we’ve also had failures, but this is the nature of growing vegetables and you have to take the rough with the smooth.
Now that some cooler, and hopefully wetter conditions have arrived there’s time to salvage the situation, so today I’ve sown two lots of Lettuce, Salad Bowl and Salad Bowl Red. Once large enough to plant out in a few weeks they can be grown individually in beds or grown in groups in large pots where the leaves can be harvested over a period of time as ‘cut & come’ crops.
A mix of these two varieties in pots actually looks quite nice and make for a more colourful salad.

Ey up everyone, there was a point earlier today when it wasn’t life threatening to go in the greenhouse, but just to be ...
13/08/2026

Ey up everyone, there was a point earlier today when it wasn’t life threatening to go in the greenhouse, but just to be on the safe side I watered the floor to bring the temperature down for half an hour.
I then got on with growing some Herbs from seed such as Oregano, Rosemary and Coriander. It’s a bit late in the year for doing this but the plants should still be large enough to survive the winter if they are protected with fleece once they are pricked out.
I grow a number of things for a local Cafe and we have had discussions regarding future additions to the menu. However, David (Owner and Chef) doesn’t believe Bailiff Bridge has the necessary sophistication just now for Micro Greens, but I live in hope.
With the weather expected to cool down somewhat over the weekend I plan to sow some tubs of salad leaves to keep us supplied for the next few months.

Ey up everyone, in the early spring I planted two Figs in large terracotta pots before placing them at the back of the h...
11/08/2026

Ey up everyone, in the early spring I planted two Figs in large terracotta pots before placing them at the back of the house which is south facing.
One of them is growing like mad but has no fruit yet, but the smaller one developed a sizeable Fig much to my surprise. This is now ripening, but it has since developed lots of smaller fruits. These tiny pea shaped fruits are the embryonic beginning of next year’s crop and should be kept.

Ey up everyone, today I decided to replenish some of the pots at the back of the house with plants that are both highly ...
11/08/2026

Ey up everyone, today I decided to replenish some of the pots at the back of the house with plants that are both highly beneficial to bees and also carry a scent from their foliage.
Salvia’s are perfect for this and I picked up Salvia ‘Cerro Potosi’ ‘Royal Bumble’ and ‘Animo’, this one being a close relative of ‘Amistad’. I already had this in the greenhouse having grown it from a cutting last year.
Agastache is another plant that has highly scented foliage and is much loved by bees. Again, I already had this plant kicking around so it will look good in a pot.
All of these plants require excessive drainage as they hate to get their feet wet, so they are in John Innes no2, a soil based medium and I’ve added 30% horticultural grit to the mix.
All are reasonably hardy, but with them being in pots I shall take them in the greenhouse in October and wrap them in fleece.

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