The Gardener's Arms

With great ideas on how to get started and things to do and make, you'll soon be able to impress your friends and parents with how much you know. If you have a suggestion on what you would like to see here, why not drop us an email? Also, be sure to check out the 'I want to help' and 'Events and socials' pages and see what is going on at an allotment near you!

See: In January, the witch hazel is one of the first plants to flower. Look out for the delicate yellow petals hanging like frayed ribbons.

Bulbs will also be started to come back to life, in particular snowdrops and crocuses. It's not too late to plant bulbs outside for a bit of early colour.

Do: Harvest any remaining parsnips this month, before the weather warms up otherwise they will start their second year's growth which will make the roots woody to eat. Your leeks should be doing fine, and can stay in the ground for another month or two.

Winter cabbage, kale and sprouts can all be harvested this month.

Make: an allotment time capsule.

A lot can happen on an allotment in a year, and no two years will ever be the same. Making an allotment time capsule is a wonderful way to capture a year in the life of your allotment.

Collect together photographs taken over the last year, draw pictures of what you grew, write about what has happened over the year. Draw or write about how you think the allotment will look in ten years' time, or fifty years' time, or a hundred years' time. On a sheet of paper write the year you are capturing in your time capsure.

Take a clean glass jar with a plastic lid - a large coffee jar is ideal. Place your piece of paper with the year on it face down, and pile on top of it everything you want to put in your time capsule. Roll it up together and put it in the jar. Screw the lid on tightly and check that the date is showing.

Choose a place to bury your allotment time capsule. Pick somewhere that is not likely to be dug over on a regular basis, such as by a shed or a big tree. Dig a hole and bury the time capsule. You may dig it up yourself in a few years' time, or it may be a complete stranger many years from now.

See: More and more bulbs will start to show colour. Look out for crocuses, snowdrops, miniature daffodils and narcissus, and grape hyacinth. Pershore often gets some snow around February, and the allotments are particularly pretty - well worth wrapping up for and taking a trip down.

Do: Apply blood, fish and bone fertiliser to gooseberries and raspberries. Leeks, winter cabbage and kale can still be harvested. Celery seeds can be planted indoors this month.

Go through your old seed stock, deciding what to keep and what to replace. February is a good month to plan the year's work.

Make: a barometer, to help you work out what the weather is about to do.

 You will need: a clean, empty glass jar; a balloon; a strong rubber band; a small piece of card; a drinking straw; sticky tape; scissors

Cut the neck off the balloon. Remove the jar lid and stretch the balloon across the opening of the jar to make a flat surface. Keep the balloon in place with the elastic band. Cut a triangle out of the card or paper to make a head for your arrow. Make slits in one end of the drinking straw with the scissors and push the card arrow head into them. With a small piece of sticky tape, attach the other end of the straw to the middle of the stretched balloon. Your barometer is now complete!

Put your barometer outside, in a sheltered place. When the air pressure is high, it will push in on the balloon, making a saucer shape. This will make the arrow point upwards slightly. When this happens, the weather will be fine and dry. Beware though, because up until May, this could also mean it will be frosty. When the air pressure is low, the centre of the balloon will rise up, making the arrow point down slightly. This will mean there is a good chance of rain.

See: Big swathes of daffodils can be seen this month, all along the hedgerows and verges around Pershore. Grape hyacinths and blue bells provide a lovely bit of blue to contrast with the yellow.

Gooseberries should show signs of bursting into leaf this month - but be quick, once it starts it can happen in days!

Do: Feed blackcurrants with two handfuls of bonemeal per plant.

Broad beans can be planted to provide a follow-on crop from any you planted in early December. Lettuces can be planted under cover or in greenhouses or polytunnels for an early crop.

Rake over the area where the brassicas (sprouts, cabbages, calabrese, broccoli, cauliflowers) are going to grow this year. Do not dig, because they like to go into firm soil. If they go into loose soil, the cabbages do not heart up properly and the sprouts will be loose and leafy, not tight.

When the weather starts to warm up, plant the parsnip seeds in rows. If the weather is very wet, cover the seeds with sand rather than soil as this will help the seeds to not get too wet. Parsnips are very slow to germinate and it is easy to forget exactly where you planted them, so plant a radish seed between each parsnip. This will mark the rows, and help you to weed between them.

Sow spring onion seed now. If you are growing leeks from seed, sow these now in a seed bed. In about four months, they will be ready to transplant into their final growing positions.

Look out for seed potatoes and buy them now to give them time to 'chit'. Take them out of their mesh bag and lay them with their 'eyes' pointing upwards in an egg carton in a cool, dark place. The 'eyes' will develop into knobbly bulbs within four to six weeks, ready for going in the ground.

Plant tomato and pepper seeds in your newspaper flower pots (see below on how to make these).

Make:  newspaper flower pots.

You will need: several sheets of newspaper; scissors; a jar or empty glass.

Cut the newspaper into long strips that are long enough to wrap around the jar or glass three or four times. Take a strip of paper and loosely wrap it around the glass, lining one edge up but letting the other edge overhang the glass. The bit that overhangs the base of the glass should be just long enough to fold over and reach the other side of the glass. Fold it over, forming the base of your flower pot. The folds should overlap.

Slide the paper of the glass a little bit, and pinch a good crease between the base and the sides of your flower pot. This will help hold it together and make sure it will stand up. You can now slide it all the way off the glass.

Fill the flower pot with soil or compost, and plant your seed in it. The flower pot will hold its shape, even when you water it, for about six weeks.Because it is only made of paper, you can plant the whole thing out when the plant is big enough, but be sure to cut a few slits in the paper sides so the roots can escape easily.

See: Keep checking your barometer (see February's 'what to make' section) to see whether you will need to water your seeds, and whether there may be a frost coming.

Red and white currants come into leaf towards the end of april, and start to produce clusters of flower buds that will become racemes of currants. Gooseberries should be well in flower by the end of April. Lily of the valley is also in bud.

Do: Feed red and white currants with chicken manure and mulch. If the weather is mild, plant out your first peas and uncovered lettuce.

Harvest some of your spring cabbage as 'Spring Greens' by cutting across the stem with a sharp knife. Make a cross in the top of the cut stem to encourage more spring greens growth. Plant summer/autumn cabbage, cauliflower, calabrese, turnip and swede seeds in a seed bed.

Start to sow beetroot, carrot, spinach and Swiss Chard seeds where you want them to grow. Keep sowing spring onions to get successional crops.

Once the worst of the frosts have passed, dig the potato trenches. If cold weather is still expected, line the bottom of each trench with straw as this will generate heat as it rots. Plant the potatoes when danger from frosts has passed.

Continue to sow tomato and pepper seeds indoors, so your plants will fruit at different times. If you have a greenhouse or polytunnel, the first seeds you planted can be grown on in there.

Make: coloured eggs for Easter.

With Easter coming (12th April 2009), why not decorate some eggs the natural way - not just pretty, but great to eat, too! You will need a pan, some water to boil, several eggs and some things to colour the water. A few drops of vinegar will help the egg shell to take on the colour. Remember - only use one dye at a time! If you want all your eggs to be different colours, you will need to boil each egg separately. The raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and tomato ketchup can be rubbed directly onto the egg shell after the egg has been boiled, rather than putting them in the water first.

When the eggs are hard boiled (about ten minutes), take them out and let them cool down. After they have finished cooling, rub a little vegetable oil into their shell with some kitchen towel. This will make them shiny and help to keep the colour.

See: Check onion and shallot sets in case any have been disturbed by root growth or birds. Gently replant any that have been moved. Look for blossom on strawberries, red and white currants, apple trees, gooseberries and last year's autumn-fruiting raspberry canes.

Keep checking your barometer (see February's 'what to make' section) to see whether you will need to water your seeds. Remember, frosts can happen even into the first week of May in Pershore.

Lily of the valley will start to flower this month. Let foliage from bulbs die back naturally, because this is nature's way of preparing the bulb for next year.

Do: Continue to sow radish seeds so you will have a continuous crop. Do the same with carrot seeds, every three or four weeks. Beetroot seeds can also be planted this month. As the weather warms up, so the weeds will start to grow. Give your plants a good start by gently pulling up any weeds growing near where you have planted your seeds.

It's a busy old month - your peas should be going in, as should your first planting of french and runner beans.

Sow sweetcorn seeds in the ground. Covering with half a plastic drink bottle will help their development. If it is the top half, leave the cap off. If it is the bottom half, make sure you cut some holes in the plastic to allow the plants to breathe.

Cucumber, courgette and pumpkin seeds can be sown outdoors this month, though they would benefit from being in a greenhouse or polytunnel for the first few weeks.

Make: a herb garden.

You will need: A garden fork; a trowel; some compost or an old grow bag; some large rocks, or wood that has been treated to preserve it in all weathers (garden stakes or 10mm x 25mm timber is ideal); string; watering can; herb plants - you can get these from garden centre, the local market, superstores or why not try growing some from cuttings? Why not grow some of the following:

• Thyme - there are lots of different varieties, so you could grow more than one.
• Rosemary
• Parsley
• Chives
• Garlic chives
• Bronze fennel
• Coriander
• Sage
• Basil
• Oregano
• Tarragon
• Marjoram
• Mint

Decide what shape you want your herb garden to be. It could be round, square, or even star-shaped! It should be about one metre wide in each direction. Dig the soil with a fork to loosen it up and remove any weeds and roots that have been growing there. Gather up any pebbles or stones that you come across and put them to one side - you will need these later. If you have some compost or an old grow bag from last year, spread this over your herb garden and mix it into the soil with a fork. 

Mark the edge of your herb garden with large rocks or treated wood. Within your herb garden, you will now need to mark out sections where the various herbs will go, using string to show the borders. These could be wedge-shaped, like wheel-spokes, or boxes, or any other shape you choose. You should be able to put between five and ten sections into your herb garden.

Some herbs like rich soil, and others prefer drier, poorer soil. Decide where you will put your thyme, as this likes soil with good drainage. take a couple of handfuls of the pebbles you have set aside, and pile these into the section where your thyme will go. Mix these into the top few centimetres of your soil.

Decide where your other herbs will go. The tallest herb is bronze fennel. Rosemary and sage will start off small, but over a couple of years will become quite large bushes. Put these at the back of your display - or if it is a circle, put these near the middle. Basil and coriander will die when the weather gets cold, and you will need to plant more next year so put these somewhere handy, near the front.

Use your trowel to scoop some earth from each section, and plant your herbs so the soil is at the same level as it was in the pot. When all your herbs have been planted, don't forget to give them a really good drink. Even the thyme will appreciate this.

When you've planted your herb garden, why not take a photo and send it in to us! You can email them to pershoreallotments@hotmail.co.uk or pop them into the post box on the wall of the Gardener's Arms. Don't forget to tell us which allotment you are on!

See: How many good guys can you find in your allotment? As the weather warms up you will find lots of insects, but not all of them are your enemies. Ladybirds are brilliant - not only do they gobble up aphids, the green insects that attack the tender tips of roses, cabbages, beans, peas and sunflowers, but they look for places where there are lots of aphids and lay their eggs there.

 These eggs hatch into larvae which can grow to be up to 1.5cm long. They are easy to recognise because they have black bodies with yellow blotches. These larvae are aphid-eating machines, and will help to keep your aphid numbers down. 

Also look out for lacewings. They have long, bright green bodies and transparent wings, though the veins make them look like they are made of lace, which is why they are called lacewings. These little beasties are also ferocious insect-eaters and help you out by eating up the bad bugs that would otherwise be snacking on your veggie plants. 

Do: Plant runner beans (see below for making a bean race). You should be able to pick your first peas and broad beans this month, together with rocket and other salad greens. If you planted turnips under cover this Spring, some of these will be ready for picking now.

Spinach and Swiss Chard should now be big enough for you to start taking the first few leaves.

If you grew your leeks from seed this year, early June is a good time to plant these out into their final growing position. Make a hole about 20cm deep and 3cm across by pushing a stake into the earth, then drop the your leek in and fill the hole with water. Make sure a few centimetres of leaves are showing above the hole. As the leek grows, the part that is underground will remain white.

Make: a bean race!

You will need: bamboo canes at least 2 metres long; a tape measure; a waterproof marker pen; runner beans.

Push the canes into the ground. You can make a wigwam out of them by arranging them in a circle and tying the tops together, or you can put them into two rows about 30 cm apart, tying opposite canes together and putting a horizontal cane along the top, where the vertical canes cross over.

Use the tape measure to measure from the ground level of each cane. With the waterproof marker, draw a line every 5 cm up the cane. Plant one bean per cane, and water well. Within a week or two you will start to see the young shoots coming through. Protect these from slugs and pigeons with bark chippings and some chicken wire. Once the beans start to grow, they will really shoot up - check back every couple of days to water, if the weather is really dry, and to see which bean is winning. For some added fun, why not race your beans against your friends' beans?

See: Check the tassels on your sweetcorn from mid-August onwards. When they go brown and dry, your sweetcorn is ready to be picked.

Do: Harvest your runner beans and french beans. When your broad beans finish flowering, cut the stems off at ground level and put the plants on the compost heap. Leave the roots in the soil - you will dig these in later. The roots of peas and beans have special nodules which store nitrogen. When they rot down in the soil, they release all that nitrogen back in, which is very good for plants like cabbages, sprouts and broccoli.

Pick cucurbits (cucumbers and courgettes) regularly. If you leave them on the plant too long, the plant will stop producing fruit. The flowers are also edible - pick the male flowers, as these will not produce fruit. They can be eaten in a sald, or deep fried in batter!

The leaves of your garlic should start to turn yellow this month. When they are dry and rustly, gently fork the garlic out of the ground and leave it on the surface to dry for a couple of weeks. You can eat garlic without drying it, but it does not keep very long. It has a milder flavour before being dried, and is known then as 'wet garlic'.

Keep checking on your root vegetables, and harvest when ready.

Your second early potatoes should be ready for harvesting now, along with any of your first earlies that are still in the ground. Tomatoes and peppers also need to be picked when they are ripe. This will help to make the plant keep producing fruit. 

Make: pressed flower gift cards.

You will need: several sheets of paper for pressing; lots of different leaves, grasses and flowers - even weeds (choose small flowers with thin leaves and stems - thick, juicy ones can be difficult to press and not look as good); some heavy books for pressing; glue dots, a glue stick  or some PVA glue; decorative card for making the gift cards.

 Lay two or three flowers on a sheet of paper. Do not let them touch or overlap. Put two sheets of paper on top of them, and put more leaves, grasses and flowers on the paper. Put two more sheets of paper on top, then more flowers, then two more sheets of paper. Keep going until all your flowers, leaves and grasses are between paper. Put this stack on top of a book or another hard surface, in a place where it will not be disturbed, and pile three or four more heavy books on top of the paper.

Be patient - it can take up to six weeks for the flowers to completely dry out. Be very careful when you take the books off and lift the top sheet of paper, because some of the flowers may have stuck to the top sheet. Carefully separate all the sheets of paper and lay them out so you can see all your flowers, leaves and grasses.

Fold a sheet of card in half, or use a ready made card from a card-making kit. Try several arrangements before you stick them down with glue, to see which looks best. This time, you can overlap them - in fact it often looks better if you do. Using glue dots, a glue stick or PVA glue, stick the flowers, leaves and grasses into place. The cards are now ready for you to use. For an extra special card, try putting a small flower or seed head inside the card, near one of the right-hand corners.

See: Look out for fruit beginning to ripen on trees and bushes. As the weather cools down, leaves will begin to change colour and autumn will be on its way. With the sun setting earlier now, you will start to see a lot more insect life on your allotment, as it is most active towards dusk.

If you are lucky, you may catch sight of some of the bats that are living near the allotments, and love to chase the insects as it gets darker.

Do: This year's autumn raspberry canes should now be starting to produce fruit. Pick it as it becomes ripe.

Continue to harvest salad greens throughout September. Lettuces should stay healthy throughout this month, though will die quickly after the first frosts.

Your autumn cabbages, calabrese and cauliflower should be ready for harvesting this month. Cut these as they become ripe. To make sure no wildlife makes it onto your plate, soak calabrese heads and savoy cabbage leaves in salt water for half an hour before cooking.

Almost all of your root veg should be ready for harvesting now. If your garlic wasn't dry enough for pulling last month, it should be ready now. Pull any onions and shallots and leave them to dry out on the soil surface for two weeks, then plait their leaves so you can hang them up, ready to be used.

Some of your maincrop potatoes should be ready for harvesting now. Make sure to work your way down the rows, harvesting from one plant at a time. Dig deep enough to get all of the potatoes out, as any that are left in the ground over winter are likely to 'volunteer' themselves next year.

Make: peasant country soup.

This is one of our favourites. It's so easy to do, makes loads and is really tasty. If you're feeling adventurous, why not try making your own bread to go with it? You don't have to use all of the vegetables listed below, but these should all be available on your allotment now.

Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
3 carrots, cut into little cubes
1 cup of peas
1 turnip, cut into little cubes
1 courgette, cut into little cubes
1 onion, chopped into chunks
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Corn from 1 corn cob 
1 jar red pasta sauce
1/4 chicken or vegetable stock cube dissolved in 350ml of hot water
1 tin baked beans
Leftover meat from a roast chicken, or four Quorn breasts, chopped
Seasoning

Add the vegetables, pasta sauce, chicken/vegetable stock, water, beans and chicken/Quorn to a large pan and bring to a gentle boil. Simmer for 30 minutes. Season.

This will feed four large appetites.

See: The clocks will be going back at the end of this month, so make the most of any nice evenings you get. Keep an eye out for the bats, though there will be fewer insects around as the weather gets colder.

Flocks of starlings usually fly over in spectacular numbers in October.

Do: Harvest any remaining peas and beans, and cut the remaining plants off at soil level. Rocket is hardy and will continue to provide you with leaves throughout the winter.

Autumn cabbages, cauliflower and calabrese should be picked this month. Do not leave cauliflowers and calabrese in beyond the end of October as it is likely to become woody.

Continue to harvest your roots. Check your parsnips - the early ones should be ready now, but will benefit from being left in until after the first frosts. This makes them sweeter. The first leeks should also be ready this month, though you will need to wait until nearer the end of winter for the giants.

Any remaining potatoes should be dug up this month. Make sure you dig deep enough and do not leave any potatoes in the ground. This can lead to diseases such as eelworm and blight next year, and you will also end up with potatoes popping up in the middle of your beans and peas.

Make: a leaf cage.

With the changing weather, now is the perfect time to build a cage for all the falling leaves. Leaves are considered to be 'brown' waste, taking some months to rot down into useable compost, so they are not necessarily suitable to put onto your compost heap in large quantities. Building a leaf cage gives leaves the perfect environment, and as much time as they need, to create wonderful organic matter (called leaf mould, though it isn't really mouldy) that can, next year, be dug into the soil on your allotment.

You will need: wooden, treated garden stakes, about 1.5 metres tall, x 4; wooden, treated garden stake, 1 metre tall, x 1;about 3.5 - 4 metres of chicken wire (1 metre high); hammer; garden staples (u-shaped metal which you hammer in to attach the chicken wire to the stakes); wire cutters; strong garden twine or thin rope; fallen leaves, raked into a pile; a piece of heavy carpet or material.

Decide where you want your leaf cage. Remember, it will need to be there for at least a year so don't put it where you want to grow plants. Measure out a square 75cm x 75cm. At each corner of the square, push one of the garden stakes into the ground. Make sure it goes in far enough so that there is only just over a metre showing above the soil.

Open up the edge of the chicken wire and place it against one of the stakes. Unroll the chicken wire as you walk around the stakes, until you have enough to wrap all the way around your leaf cage. Carefully, use the wire cutters to cut this length of chicken wire off the roll, and lay it flat on the ground. Place one end over the 1 metre garden stake and, using the garden staples and hammer, attache the chicken wire to the stake. You will need about five staples - one at either end, one in the middle, and one half way between the middle and each end.

Starting with the end you have just attached to the stake, roll the chicken wire back up. Decide which is the front and which is the back of your leaf cage. Stand the roll up and hold it against the stake that will be the side where you want the 'door' to open. You will need someone to hold the chicken wire in place so you can hammer the garden staples over the wire, into the stake, holding the wire in place. 

Unroll the chicken wire until you come to the next stake. Staple it in place in the same way as the first one. Do the same for stake three. When you open up the rest of the chicken wire, the end already attached to the shorter stake should reach the stake in the ground, closing the 'door'. This can be kept shut using strong garden twine or thin rope.

You can now start to pile your leaves in, adding more as they fall from the trees. Put the piece of old carpet or heavy material on top of the leaves as this will help to keep them warm, which will speed up the composting process.

See: As the leaves start to fall from the trees, you will be able to see all the bare branches. Keep an eye out for bushy growths of mistletoe high in the trees in the allotments and the surrounding lanes and roads.

Mistletoe berries are poisonous to humans, but birds love them. The berries are very sticky and some seeds stick to the birds' beaks as they eat the berries. The birds wipe these off onto branches, 'planting' the seeds for the mistletoe. The seeds can also pass through a bird's digestive system undamaged. Because they are so sticky, when a bird poos, the seeds stick to branches as it passes through the trees and again, plants itself.

Do: Dig up any raspberry canes that need moving. Prune all other autumn raspberry canes to half their current height. These will bear next year's early fruit. Prune out any weak branches from currant bushes. Prune out central or overcrowded branches from gooseberry bushes. Mulch gooseberries with well-rotted compost.

Dig over where your peas and beans grew this year. Sprinkle a small amount of lime for next year's brassicas (cabbages, sprouts, cauliflowers, calabrese).

Your winter cabbages should be almost ready for harvesting, just in time as your last autumn cabbages are finishing in this month.

Towards the end of this month, in a dry spell, plant next year's garlic cloves. Garlic benefits from a long, cold winter which encourages the bulb to split into cloves next summer.

Harvest any remaining carrots. If you have had a few frosts, your parsnips should be large and tasty by now.

Prepare next year's legumes (peas and beans) bed by digging and adding lime.

Make: pine cone bird feeders.

There are plenty of places around Pershore to collect pine cones, including Tiddesley Wood. Gather quite a few and leave them somewhere warm and dry, like an airing cupboard, to dry out. As they dry, they will open up naturally, exposing their seeds and giving you plenty of nooks and crannies to fill with goodies for the birds.

You will need: pine cones (dry and open); string; a spoon or blunt knife; a jar of peanut butter - smooth or crunchy; wild bird seed; raisins or sultanas; an apple; bacon rind, chopped into small pieces.

Peanut butter is a great food for tits and sparrows, giving them fat and nutrients to help them through the coming winter. It also acts as an edible glue, binding together all the other food into the pine cone.

Tie the string to the top of the narrow end of the pine cone. You will use this to hang your pine cone from a tree branch or canes on your allotment. 

Using a spoon or blunt knife, push peanut butter into the nooks and crannies of the pine cone. Push the wild bird seed onto the peanut butter until it sticks. Also push the pieces of bacon rind and apple into any gaps. When the pine cone is full and you can fit no more in, move on to the next.

Take your pine cone bird feeders down to your allotment and hang them from tree branches. If you have no trees on your allotment you can hang them from canes, garden stakes or even a bird table if you have one.

Encouraging birds to your allotment throughout the winter means that the birds will be there when the insect larvae are hatching out in the spring, which should mean fewer caterpillars to nibble on your veggies.

See: Although most plants sleep, or lie dormant, through the winter there is still plenty to see. Look out for bright berries, particularly mistletoe, holly and yew. Many gardens have cotoneaster or pyracantha bushes in, which have masses of white flowers in the summer and are covered in red, orange or yellow berries right throughout the winter. If you get close to one of these bushes, you may startle out a flock of sparrows whoh ave been hiding in there, eating the berries.

Do: Make the most of any dry weather to turn over next year's potato patch and add plenty of manure. Continue to harvest rocket. Its growth will slow down compared to the summer, but it will happily survive a typical Pershore winter.

Continue to harvest sprouts, working from the bottom of the stem up towards the top. Providing you don't have too many insects on your sprout tops, these make a wonderfully delicious end to the sprout season, but don't be tempted to cut them off too early because this will make any remaining sprouts become ready at the same time.

Your parsnips should be holding well in the ground right up until next month, as should your leeks.

Early December, plant broad bean seeds for an early crop next year.

Make: Christmas decorations.

Even in the middle of winter there is still colour to be found. Remember to wash your hands after handling any wild plants, as many of them are poisonous, including holly, ivy and mistletoe.

Take a winter walk, keeping an eye out for trailing ivy, holly leaves and berries, mistletoe, and any hips. Take a length of ivy and wrap it into a circle several times, weaving it around itself. This will form the basis of your wreath. You can make a large one to hang on your door, or smaller ones to use as table decorations. You could even hang one on your allotment shed door! Wrap round several more strands of ivy until you have lots of green leaves hiding the stems. Now you can start to weave in the other things you have collected. As long as you picked them with a bit of stem, you shouldn't need any string to hold them in place. Thread the stems through the ivy until all you can see is green and berries, and no stems are showing at all.

You can leave your wreath like that, or you can finish it off with a ribbon or even glue a pine cone or two in place.