As the year began it was good to see the spring bulbs thriving with snowdrops starting to spread through the spring borders just as we had envisaged them. Iris reticulata provided a burst of brilliant blue and hellebores were also spreading. The native hedge around the orchard and the fruit trees always look good on a frosty morning and catch the early morning sun.
We had no definite plans for the garden as the year started but by early spring we were expecting a new addition to the family and in May he arrived – a gorgeous springer spaniel puppy to keep our older dog Milly company. Charlie arrived like a whirlwind eager to cause havoc. The dogs quickly became firm friends and are always to be found up to mischief – normally digging holes where holes are definitely not wanted! Charlie instantly took an interest in the garden, and somehow managed to swallow one of my gardening gloves whole! Thanks to swift action by our vet the glove was quickly retrieved and Charlie was none the worse for his adventure. Gardening gloves are now held onto very tightly or put out of reach! For all the mischief he is very loyal and is always somewhere close at hand when I am gardening – usually sitting on a precious plant!
Flower beds continued to fill out and the yew hedge in the back garden was growing, although still smaller than the plants it was meant to be protecting.
It was becoming clear that the Robinia tree near the drive was suffering from disease, there was fungus at the base of the trunk and it had fewer and fewer leaves. A decision was made in late summer to remove the tree before it got worse or fell and this opened up new possibilities.
With the tree safely down we took a long hard look at the adjoining vegetable area and decided that improvements could be made. So we took down the chestnut fence, cleared part of the area and then set about many weeks of measuring and re-measuring, digging and cementing in order that a new greenhouse could be built. Of course this all took a little while and the weather turned from sunny and dry in late summer into a very wet and muddy autumn.
The hard work was well worth while and on a very, very wet day in early December the new greenhouse arrived from the manufacturers in Staffordshire along with two very skilled and cheerful men who spent the morning putting it together. The pieces were placed out on the drive like a huge jigsaw puzzle and it wasn’t long before the main structure was up and I could see what a huge improvement it was going to make to the garden. The dream greenhouse to enhance what we hope will be the dream garden.
There was still a lot of work to do to the area surrounding the greenhouse but that would wait for another year.
Tales from a Country Garden 