Blog

Already the end of July, where is the time going to this year?    Following on from the very dry spring we now have had plenty of rain and sunshine and the plants and weeds are growing well.  Two months ago I was in despair, the garden was so dried up and plants were wilting in the heat.   It’s amazing how relatively quickly things change though, a few cooler days (and nights), some rain and the plants have perked up.    The soil is still fairly dry – we are on sand after all – but the borders have looked good this year.  Regular mulching with homemade compost is obviously helping long term, although the downside is all the weed seedlings.

As ever we’re enjoying watching all the wildlife that comes to visit us.    I had a bit of a surprise a few weeks ago when putting a few weeds on the compost heap to see the tail end of a grass snake disappearing into the heap.   She’d obviously decided that it was a safe and cosy spot to lay her eggs.   I’m not quite sure how I feel about the thought of several grass snakes slithering around, but having previously found empty egg shells in another compost heap, I assume they are around more than we realise.   We do feel lucky however that creatures such as this regard our garden as a safe haven.   We do also see slow worms occasionally, apparently they are quite common in the countryside around the village.

I’ve spent an enjoyable fifteen minutes during a sunny afternoon taking part in the Big Butterfly Count, organised by http://www.butterfly-conservation.org.   I downloaded an app onto my phone which also incorporated an ID guide for the most common species.    I counted dozens during the fifteen minutes, although it is hard, if not impossible, to work out if the same insect has been counted multiple times!     It seemed that it was the number of species spotted that was recorded and I was happy to see six different species in one part of the garden, although earlier that day I had seen another three species in the orchard and since then another three have been spotted.    I don’t know how that compares to an ‘average garden’.    The Big Butterfly Count runs through until 9th August and you can send more than one record – I’m keen to do the count again.  It’ll be interesting to see if there is a change in species seen.   I love to watch butterflies, some years ago when walking the dogs through the fields adjoining us I walked through clouds of Marbled Whites.  What a treat and yes they do come into the garden too.

Still on the wildlife theme, sadly the Mandarin ducks that were in the garden in April have failed to raise any young.   After around five weeks sitting on the eggs the female finally gave up.   Let’s hope they return again next year.   The Mallard duckling that adopted us back in April is still with us.   It now has the run of the garden and although it goes for a fly around most days, so far it has always returned.   I’m now getting quite accustomed to it flying around the garden with me at shoulder height!  It’s slightly more help than the dogs when I am weeding, staying close ready to peck up any tasty looking bugs.   Shoe laces appear to resemble worms, so care is needed when standing up!

Echinaceas planted last year are starting to flower.   I’m particularly pleased with “White Swan” as I grew it from seed a couple of years ago and it didn’t look as if it was thriving until about a week ago.  I particularly like Echinacea Magnus and have recently purchased another couple from Pershore Horticultural College Nursery Sale.   Before they can be planted (along with some other purchases from the College) a new flower bed has to be dug to house several plants that are taking over in the back garden.   We plan to move a large clump of Solidago and another of Eupatorium into the orchard, making another “Autumn Bed” to mirror one we dug a couple of years ago.    Then the bed in the back garden will be re-designed with slightly less invasive plants. This will be a job for much later on in the Autumn when the weather is cooler and hopefully we will have had a decent amount of rain to make the digging a bit easier.

Over the years I’ve planted several Agapanthus, unfortunately in my usual fashion losing the name labels along the way.  One that really stands out at the moment can only be described as navy blue in colour, quite beautiful.    I’ve grown a lovely Campanula from seed acquired from the Hardy Plant Society seed exchange, Campanula primulifolia.   It flowered for the first time last year and I thought it was rather pretty, this year the plants have really put on some growth and the flowers are absolutely stunning.  I’ll have to save and sow the seed in the autumn.   It would be good to have some plants to sell at our NGS open day next year.  One of the favourite shrubs in the garden is Myrtle.   It was here when we moved in and occupies a spot underneath the big old apple tree on the drive.  It must be around 4 feet tall and as much across with lovely glossy green leaves,  the white pom pom flowers are just opening.

I planted quite  a few new dahlia tubers this year,  and I’m enjoying their flowers.   I was a little bit cross though when Dahlia Bishop of Leicester, pink flowers, turned into something else with orange flowers.    A nice dahlia once I’d moved it into a better spot with other ‘hot colours’.

The calendar says June but out in the garden it feels more like late August.  I’ve never known the ground be so dry and dusty at the beginning of June as it is this year.   Half a mile down the lane there is a field of barley which is turning golden, but it remains to be seen if it is a worthwhile crop, whilst a little further along the farmer has taken a cut of hay, I’m not sure of the acreage of the field but our one acre plot would fit in it several times.   He has an astonishing total of 6 large round bales of hay for his trouble – I know, I counted them, twice.  That won’t feed any of the local horses for very long this winter.

However as I look out of the window – oh joy! It’s raining.  Second day in a row and I just hope it fills the water butts and soaks into the soil a little.   It nothing else it is freshening everything up and settling the dust.

I planted more Allium bulbs last autumn to boost those that were already in the garden,  this was a success and the Alliums have been stunning this year.   I must remember to order some more in the autumn to keep the display going.   They are all over the garden but look particularly good growing in a bed mixed in with Roses and Bearded Iris.  I do like Bearded Iris and have a lovely dark coloured one called Sable, the only slight disappointment being its lack of scent.   Its deep coloured flowers looked lovely in amongst the Alliums.  A new Iris for the garden last year was Iris germanica Carnaby,  it spent last year settling in to its new home and this year has flowered magnificently.   It is a new favourite, with a slight scent too.

Peonies are coming into flower, dark red ‘Karl Rosenfield’ is in the back garden with Oriental Poppy ‘Patty’s Plum’ growing at close quarters.   Both have enjoyed the hot weather and have never looked so good.    In fact the Poppy is growing right through the middle of the Peony but both appear happy at the moment and I don’t dare try and separate them in case it spoils both.    In the front garden we have pink Peony ‘Monsier Jules Elie’, surrounded by Alliums and another ‘Patty’s Plum,  nearby is the white  double Peony ‘Duchesse de nemours, which is tightly in bud at the moment, leaning across a small box hedge reminding me I need to find a stake to prop her up.

Rain showers are seeing me taking cover in the greenhouse – just the right temperature today – where I am busily tying in the tomato plants, and taking out the side shoots.   On the opposite side of the greenhouse is my collection of scented leaf Pelargoniums some of which I have trimmed back and dead headed and finally everything has had a feed of tomato food.    When the rain stops I will take the opportunity of pulling out the Queen Anne’s Lace and tidying up Geranium phaeum Samobor in the spring borders.   Both are now looking well past their best, this is a job which should keep me happy for a few hours!

Strangely enough April seems to have flown past, I can’t believe tomorrow it’ll be the first day of May.   So many changes in the garden in a few short weeks. Tulips that were purchased specifically because they were late flowering, more specifically May flowering, to coincide with our NGS open day in mid-May have come and gone and the pots emptied and re-filled with scented leaf pelargoniums.    The tulips were lovely but if we plan to open the garden for Charity next May I will have to be more careful in my choice of bulbs this autumn.

The early spring bulbs are now being replaced by Alliums, their numbers boosted by another 100 bulbs planted last autumn.    The first of the Iris are in flower, Langport Wren is a beautiful deep maroon, soon to be joined by Iris English Cottage and Iris Sable which are currently in tight bud.    The first peony to flower is always Peony Mlokosewitschii – or Molly the Witch as it is more easily referred to.    It bears pale lemon flowers and this year has two!    This poor plant was purchased maybe 20 years ago from what I always refer to as “the dead department” at a local garden centre.   It was tiny, in a 3 inch pot and was expensive although it was a ‘reject’.   It has moved house with us once and is now in its third and I hope, final position in this garden.    If I can leave it be now maybe we will get more blooms in the future.

The Wisteria is in full flower and it has survived my attempt at pruning it in January while the expert wisteria pruner in the family was attending to hedge laying.   The flowers smell wonderful and with windows open fill the house with their scent, and the odd bee that takes a wrong turning!

For the last couple of years I have taken charge of pruning Rosa Belvedere, a lovely rambler rose that is planted one end of a wooden trellis.  The other end is occupied by Rosa Gertrude Jekyll and they are speeding towards each other to meet in the middle!  I have pruned the rambler rose during the winter months (which is probably not technically correct), cutting off some of  the long growths that were waving across the drive trying to ensnare us and tying the rest horizontally along the trellis.   Now looking at the plant, it is covered in strong new shoots which I hope will bear hundreds of small pinky/white flowers in a month or so.

The area we refer to as the “Spring Area” in the garden is now filling with Geranium phaeum Samobor, white Comfrey, Lunaria and Queen Anne’s Lace (a much nicer name for Cow Parsley).  Not everyone would welcome the Queen Anne’s Lace but it is at the edge of the garden bordering the Orchard and we like it.   I would prefer more to grow in the Orchard and once the seed starts to set I will carefully pull the plants up and shake the seed around in the Orchard.

Wildlife abounds too, the cuckoo was heard for the first time this year on 21 April.   Every morning I see a pair of blackbirds pulling worms out of the lawn, I assume they have a nest nearby and thrushes are also seen regularly.   A robin has chosen a shelf on an old dresser in the shed to make its nest,  it makes me jump most days as I go in to select tools.  This year a pair of Mandarin ducks have returned to nest in a hollow apple tree near the back door,  what a privilege to see them wandering around the garden and  then seeing the female fly into her nest.    Ducks are a bit of a theme as we have also been ‘adopted’ by a Mallard duckling.   It appeared one afternoon a fortnight ago from underneath the yew hedge.   No other ducks had been seen or heard in the vicinity although we had noticed a buzzard flying across the garden a little earlier.   We assume the buzzard may have caught the duckling and then dropped it.   It literally has landed on its feet as we have been looking after it carefully ever since.  Luckily the local farm shop also has a Country Store selling animal feed and I was able to purchase what it needed whilst undertaking “an essential journey” for our food. In the space of two weeks it has more than doubled in size.    We have no doubt that in time it will return to the wild but it is welcome here for as long as it needs shelter.

After a month of more or less unbroken sunshine and very warm weather it is almost a relief that this week it has rained and re-filled the water butts and freshened the garden up.    The weeds will be growing as I type, so I’ll be able to occupy myself with some more weeding later today.

The start of Spring and although there’s been a frost this morning, the sun is shining birds are singing and the garden is awakening.  Plenty of cheerful bright flowers and new growth on trees and shrubs to help take our mind of what is happening in the wider world.

My priority this year will be the vegetable garden – a case of necessity I think!    The raised beds have been covered in black weed suppressing fabric so are warming up nicely.   I’ve already planted seed potatoes and garlic and direct sown parnsip, carrot, beetroot and spinach seeds.    Broad beans and lettuce are germinating in the greenhouse.  My aim this year is to get to grips with successional sowing, a reminder on the calendar every couple of weeks should help!

Give a storm a name and it tries to live up to it – and Storm Dennis has certainly been a “Menace”, in Worcestershire at least!     Acres of land in the County have been submerged for well over 10 days now and when the main river bridge in Worcester is closed to traffic the knock on effects are encountered for miles around.   An amazing statistic heard on the local radio station this morning tells us that 500 tonnes of water flows under the footbridge in the centre of Worcester per second!   Difficult to comprehend the force that must be exerting on the lovely old stone bridge a few hundred yards downstream.    No wonder it is closed to traffic.    We hear of flood defences in towns upstream being breached and flooding in properties whose owners thought they were safe.    We are told it is  the “one in a hundred years” flood, except it is the fourth such one in the last twenty years.   Our house and garden stand in an area zoned “one in a thousand years” flood, so fingers crossed….

The Severn is two fields away from our boundary down a steep drop and we often forget it is there!   We still can’t see it, even in full flow as it is now, but a short walk down the lane in either direction brings it home to us exactly what a force of nature it is.    Nearby fishing lakes have been swallowed up by the river, water as far as the eye can see.  A  walk into the local bluebell woods is completely out of the question at the moment – the pictures show the meadow on the way to the woods  is now a lake.

Back to the peace and tranquility of the garden and the sun is shining and new growth abounds, spring can’t be far away.    Our very dry, free draining soil is currently extremely soggy, but even so we can get on with weeding in a sunny sheltered spot away from the chilly wind.    Hedge laying around the orchard is nearly complete, just the final binding needed along the top of the hedge.   Fence posts have been replaced as all the original ones have rotted and the final job is putting up wire to try and outwit the local rabbit population.   One side of the fence has been completed and what back breaking work that was, removing bramble roots at the same time.   Only another fifty yards or so to go and then hopefully the orchard will be rabbit proof.

Some days I feel a little like Mr Macgregor in Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit – horrified at the sight of a plump rabbit on the lawn.    We have been round the perimeter of the garden on numerous occasions checking for rabbit size holes and still they come in!    We have reinforced the wire netting and plugged a few possible entrance holes and, I hardly dare say this,  – no rabbits for the last week!   Hooray!    I’m sure they would be much happier hopping around the pasture land outside our garden fence.

Spring flowers are now very much in evidence.   Narcissus Tete a Tete is coming into flower along with other clumps of Narcissus around the garden and orchard.   The hellebores can always be relied upon and look particularly lovely in the sunlight.   There are a few flowers on the Vinca Gertrude Jekyll and two Camellia shrubs are laden with pink flowers.  There are plenty of buds on a couple of cherry trees and I look forward to the flowers, if the pigeons would kindly stop pecking them off!

On a grey, chilly winter’s day there is plenty in the garden to smile about.    There are numerous birds visiting on a daily basis –  Long Tailed Tits, Blue and Great Tits, Robin, Bullfinch, Thrushes and Blackbirds to name but a few and the very first bumble bee of the year.   I heard him/her buzzing in the vicinity of a mahonia for a couple of days this week and then finally I managed to take a photograph.   What a busy bee!

Snowdrops are coming into flower thick and fast.   Galanthus S.Arnott is always the first to flower and lasts for weeks.   We are trying to naturalise Galanthus nivalis in drifts in the Spring area of the garden and here we also have Galanthus woronowii which is starting to spread gently around.    This snowdrop is distinguishable from others by its bright green, broad leaves and icy white flowers.

The first daffodils are flowering, sadly I can’t remember the variety.   All I can remember is that they are from a Cornish grower.

We’ve planted hundreds of Crocus tommasinianus again in the Spring area hoping that they will spread and form a purple drift.  One year they came up very thickly and although I can now see their slim flower heads just coming through I think that maybe squirrels have eaten many of them.

I also seem to have plenty of leaves to gather up from the borders as can be seen from the photographs,  a job for the weekend maybe!