February 24th

Our polytunnel takes to the air!

There’s rarely a dull moment in our garden and the latest excitement has been provided by the polytunnel.  We’ve experienced many storms this winter and the latest gales saw the polytunnel lifted off the ground and twisted 90 degrees, before coming to rest in among some scruffy saplings and wedged against the tree house.  We’ve managed to pull it down without too much damage to the frame, though sadly the cover was ripped during its adventure.  Although there’s now some unexpected work to do, we’re relishing the challenge of clearing the area and planning what to do next.

Excitement of a different kind can be found in the borders, particularly in the spring area, where bulbs are coming through thick and fast.  Snowdrops and crocus are spreading along with Cyclamen coum, which are providing a welcome splash of colour.  Iris reticulata are looking lovely, both pale coloured ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ and deep blue ‘Harmony’.  In a sheltered corner tucked against the house, a double pink camellia is opening fresh buds daily.  Scented shrubs are invaluable at this time of year and we’re currently enjoying the fragrance of sarcococca and from the deep orange, spidery flowers of Hamamelis intermedia ‘Feuerzauber’.  We derive huge pleasure from wildlife that visits and are currently lucky enough to see three bullfinches almost daily.  They’re beautiful so I can forgive them for pecking the flower buds off prunus’ Autumnalis Rosea’!  More cheeky visitors are a pair of grey squirrels.  One afternoon we watched them tirelessly collecting mouthfuls of leaves then running to the top of a silver birch tree where they’ve built a drey.  A few days later they then started collecting leaves from the wire leaf enclosure – leaves that we’d already raked up once!