Time to sit and relax
After months of planning and hard work, our NGS Open Weekend was over all too quickly! We welcomed record numbers of visitors to our garden and are waiting for the final totals of money raised from our group organisers. We enjoy the work we do in the garden and it makes it worthwhile to share it with like-minded gardeners and raise money for charity.
John gathered together our collection of vintage tools and ephemera and created an interesting display in the lean-to for visitors to enjoy, along with a photo album of our first few years gardening here along with photos we’ve taken of wildlife in the garden.
We’re looking forward to being able to sit down and relax for a while now in the garden, but in our usual fashion we’re already mulling over some fresh ideas!
It’s been a challenging year weather wise, with little rain during spring, however we had a few good downpours a couple of weeks before opening, which improved things. It’s interesting to compare back over previous year’s openings which plants have either flowered early or are a bit later this year. Our peonies are in full bloom, and looking particularly stunning are ‘Monsieur Jules Elie’ with huge heads heavy with pink petals, and ‘Karl Rosenfeld’ which is a beautiful deep red. In contrast, a pink sidalcea, which normally excites visitors is still in tight bud. However, I’d propagated plenty of this for sale and they quickly found new homes.
Although I hope this will be a month to enjoy the garden, I still have jobs to do in the vegetable patch. Strawberries are ripening and we should soon harvest new potatoes. Lettuce and spinach have bolted so have been composted and more sown, along with runner beans.
My Highlight
Watching a barn own fly low over the lawn as we washed up one evening.
Tales from a Country Garden 