Propagation Gets Underway

Sally's spring propagation season is in full swing and all the hydrangea cuttings from last year have been potted in the poly tunnel.

We have also extended the standing ground at the expense the vegetable garden with more mypex surface. The veg growing in this area were not very successful due to lack of sunlight!

Minor Projects

We dismantled our original compost bays as they were rotting in places and Sally decided there was enough decent wood to make a plant bench. I don't think either of us will be called upon to exercise our carpentry skills but here is a sample of hedgerow carpentry!

Another small project involved the removal of some poor and muddled planting in the front round bed. Sally wanted to plant it based on a more formal design to match the yews and lonicera balls along the drive fenceline.

The layout uses seven different plants mostly grown for their foliage.so given time it will all join up. Watch this space!

Spring is Sprung!

As our snowdrops fade here are plenty of Spring flowering plants to take up the challenge of keeping the garden full of interest.

Viburnum bodnantense to be fair has been flowering all winter and as a bonus has a delicious scent.

Hellebores are certainly enjoying their best season for several years. The orange/red stems of dogwood can still be seen in the background.

The early narcissus Tete a Tete makes an appearance almost overnight.

The little Cardamine quinquefolia also comes from nowhere and after a welcome period of flower disappears until next year.

Sally has planted 20 hellebores amongst the snowdrops and they seem to make content bedfellows!

Even the primroses are getting in on the act, they self seed here like mad but we dig them up and donate to a friend who has a 4 acre wood to fill!!

More hellebores in full flight!

 It really must be spring because today the main lawn had its first cut of the year and shows off some splendid stripes!

Snowdrop Festival

Its been a good year for snowdrops and our collection manages to increase significantly each year so we can spread them around the garden. Plenty of admirers inspect them over our garden gate which iis nice to see. We are now working to increase our hellebore collection which come out at the same time and then last for several weeks.

A new pontoon!!

This Winter's major project is a new pontoon. Its partly a decorative feature but mainly a way that Sally can reach out to dip her watering can without falling in the pond!!

We got a local contractor in to do it and he started by putting concrete posts in last autumn while water levels were lower. Then wood cross members were bolted to the posts and decking placed on top. He built a bench out of spare wood from the deck and we got some rope to add to the feature.

Open Days In 2016

In the last seven years we have raised over £45600 for our NGS charities and last year we hosted Sally's art class, a photographic group, 23 other groups and over 650 people on the main open day. So a nice relaxing retirement!!

Pictures From Last Summer so blog nearly up to date!