The green and rolling countryside of Worcestershire, England, is home to the cider apple orchards which surround the gardens of Pear Tree Cottage. They enjoy a sunny south westerly aspect with sweeping views across to Martley Hillside, Woodbury and Abberley clock tower. The Teme Valley lies just over the hill and, not far away, is the Herefordshire border. Although our climate is temperate, our seasons are often uncertain and always a challenge to a gardener! This began in 2010 & follows the weekly ups and downs of garden work chronicling both successes and failures but, above all, demonstrates the fun enjoyed by three people who regularly garden in all weathers

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15 February 2018

Thursday turned into Saturday!

During...
... and after fern clearance.
A surprisingly sunny dry day for an entire day's garden work!  The last 4 Saturdays have either been glacial or glacial and wet! today, we were able to get on with jobs is reasonable comfort. After sorting out a log avalanche, the first job was barrowing some wood chip (kindly brought by Chris) down to Nutberry Noak and the Woodland Border path.  Next up: Fernery clearance with all last year's fronds removed. Not exactly a five minute job but rewarding and their dead and dying fronds lay flat and straggly hiding Cyclamen, Hellebores and Snowdrops alike. 

I left this job a little too late last year and it was difficult removing the dead fronds with new ones emerging and unfurling. It looked really tidy when we'd finished. We moved 4 or 5 ferns down to the lower border before moving on to emptying the compost bay. Well, I have to confess that I rather left that to Chris as it was so wet and heavy - especially after all the rain we've had. Instead, I carried on deadheading borders and filled another 3 barrows with much lighter loads while Chris mulched hedges, borders, back filled new path edges until it was too dark to carry on...........drinkies time!

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