Poultry Preparations

A freshly painted House for Hens

Creosoting the inside.

Preparations are well underway for a new flock of five! The 'house for hens' was dismantled a week ago and brought up for restoration. The inside has now been thoroughly spring cleaned and creosoted. Not a single corner was missed. The nest box and tray has also received the same treatment. Today the exterior was sanded and repainted and it's looking nearly as good as new. The 'Under Gardener' has even made a new front door, repainted its hinges and bought new hinges for the rear door. Hopefully, next Saturday it will be reinstalled on its oak pole. Sadly, I don't think the company making these Medieval style Houses for Hens are still in business. It's such a shame as, being so high off the ground, they are so much safer from Monsieur Le Reynard! Having said that, not all of our girls were actually inside it when he decided to pay a visit! 

The next job is to spring clean their conservatory alias the Hennery, the Hennery House inside it and lay new wood chip on the floor. This serves as their winter quarters - not that we've had any snow this year!

We are expecting our new residents in early April when Sarah at Newland Poultry is expecting another visit from us. Sarah runs a totally amazing operation and it's always a real delight to make a visit.

Saturday Smugness!

Filling the gaps...

...with 2 more Laurels

A sunny start meant potting up Violas, Geranium and Petunia plugs, planting Begonias and Zantadeshcias as well as dividing and potting up Heucheras which I started back in the autumn. Friday's incessant rain meant that Saturday's planned weeding was somewhat restricted to areas that could be reached from paths so much is still left to do. We did put in a couple more Laurels to fill the gap in the hedge above the new steps in Compost Corner. We had to remove the world's biggest and most vicious dog rose - hardly ideal companion so close to a narrow footpath. Chris also put in some stepping stones between the new granite path and the Wood;and Border seat making it look just a tad more inviting!

Meanwhile, our trusty Under Gardener was busy burning mountains of last week's pear  prunings after assistance getting the fire going! By the end of the day, all tools were collected and hung up in their places and everywhere neat and tidy. Smugness all round!!

The Woodland Border is waking up!

Recycling Rusty Chain

Having climbed up the tree, it's always a struggle to persuade the mature stems of clematis plants not hang precariously a couple of feet out from the tree trunk swaying dangerously in the wind. It's easy to tie with string but then it looks appallingly ugly and totally unnaturally trussed up.  I've solved this (at last) by recycling attractive lengths of of unwanted old chain. I do mean old and rusty and definitely not painted or, worse still: galvanised! I just love all this old stuff and was lucky enough to be given an old cow chain which was absolutely perfect for the job. Of course, it wouldn't be suitable for tying in the tender new brittle shoots but, it provides a ladder for their tendrils to cling on to and scramble up!

 

The chain doesn't need to be tight as its weight keeps the clematis close to the trunk. It allows movement and if necessary, can easily be removed. Against the deeply fissured bark of an old pear tree, it looks entirely at home!

Pear Pruning

..and afterwards

A Williams pear before..

A nondescript dull and drizzly day meant pear pruning. Our two dessert pear trees are quite old and it was more restoration and pruning for shape rather than high fruit yields. The straight unnatural shoots were pruned out leaving the more mature and natural branches. Having done the apples last week and struggled with the snagging tangly cuttings, we knew it was going to be even worse this week! Tangly fruit wood is always such a pain to clear up! Tidying up took far longer than the actual pruning - not just because our wonderful new path is out of bounds until the grass seed germinates and puts on a whole lot of growth but, because pear cuttings are notorious for getting snagged on anything and everything! It was a battle from the start but, we did it! The clematis on each tree was also pruned and both are held in place by strategically placed rusty chain lengths. So much more in keeping than string or wire!

Conference pear

New Strapline for Spring!

Conservatory Cologne

Jasminum Officinale

4 feet of fragrance!

Here's what's happening in the conservatory. The Jasmine is filling two rooms with the most divine fragrance. A single flower is packed with perfume so imagine this many! Each year after it's finished blooming, I cut it right back and it spends the summer outside. Each year, this is my reward. So easy but so worth it.

Avian Animosity!

Passer domesticus

Meanwhile, in the greenhouse and out of the gale force winds, a few primulas provide a little bit of welcome colour and the yellow ones are very fragrant. Not only are these protected from the weather but, the pesky sparrows can't annhilate these. This garden is plagued with house sparrows which absolutely decimate the Wisteria, Primulas and Polyanthus EVERY year. One reads that house sparrows numbers are down well, NOT here! They are absolute gannets with beaks like chainsaws! It's not as if they even sing! I wish they'd all emigrate to the people who tell us they're in decline. 

Well that's got sparrows off my chest!

After the Storm.

Doris damage!

Well!!  Storm Doris was a bit of a blast! No real damage but chairs, bird houses and garden seats overturned and a set of wind chimes now in need of repair! The lawn is covered in small branches and twigs but nothing a good tidy up won't fix.

On the plus side, today was wonderfully sunny and it's amazing to see that the really fragile snowdrops and aconites are easily able to withstand 60 - 70 mph winds.

Aconites

Ahead of the Game.

The weather was so mild and the ground so dry, I was able to top the grass and edge all borders. That was after the tool and potting sheds had a spring clean and the balcony a coat of creosote.  Even the new rails down by the compost heap had a coat of creosote!

The residents in the Henclosure were following the mower up and down their fence in the hopes I would thrown them a box of grass cuttings to scratch around in - which I did!  Never have we been so ahead with garden jobs in February!

A spring cleaned tool shed.

An unusually tidy garden for February!

Valentine Path!

2017!

A heart of pink granite

Valentine Path

How could I resist posting a few more photos of our finished project?  Especially as these were taken in daylight! Our new path comes complete with a heart of pink granite - well it was constructed over Valentine's Day! We were unable to clear up around it without getting it muddy but as soon as the mortar is completely dry, I shall clean it all up and the features and character will show up even more. The date shows up really well already. This was made by Chris cutting sections of clay tiles - we could only ever use roman numerals as we couldn't replicate the curves of Arabic numerals! The enlarged 'yard' area in front of the compost bays is a huge improvement, the benefits of which have been appreciated already.

Chris built in 2 small steps behind the Pear Door and when the snowdrops have finished flowering, a few will be moved 'in the green' so that we can continue the wood chip path around the back of the Woodland Border enabling us to sneak down to the compost heap via an alternative route and without trampling any precious snowdrops!

Extended 'yard' area.