Micro Blizzards

Well, as predicted, winter came back with a vengeance and working on the trellis was freezing cold!  A single white Camellia braved the elements and opened all its petals only to have them all burnt brown by frost.  After a few days of gloom it was back to vicious frosts and snow!  Monday afternoon was spent moving plants in mini blizzards!  One minute the sun was shining and the snow melted away - the next minute, darkness almost fell, the wind got up and the sky was full of driven snow which was almost blinding.  We battled on half frozen  and looking like polar explorers and this was gardening!!!

Spring tried to muscle in....

Today may have had a frosty start but the warm sunshine and clear blue skies that followed meant that some parts of the garden thought that spring had arrived!  The Hellebores are springing up and Pulmonarias, Celandines and Narcissus are all stirring.  The furry Magnolia buds are swelling fast and Prunus blossom is opening.  Even the chickens enjoyed a spot of sunbathing after their dust baths.  We know it couldn't last and just made the best of it before the return of more grey skies and rain.

For more spring photos visit:

https://picasaweb.google.com/100788191989823327785/FirstSpringLikeDay532013

Trellis lighting

£38 saved!

Buying little copper lanterns for each trellis post at £53 each was prohibitively expensive.  Luckily for us, the company was selling these smaller lanterns without all the little holes for £15 and even luckier, Chris Genever very kindly agreed to drill all the holes just like the £53 versions!  Whilst we were travelling to London, DSM and gang were left slaving away and this is what we came back to.  Obviously, when the climbers put on some growth, the overall look will be much softer as the light filters through the leaves and flowers so, a little imagination is needed right now.  It does highlight Chris's clever use of some old land drains in the wall.  What a team!!

Hopefully, the bare look won't last long.

No Chris Saturday!

Trains, Drains and Lanes

Potting bench gets a make-over

One Chris was sorting out a friend's drains, the other Chris was exploring the lanes of Suffolk and Chief Blogger was on a train en route home from London - all highly unusual activities for a Saturday!  Anyway, thanks to the nice man at Euston, we were allowed to catch an earlier train so at least I had the afternoon in the garden and the sun was shining and it was wonderfully mild and dry.  With birdsong for company, I set about tidying the Slate Henge Border and clearing the weeds.  There were quite a few nettles and creeping buttercup but, at last, the soil was dry enough for this job.  It really did look much better especially after edging.  We topped all the lawns and orchard on Thursday so things are beginning to look a little tidier.

There has been a certain difference of opinion over Dahlias!  Chris G was pretty convinced that frost was the cause of some mushy tubers.  I didn't see how this could have been the case as, I potted up all the others and they were all perfectly firm and healthy - as was the ginger.

Over time, the sections of wood on my little potting bench had shrunk leaving big gaps through which the potting medium kept falling. So annoying and very messy!  After a hunt round, Al came up with some ply exactly the right size and I found some bits for the sides.  Hey presto, an hour later a newly modified potting bench with sides - courtesy of Al!!  Perfect!

Rescued from the scrap heap!

A perfect way to recycle an old galvanised tank!

A few weeks ago, Chris Pugh very kindly gave me a lovely old square galvanised tank.He told me that if I didn't want it, he would scrap it..  Quelle horreur! Today, he carried into the greenhouse to replace the circular plastic water butt.  Being square the fit in the corner is really snug. The big advantage is having a much lower with a far greater surface area for the easier dipping and filling of watering cans.  It has a working tap but I think a washer needs replacing.  In the meantime a champagne cork one end and a wine cork the other are stopping the drips for now.  I shall need to ask Dave to raise the height of the light switch and sockets and then it will fit very snugly in the corner.  Why does some old galvanised metal look SO much nicer than modern plastic?

Another 2 Chris Saturday

Overcast and freezing weather was no handicap for the workers in PTC's garden this weekend.  One Chris busied himself emptying the 2011 compost bay in its entirety!  He mulched borders all round the garden with the contents which he estimated at about 2 1/2 tons.  As if that was brilliant enough, he then began moving the most recent compost from its bay to the adjacent bay.  This means that all the new compost is in the bottom and the oldest stuff is on top and 1 bay is now completely empty.  Chris also repaired the centre dividing panel which had bowed and was leaning over under the weight.  This meant driving in four 8' stakes to brace the dividing panel which should prevent.

2012 compost being turned & moved from left to right for next year

There were amazing compost finds!  A teaspoon and 5 Avocado stones all of which had germinated and were happily growing in a layer of wood ash in the dark warmth.  Unfortunately, they weren't initially spotted and so did suffer some damage.  All have been potted up just in case one survives!  

While composting manoevres were in progress, Chris G and I were making trellis panels from roofing laths.  I think we hammered in 428 nails for each panel.  Curving the tops was the tricky part as thin strips had to be glued together and clamped in place round a form.  We needed 8 hands each to do this!  Unclamping and reclamping long and very springy individual sections sections of lath was not the easiest job in the world!

Newly emptied bay & repaired divider

Other jobs included potting up Al's Costco bargains!  After potting up 48 lily bulbs, I ran out of pots and had 18 left over.  Also potted up were 5 Big Daddy Hostas, 6 Heucheras Palace Purple, 6 Astilbes, 5 Aquilegias and 15 Dahlias.  Then it was time to return to the relative warmth of the greenhouse to clear out the stragglers and pot on the worthies. All moth eaten/scruffy/elderly/woody/tired and plain dead plants were consigned to the now very smart looking compost heap thus giving a more space where it's now really needed.  It's all too easy to try and preserve too many plants through the winter and then when spring eventually arrives, there's just no room for spring sowings!

Selling the snowdrop

How could I resist showing a few snowdrops on the blog? Most of the snowdrops in this garden are in the Woodland Border and it's still too wet to tread on the soil for a close up.  These are strays in the orchard.  I think that these bravest of flowers always deserve excessive limelight.  They may look a picture of innocence but here they showing the world how tough they are when little else dares to show more than a tiny green shoot.  I love their bitter sharp scent and their little nodding heads.  These are all the more precious as there aren't great carpets of them in this garden.  They are multiplying to respectable numbers but the trouble is; you can never have enough of a flower that shouts, 'Winter's nearly over!'