Kiosk Addition

Thanks to Tony at Unicorn Kiosks; look what we have in the kiosk now!! His original frame is far too nice for a collage of restoration photos so, I have another (less authentic) frame for that and, having found and printed out some old GWR railway travel posters, have put those in his AMAZING frame!! Due to the reflections, the photo doesn't do it justice but, very many thanks again Tony!

Stihl Life!

Chris called in with 2 mighty oak planks!  They are tremendously heavy and I couldn't lift one. Amazing! Now that is a present and a half!  He took this photos with his largest (Stihl!) chainsaw for scale - having just used it to plank them up.  

I'm sure we can use them somewhere in the garden - maybe in Rob's Retreat when we start building it. In the meantime, they have been stored in the barn until we come up with an idea.  before you think 'bench or seat', the one thing this garden is not short of is garden seating!  (Oh, and credit for the witty title of his shot has to go to Al!)

Dogwoods get their annual haircut

Before...

...& after.

Having missed out on the usual full on Saturday, I made up for it by being out before breakfast and pruning all the dogwoods (Cornus Sanguinea) this morning.  I was loudly serenaded by our resident thrush and closely accompanied by a robin!  Not only do the Dogwoods all look very tidy but I have now ensured plenty of stem colour for next season as only the young stems take on the bright colours.  The really big bonus is now I have plenty of stems with which to make plant supports for the borders.  The Midwinter Fire's are just too twiggy for weaving but the more common varieties are perfect and I must say that I really do prefer natural looking plant supports - even if some do look a bit rustic and wobbly. Less than perfect homemade supports look so much nicer than the dreaded plastic coated metal or even bamboo canes. All I need now is more time to make them all! 

Plant support material

Strange goings on..........

This Saturday, and unusually for me, I was a bit later than usual getting out and into the garden. Whilst I was otherwise engaged baking a batch of bread, making a vat of soup and also copying some vintage posters for the kiosk and rushing to finish; the men decided on the first priority before I could get out there.  A sunny day and I wasn't in the garden, Chris asked if I was feeling ill!  Their priority didn't look exactly horticultural.  There was much activity on the drive and various comings and goings.  Holes appeared and loads of hard core arrived. Spoil was taken away and then..................all evidence disappeared!! Was Chris burying something/somebody??  It all looked a tad suspicious until I discovered that the clay that had been oozing up from beneath & through the gravel had all disappeared!  The problem had been the site of some big Hawthorn roots and stumps and too much rain forcing up the soft clay to the surface.  Chris dug it all out, replaced it with hardcore levelling the area and raking back the gravel.  Oh well - no more muddy feet when getting out of the car!

There it was - gone!

Bovine Garden Invaders!

A small herd of cows has appeared in the Aspen Grove hiding amongst the Dogwoods!  All courtesy of Chris - needless to say!  We already had one: Clarissa, who lives in the Lower Border.  Now we have 5 more!  They have been re-homed having been dropped off with intentions of logging them up for firewood!  The very thought!!  I insisted they be rescued and repaired to live out the rest of their days peacefully under the shade of the Aspens!

Another little seasonal job.

My order of seed potatoes arrived the other day and they're now chitting in egg trays on a windowsill in the tool shed.  If it ever dries up enough to dig the vegetable patch, I might even be able to plant them!  Again, they're Lady Christl - it's a weird spelling but last year's were so deliciously waxy and cropped so well, they were even better than Arran Pilots and I never thought I'd ever say that.  They might not look very exciting but they're all part of the changing seasons in the garden.

Things are really waking up

What a difference a few hours of sunshine make! Things are really waking up and, even drying up - a little. The Bergenias are in flower with just a few Pulmonarias. Chris even found a solitary Wood Anemone.  More Hellebores are springing up, Primroses are flowering and the snowdrops look really lovely.  Shrubs are budding up and, if this keeps up, it won't be long before we have some Camelias in bloom.  Now that really is a cue for the appearance of Jack Frost so let's hope they get their timing right this year.

For a few more cheery photos checkout:

The Advent of Spring