Tedious!

Probably the world's most tedious job, but after all the rain and with the ground so compacted, Head Gardener has been aerating the lawn with a garden fork in the worst affected areas.  I know I should be brushing in some sharp sand next but at least I've made a start.  It takes so long to do a relatively small area, I was glad to have a break and cut back all the dead Scented Nemesia in the blue pots beneath the dining room windows.  It's not only very much alive but has a wealth of healthy green shoots.  This is a particularly highly fragrant variety and on a summer's day, the scent of lilac (it smells exactly the same!) wafts around the garden, into the house and across the terrace. 

The advantage of a mild winter is that so much has survived including some standard Fuchsias which I didn't bother to drag into the greenhouse.  I did get Chris to lift out a Strelitzia which has a couple of flower buds and also a tatty looking Jasmine but covered in flowers so both are now in the conservatory as opposed to being left in the greenhouse where they would have been too far away to enjoy.

STOP PRESS:  I got the sharp sand and finished the job...................now I definitely need a drink!

DSM Strikes Again!

This time he put his talents to work illuminating the kiosk and another brilliant job done!! He certainly picked a lovely spring day to do it!  Now we need to sort out the other bits and pieces!

Yew'll be surprised how useful..............

This Saturday, Chris appeared with presents of beautiful Yew and Cedar.  He is spoiling us lately!! So, rather than do any jobs on the garden list we decided to get to work - wood work!  He squared off and trimmed the Yew into lengths and stood them all on the terrace where they will be used for lanterns, candles, plant pots, drinks(!) or even seats!  1001 uses! Chris reckons it's well over 100 years old.  One thing is certain, it will never blow over as it's incredibly dense and heavy.

He also made what is probably; the only 2 legged table in the world!  It'll will be (and is already) so very useful as when we go down to the chickens, there's always so much to carry and no where to out anything down........that is, until now!!

Even the dragon posts were replaced with Cedar.  The old ones had rotted and were being held up by ivy.

New dragon posts

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!