Romance in the Garden!

Who says we're not ready for Valentine's Day?

Compost Corner Creative Conversion!

Surprise, surprise! A new garden project is under way. The granite setts in front of the compost bays which were laid in soil were all showing many signs of wear. The sets had become too prominent and uneven. The Pear Gate was jamming on them and the whole area was in need of a make-over. Enter Chris Genever yesterday afternoon!  By close of play yesterday, all the setts had been removed, the soil level lowered, concrete slabs laid in front of both compost bays (how much easier to shovel on a smooth surface?) and many granite setts re-laid on concrete.  We were lucky with dry weather and at least filling wheelbarrows meant I was fractionally warmer than if I'd cleaned soil of the sets!

Today was even colder but even more setts were perfectly laid precisely in line and were mixed with cobbles to form an exact line between the to two gates. Guess who'll be rubbing down mortar tomorrow!

Company for Lewd, Rude and Nude!

Our mossy lyre player.

Dave!

Lyrenal being lifted into place!

We have more arrivals from 'Chris's Classical Collection!'  This time, both are men - one a lot more brazen than the other! One plays the lyre and the other.......well! He looks a quite a bit of a poser! OK he's really a copy of Michael Angelo's David and will probably be known as Dave. Both await their own spot in the garden! Our lyre player is beautifully weathered and even has moss growing on his arm.

Jewels in January!

...and its highly fragrant tiny white spidery flowers

Sarcococca confusa..

It's that time of year when I was lyrical about Sarcoccoca also known as Sweet Box. We have 3 biggish shrubs in the lower border and a I kid you not, they fill the entire garden with scent from their tiny insignificant flowers! Now you can't say that about many other plants in a cold and frosty January no less! I so believe that every single garden in the country needs this plant - no matter how big or small.

Chris finds it a tad overpowering (probably a man thing!) but I just l-o-v-e  it! It's absolutely no trouble and dead easy to grow. It's evergreen and after flowering has lots of shiny black berries! There are several varieties but Sarcococca confusa is my favourite. 3 sprigs of these will fill a HUGE room with fragrance and beats any synthesised air fresheners!

Record Breaking Compost!

Kyle spreading compost on the Lower Border

Chris working on the Woodland Border

Thanks to Chris and Kyle, we can now declare that our compost bay has been emptied and spread around the garden in record breaking time! They both slaved away and even managed to turn most of the current year's compost.  We only have 2 bays so our compost is a year old and gets turned once. Having said that it was light and crumbly until the very bottom where it was was slightly heavier and wetter. Never before have we managed to empty it so early in the year. Luckily, the weather defied the forecast and remained dry. 

Enjoying the benefit of all these homemade nutrients are the borders, hedges and vegetable patch.

The compost bays are at the bottom of the garden and that means that the heavy contents have to be pushed up hill! The team did an amazing job and the garden was left as neat as a new pin - even the barrows and shovels were all washed and put away. Very well done both!!

 More photos here.

Elbow Room for Roses.

...& after.

Before...

Following a week of the darkest days, the cloud decided to lift a little and, as the day wore on, even the sun showed its face. Chris swapped his usual Saturday so, it was out with the hedge cutters and a plan to give the roses more room. Being a beech hedge, there were leaves EVERYWHERE! Having cut it back, loads of ivy was exposed and digging it all out was not the easiest job in the world. Roses were snagging one side and twiggy hedge the other with no room to move between the two! My thinking is that the roses won't lean away from the hedge for more light and more air circulation should mean less blackspot and other fungal diseases. Well, that's my theory! The hedge look a tad thin at present but it'll green up in the weeks to come.

And......when we'd finished all the clearing up, we were rewarded with a really pretty sunset.

A perfect January sunset viewed from the tool shed.

New Greenhouse Gadget

Heatmat with thermostat

We have a new gadget in the greenhouse in the from of a heat mat.  In previous years, geraniums overwintered in the greenhouse have been troubled by mildew and mould which love the the moisture laden air. I figured that a metal greenhouse may well mean even more damp and condensation so, Chris Genever found this with the theory it would provide a drier atmosphere around the plants by providing a little bottom heat (!) He found it here: http://www.kdev.co.uk/products.php?cat=205 

Choosing which plants sit on it was tricky as I felt I was condemning the unchosen ones! The thermostatic probe has been pushed down into the compost of a pot at the back - nearest the glass and is set at halfway.

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention that the mat is sitting on some Kingspan foil backed insulation which is the perfect depth for the greenhouse staging.

Anyway, it's been up and running for a week and I should be able to do a good comparison between those left out on the gravel and the chosen few! In the meantime, I'm checking them a little more frequently in case they dry out too much.

This is how it works

Heatmat in operation