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!