FIRST CUCKOO

  Was standing here listening to our first cuckoo on 9th April!!  Early indeed for us and considering all the hard frosts we've been having, it was an extra surprise!  I don't think this was him but it's such a lovely photo and a lovely few moments!

April Progress.

 Still lots and lots happening in the garden!!  It's that really busy time of year - is there a time when it's not busy in this garden???  Thanks to Chris, the vegetable plot is ready for planting and it looks as if we've seen the last of these vicious frosts a while - thank goodness! Who knows?  I might actually get the vegetables sown and planted? The Dahlias are all  potted up and the fern pit, otherwise known as the underfloor fernery, in the greenhouse has been all cleaned out, de-cobwebbed and new ferns planted.   The greenhouse is looking pretty immaculate as now the outside has been cleaned thoroughly to match the interior!  Am feeling smug as it's such an epic task!

The wallflowers planted up in the Dahlia border for the first time are all in full flower and I can't think why I left it bare last spring!  It's not just their bright colours but also their perfume!  I'm such a glutton for perfume in the garden!! 
Hopefully, by the time they are over, the Dahlias will be ready to plant out.  That's my theory anyway!

The Aspen Grove has really come on with the Euphorbias in their spring glory, the Primulas flowering and the columns all now all upright!  Doesn't sound much but it's very difficult to get them all exactly upright.  Because they taper, it's no good putting a spirit level against their sides and the tops aren't particularly level or square either!  Despite the absence of any Aspens, I think the name will always stick!!  Having said that; the young birch trees (Betula Jaquemontii) are now colouring up and showing their true silver colours.  Funny how the young silver birch trees are all brown.

10 Year Surprise!

 With all that's been happening around here and a massive spike in C19 infections, I withdrew form our annual NGS County Meeting held last week. A bit of a shame really as it was to be in person - the last two being zoom meetings thanks to a certain virus. This should have been the first return to normality! Cest la vie!

Having prepared my slideshow presentation, Dave Morgan our County Organiser stood in for me. I had no idea that we had been opening for 10 years until he explained that I would also miss being presented with an engraved trowel for services rendered.   Anyway here it is! Now, the $64,000 question is, will I dare to use it?

Simon to the Rescue!

 It just gets busier and BUSIER in the garden!  Luckily with both Chris's down with Covid, Simon timed his visits to perfection and was kind enough to help me tackle the biggest cleaning job in the garden - the acres of glass in the greenhouse!  This is where height is SUCH an advantage as he was able to easily reach all the glass in the roof and the gables and all before the grapevine obstructed too much!  It's already put on lots of growth in the sunny warm weather we've been enjoying.  

Moving every pot out and then back in again is a time consuming and very muddling job but there just isn't any alternative.  After a lot of lifting and shifting with even more elbow grease, the greenhouse is now postively sparkling with no hint of green algae running down the glass!

Simon also painted the silver/rusty arch and having repaired the pear and undercoated it, I found some spray and 'tarted' it up to try to make it look more realistic!  The old Pear Arch has never looked so good!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

It's spring already and we've been so busy in the garden and making the most of some warm spring sunshine!  Hedges both sides of the drive have been trimmed.  The beech has been reduced in height abd the Laurel has had a mini pleach! Lawns are all cut and edges.  Pots are filling with colour and perfume as they are filled with Hyacinths and Primulas.  The Tulips are budding up nicely and, in the borders, the wallflowers won't be long before they're in flower.

Better late than never, I pruned the roses over our circular arch.  SUCH a difficult job as there is a climbing rose and a clematis either side!  Two are super thorny and two are supper brittle!!  Anyway, 'tis done at last!  On the move are the scented violas - from the owl planters to the raised border by the old cast iron roller.

 

Meanwhile the flag stones have all been swept and tidied, the greenhouse floor has been cleaned and even Easter Island Man has had a haircut and blow dry!  Borders have been hoed and weeded.  Camelias and Magnolias are blooming and the Woodland Border which is always at its best in spring has really excelled itself this year.  Talking of borders: the Aspen Grove is also a picture!  It has really filled out and even thought the snowdrops are going over now, the Euphorbias and Primulas are following one!  Even though the Aspens were replaced with some Betula Jaquemontiis, the name remains!!

HAWTHORN RESCUE!

We took an impulse decision to remove an old and rampant rose which was absolutely suffocating a hawthorn tree.  In all the years it had been there, the rose had never once born a single flower.  A real dog in a manger as it also prevented the hawthorn from flowering!  Chris never hesitates when it comes to anything difficult or challenging and this was both!  The stems were hugely think with vicious thorns.  It was the Putin of roses!  We filled 2 bulk bags and 2 wheelbarrows with chopped up rose.  The little hawthorn tree can now breathe again and can see light!! Whilst these photos demonstrate before and after: as nothing is in leaf, they don't demonstrate just how much darkness the poor hawthorn suffered!

! should add that last autumn's homemade hawthorn jelly was the best ever.  Maybe this year, I can make even more!

More Recycling in Favour of Chickens

On possibly the wildest gardening day ever, Chris (Genever) and I braved storm Eunice to make a new door for the House for Hens!  The old ply door was really disreputable.  The the ply was delaminating and it was falling to pieces. 

The new door has been expertly crafted from a recycled and very old pine shelf.  It is a traditionally styled ledge and brace door but in miniature!.  The edges of each panel have been chamfered and finished with my favourite mixture of 50 - 50 linseed oil and pure turpentine.  Obviously, we reused the original hinges.  

As the door is nearly always in the open position, it has scalloped copper detail to protect its top and ledges from the worst of the weather.  To secure it closed, Chris made a tiny oak turn key which he referred to as a turn buckle - funny how these old fashioned names vary in rural areas.  The front of the door has its very own miniature lead pear which I had made the week before for absolutely no good reason but I figured it would find a home somewhere!!

I've just checked back to find that this original 'House for Hens' was purchased from Edward Tate of Shropshire in 2010 and is a medieval style pole house.  I can hardly believe we've been keeping hens for so long!  The house looks in pretty good shape for 11 years!  The pole has been replaced as has its base but the house is maintained with creosote and paint.  Very many eggs have been laid inside it!

I should perhaps mention that there were very noisy objections from Simone who chose the moment of installation to go up to lay. She spent the entire time squawking and clucking from the nest box!!