Frog he would a wooing go.....

...........all the way to PTC from Colchester hitching a lift with Colin and Val.  He has his own stone by the pond and was enjoying some cool sunshine between the even cooler and wilder showers today.

Cuckoo Musings

Alas, photo not taken by me

After planting 5 rows of potatoes, I heard our first cuckoo!  Considering the freezing cold spring we've had, Mr. Cuckoo is not that much later than usual. The earliest ever is 12th April and last year it was 17th; in 2010, it was 22nd April.  Anyway, it's funny how lovely it is to hear the call of such a bad bird!  I suppose it's more out of admiration for their navigational skills and sheer wonder they ever make it here at all after such an amazingly long and arduous journey.  They're hardly pretty.

 On the strength of tasting a friend's home grown potatoes last year and, for the very first time ever, I've strayed from Arran Pilots and planted another first early: Lady Christl.  The name looks like a spelling error but they have an RHS Award of Garden Merit and a claim that harvesting can take place 8 weeks after planting - mmm, I wonder.

Better Late than Never

Early earthing up

As well as all the other stuff going on in this garden, I did manage to plant potatoes and sow seeds.  A kind neighbour very kindly brought his tractor round and delivered a bucket full of rotted cow manure.  This was duly barrowed round and dug in by Chris who did all the donkey work (as I was on construction duties with my head down the well).  Chris also cut some peasticks from his wood so, with some warm weather, there were no excuses!

For the first time ever, I earthed up immediately after planting potatoes which was tricky and I was grateful that the rows were short as it's much easier to earth up something that can actually be seen.  My other first is the fact that, I've strayed from Arran Pilots and planted Lady Christl - which looks like a spelling mistake but isn't.  22nd April is the latest I've ever planted potatoes but I couldn't see the point in allowing them to sit in icy cold ground.  Another record late date was the fact that the 30th April was when I sowed Early Onwards, Aqua Dulce and Early Nantes. I also planted some Greyhounds, some onions and chard.  Nature has a habit of catching up - let's hope spring really has arrived and that this warm spell isn't just a flash in the pan.  Having said that, and remembering last year; dare I say?  We actually really need some rain!

Gardening on the move

On Sunday the whole team went over to plant potatoes for a friend who is recovering from a spell in hospital.  We couldn't bear to think of Steve worrying about his potato crop so here we are - his wife, Jan and son, Andrew with our usual garden trio; measuring out the rows, getting out the trenches, planting, labelling and earthing up.  The rain held off and we finished - was it 20 rows?  Lets hope for a speedy recovery and a bumper crop!

Half way down....

...the end of the first allotment

Caught Out!

Rust free and oiled pump supports

A sunny Saturday meant lots of progress.  Chris G and I finished the Fernery stepping stones, the top terrace step and then moved on to spend some time cleaning rust off the metal bearers which support the old pump. This was probably the most awkward job undertaken - even more difficult than replacing the Hennery roof in the pouring rain.  It meant leaning over the well wall with a vacuum in one hand and a dustpan in the other trying to catch all the big chunks of rust being chipped off by Chris and prevent them falling into the water below.  The trouble was the sharp pieces of rust flew up into our faces and felt like shrapnel.  It was difficult not to react and we were terrified of dropping tools down the well.  It was impossible to distance our faces from these flying shards.  The noise of an industrial vacuum cleaner and metal hammering on metal echoing around the well made ear defenders a must (for me!)  Chris cleaned off all of the cast iron brilliantly; I was left having a final vacuum and clean up - stretching right over the wall oblivious to all.  Suddenly the vacuum stopped.  I looked up expecting Chris to be the culprit only to find an NGS publicity officer and his wife standing there wearing expressions of bemused disbelief!  Caught - bum in the air, filthy dirty and hoovering out a well!  It was an excuse to stop for tea and biscuits and a quick change of topic! At least it was warm enough to sit outside.

While all this was going on; Chris P was busy in the new 'H' border dividing up and planting Hostas and Heucherers - an altogether more dignified activity!!

Terrace Tidying & Fern Planting

Despite having rubbed much of the mortar used to point the flag stones on Saturday, it still took me ages to finish it on Sunday!  Having done that we had a massive clear up of all the accumulated rubble - the world's dustiest job.  Having done that I filled the small trig at the base of the wall and steps with fine gravel -  the idea being to aid drainage and to have somewhere for small alpines or ferns to thrive.  We now feel as if we have our terrace back again - even more than there was before!  Al had decided to sort out all the scrap/leftover pieces of wood and then moved on to flower pots and before he knew it had old plastic drain pipes, pieces of trellis and concrete blocks etc everywhere!  With a new tidy terrace one end of the house, I could hardly leave him with such a mess.  Having started at 10am, I returned to the house at 6:40pm.......wood chopped and everything, eventually in its place - YAWN!

The large plants at the base of the wall

Spot the ferns!

A whole week has passed since I started this post.  Ferns have been ordered, delivered and planted!  I sourced 2 batches from different fern specialists.  It was no good going to a garden centre for what I was looking for.  I needed Asplenium Trichomanes and the smaller the better.  I really needed plug sized plants to squeeze in Chris's trigs between the steps whilst, at the base of the wall, larger specimens were accommodated.  It's an idea I pinched from Stockton Bury.  There, they have them thriving in full sun growing at the back of the stone step treads.  I'm keeping my fingers very tightly crossed that I can achieve the same effects.



http://www.shadyplants.net/ & http://www.fernnursery.co.uk were very helpful The plants arrived promptly, carefully packed and in perfect condition!  The tiny plugs from The Fern Nursery and the larger plants from Shady Plants.

A single tiny fern plug

It was a pleasure dealing with both and a WORLD apart from Vernon Specialist Geraniums -  I shudder at the memory of the rubbish they sent me last year in the name of specialists!

As usual, a little imagination is required when looking at the photos!  We need to imagine large numbers of tiny delicate fronds proliferating and spilling out over the edges thereby softening the hard edges!!

The New Well Path & Steps

Steps leading up to the conservatory...

..and down to the well

Work on the well path has not only begun but it is pretty much finished!!  Chris G began by making new York stone steps leading from the terrace to the well path.  Where there was one single - rather high and difficult step; there are now 6 elegant steps which are much easier to negotiate.  Having done that, he then lifted all the modern pavers and we cleaned off all the old mortar before stacking them on the wall by the creosote yard.  (Chipping off the mortar was a way of keeping warm for me!)  Chris placed 3 York stone flags and I laid out some pretty old reclaimed bricks around them.  Having got the path all laid out, Chris then lifted each one and laid it on a concrete mix.  I followed behind packing the cement between the bricks and stone.  Having done that, Chris did all the pointing and, before it dried too much - in the icy easterly winds, I brushed off the mortar.  Result: a vastly improved path which is much more in keeping with the surroundings.