A Cold & Showery Open Gardens

Paul having a cup of tea & sheltering in the summerhouse

Visitors enjoying a rare glimpse of sunshine

The weather could definitely have been kinder to us! It was cold, dull and showery.  I sat wearing my warmest waterproof jacket with a hood and furry lining in JUNE! However, it didn't deter 57 visitors most of whom came wearing wellies and carrying umbrellas. We made an astonishing £407.00 for the National Garden Scheme. Our total so far this year is £671.00 As the day wore on, the sun came out and it was a pleasant evening but it all happened rather too late. As we know, only too well, outdoor events are at the mercy of the vicissitudes of our English climate! 

A BIG thank you to all our visitors and an even bigger thank you to Lindy, Di, Dave, Eve and Sandra who worked so hard serving teas and cakes and clearing up afterwards. Lastly another BIG thank you to all our cake bakers!! Visitors never fail to comment on the homemade teas!

A couple of visitors relaxing on the terrace

Exploring our shed of the year finalist!

Tree on the Move!

Dicksonia antarctica on the move

Men at work!

Well!!! We managed to get nearly all garden jobs done before our first National Gardens Scheme open day yesterday.  We even found time to plant our tree fern which I've had in various pots for over 20 years. It was of course immensely heavy and required a seriously hole being dug out. We plane to wrap it up in winter and protect it from winter frosts.

Funny thing was: we had an early visitor from New Zealand.  She hadn't realised the garden wasn't actually open until Sunday. We of course welcomed her in and made her tea so she was able to watch one of her own natives being planted!!  We manage to attract some fascinating visitors including a gentleman who'd worked at Kew and had designed and planted a botanic garden in Chile. We've also had a lady who was the former chief propagator at Kew and a Japanese expert on English roses! It's amazing who finds a little cottage garden in the depths of rural Worcestershire!

Summerhouse Painting

On the run up to open gardens, it's all hands on deck! Today, Brian finished giving the summerhouse a new look. As a change from the green and rather anaemic white,we have Farrow and Ball's heritage colours -  French Grey and Dorset Cream.  The cream has far more depth and warmth.

Thanks to Chris, the doors now open freely and the hinges have been well oiled! Head of Maintenance has been spoken to about more frequent and regular oiling of hinges in the future!

...and after.

Brian at work                                                                                     Before...

Much Ado in May!

The Genever seat

New Dahlia border

Much happening in the garden and precious little time to blog about it!  The  Beech hedge around the Henclosure has had a trim and the border beneath cleared of Forget-me-nots.  As it's been 'mini-pleached' the girls can now see out again! We have to keep the top trimmed so as to ensure the electric fence above doesn't short out and Monsieur Le Reynard doesn't pay another visit.

Chris also trimmed the boundary hedges on the inside and also the Lonicera spheres (as I have to call them!) Totally transformed is the Genever seat in the Herb Garden as Brian has given it a fab new paint job! He did the niche above it and the contrast made us realise that the seat deserved a make-over too! Now it's all ready for the first of our open garden events on 4th June!

We finished off the day be planting up our first ever dedicated Dahlia border. It's only temporary as, when Chris can find the time, our plan is to extend the stone terracing and maybe push the border further across to the left. Despite poor soil, we enriched it with chicken manure pellets and bone meal so fingers crossed for a bit of colour and a few cut flowers!

Mini-pleached hedge

New Uniforms

Eve & Di try out their new aprons ready for our 1st NGS opening on 4th June 2017. Wait 'til you try the cakes!!

''If you can't stand the heat...............!''

Carolina reaper - the world's hottest chilli!

Although he always claims the greenhouse is not within his jurisdiction, there's evidence that Chris has been plotting (or should that be potting?) in the greenhouse. Further circumstantial evidence places Chris at a certain chilli festival at Eastnor Castle the weekend before the appearance of these additions - showing opportunity! 

In the past, I've grown Apache chillies (which feature about half way down the scale but they're not in the same league as these monsters. 

Even if we can't eat them, we do love his signs!

Pear Hut - Shed of the Year Competition 2017

The Pear Hut Writing Room

The Pear Hut interior

Despite Head Gardener and Chief Blogger being a little indisposed of late, it hasn't stopped  the Pear Hut being paid a huge amount of attention!  Following its entry into the Shed of the Year Competition in 2014; the Pear Hut was spotted by a most charming Channel 4 TV programme researcher and, as a result, they  a film crew arrived at PTC.  Bearing in mind that we built the Pear Hut in 2012 and the competition is massive as loads of people all over the entire country build the most amazing edifices in their gardens so it's utterly surprising that our humble Pear Hut (More photos here) is even a consideration.  As if an entire film crew wasn't enough, the sponsors of the competition: Cuprinol also sent out their own photographer.  We actually used Cuprinol forest Green to paint the frieze round the top and the matching seat in front.  One thing's for sure, it was HUGE fun building it although hard to believe it was in 2012 that Chris Genever sacrificed quite a few Saturdays to head operations!  A BIG thank you to the entire film crew who, when I lost my wedding ring when one of our new flock escaped from the Henclosure and was loose in the garden.  All of the crew and their presenter were down on their hands and knees searching the garden! Luckily, it had come off my finger inside my jeans pocket and, all the time was safe and sound - phew!  Their concern and help was most appreciated!

How could this be a Pear Hut?

PS This is what it looked like when it arrived on the drive! 

Here's wishing our little Pear Hut lots of luck!

Spring Sowing & Planting

Newly planted veg patch

Genever tomato plants

Busy week coming up and much to do in the vegetable patch.  3 rows of potatoes, broad beans, carrots, beetroot and onions all in now.  I decided to adopt a more agricultural approach and earth up after planting. It seemed to work quite well last year and there's less chance of damage from late frosts. We're still eating the rainbow chard.

Lots of lovely plants from Chris Genever so even more to do in the greenhouse.  Much moving around to in order to expose the tomato border which was used to stand Oleanders on over winter. It was then dug over and fresh potting medium mixed for the tomato plants. I use bottomless pots filled with a decent mix and was able to squeeze in 9 plants of different types and varieties. Some seeds were brought back from Australia and NZ, all germinated and pricked out by Chris so, it'll be interesting to see how they all do. Hopefully this year, we can keep the dreaded white fly at bay.

Panic in the top Lawn Border!

Following the castastrophic loss of our much admired Persian Ironwood, we cleared out the top lawn border just leaving the Catalpa. This was unexpected and unforeseen but, as with all garden losses, we saw the opportunity for a new scheme and a shopping expedition to Frank P Matthews  a third generation run family business at Berrington just outside Tenbury whose propagation skills and expertise are of international repute. In fact, the grandson: Nick Dunn has been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's highest honour, the Victorian Medal of Honour. They propagate and grow thousands of trees. 

As the border in question is more than just a tad tricky, I did serious research into which trees and shrubs can tolerate wet winter conditions and very dry soil conditions in summer. Together with Steve's patient help and expertise we are now the proud owners of:

    Amelanchier La Paloma
    Ekianthus campanulata
    Euonymous atlatus Compactus
    Magnolia Daphne
    Malus Admiration (Adirondeack)
    Pinis strobus Minima
    Viburnum opulus Roseum
    Viburnum plicatum Mariesii Great Star

It's a fab place to go and we're lucky to live so close. Now, this really is my kind of shopping! Even better than reclaim yards! We came home with so much, we had to arrange delivery.  No prizes for guessing what will be on this Saturday's jobs list after hedge trimming! It's our attempt to turn disaster into triumph so with open gardens in June, let hope things settle, establish and we have no more deaths!

Flock Re-Stock

All looking very lost!

Easter Egger & Blacktail

We picked up our new Flock of Five on Friday evening.  We have 5 new hybrids: a Marigold, Blacktail, White Star, Copper Star and an Easter Egger! With fox fortifications well and truly established, we look forward to many happy days of egg laying! They are 16 weeks old and came from Sarah's at Newland Grange.  It's such a fabulous place and so clean and organised. We love it!

Having put our new girls in their polehouse to familiarise them with their new roosting quarters when we arrived home, I was up early to let them out and watch them have their first look at their new surroundings. Highly entertaining!  No one dared to fly down! One was gently lifted down and the rest followed spending the day timidly looking around.

As dusk fell, only the Copper Star flew up to roost without any help. The others flew up on the roof, the fence - everywhere looking for somewhere to spend the night. One even flew up and landed on me! Funny how, after all the specialised breeding and hybridisation, their instinct is always to look up high for somewhere safe to roost away from predators.  The following night all 5 found their way to bed! Such intelligent girls! Fresh water, oyster shell, grit and a hopper full of layers' pellets is all on hand and they are now enjoying exploring their new Bamboo garden and conservatory dining room and feeling much more at home! Soon, they will grow their combs and, in a few weeks, they should start laying.

Five Tails!