Welcome to the very first post. On a grey December day, the rain is rattling down the window panes in the garden shed as I write this, and the last of the leaves from the mighty oaks surrounding the garden are falling and swirling around the lawn. The garden is slumbering, reminding me of all the cutting back still undone and the cuttings to be taken.
Sue with Number One Helper, Ghillie
Number one helper Ghillie lies snoring at my feet, and every now and then his nose and feet twitch as he dreams of the squirrels and rabbits caught in the garden last summer….. Wishful thinking of course, he quite simply isn’t that fast!
This winter we have stacks to do to get ready for our NGS opening in June 2019. This means that the main house garden needs to be tip top, and we also need to husband the work done to the wild garden last summer and before.
A new wild flower meadow languishes soggy and sad – but if you look very closely you can just see that the wild flowers have germinated and there is promise for the spring. The habitat bed has now been planted. Wisteria and vine for the habitat stumps, purple acer, red and white camellia and a wonderful, fantastic, atmospheric tree fern.
Sadly the squirrels have had the hellebore bulbs and more – I had no idea they could dig down quite that far! There are iris cuttings also that I am hopeful of and I am standing by to pack the tree fern with bracken when the frosts come to keep him warm and snug for next year
The work area now has bare root green and copper oak planted which we hope will hide the industry and compost heaps and rubbish behind. More donated plants will arrive in the coming months – to be ready for the spring
And then of course there is the garden furniture. Mostly all donated and some of it painted – my garden coat is a glory of grey, blue and pink (yes pink!) – some of the paint has even made it to the furniture. The joy of the garden is to sit and listen, and watch and think – so plenty of places to sit are a must. There is stacks more to do.
There is fencing to come out of the top garden and another bed to make before the spring – and the list goes on….
As the wild garden is a flood plain there is plenty of mud and paddling to the bottom meadow is de rigueur! Getting stuff done relies on colder weather when the ground freezes and machinery can move.
All that said, the garden in winter is really fab and it’s a great time to see structure and what one day we might achieve….
Thank you for reading…