With the temperature barely lifting from 0 degrees, rain with a hint of snow in it and plenty of freezing fog, it really is chilly at NGS Garden Ferns Lodge. The frost on the ground has been with us for days, and when the pale winter sun does peep through the clouds it does look stunning and worth a picture despite frozen toes and damp wellies!
Sweet water tank in, we are now busy with the foundations for the new greenhouse which is being built by the lovely guys at Woodpecker. In red cedar and in the style of the early Victorian Messenger greenhouses – I can’t wait to see it! Of course, the new vegetable garden must of been the site of a similar set up (although rather grander I suspect) – with Dan’s Wall a reminder of this. Imagine my delight when Dan and his chaps, plus digger, dug into the ground to set the foundations, and found old foundations in exactly the same spot! How cool is that!
Bricks from the old footings now sit with the new and the base for the new greenhouse is now very un-glamorously beneath black plastic to protect it from the icy conditions. The foundations are around the perimeter of where the new building will sit so that the interior can be earth and full of all those wonderful plants that I dream of bringing on. Also exciting is that the earth is fantastic – years of neglect and plenty of leaf mould, but I have to say… Is it too much to hope that it was also enriched and tended by another gardener many years ago? For sure I will never know.
Also exciting is the rotavating of the area behind the vegetable cage and greenhouse to make a fantastic shrubbery! We will plant this when the weather allows. Now that it is in, it does look VERY big. As ever, anything that we do in this areas yields masses of rubbish and detritus, bits of old flowerpot, old tiles, bricks and so on. We are clearing this away and starting to prepare. We will also plant a native hedge back from the watercourse that one day will run the whole length of the west side of the big garden.
Ghillie is loving the plentiful supply of sticks that winter brings and doesn’t mind the cold at all. He joins me for the cutting back and winter bedtime jobs for the garden – always accompanied by a tennis ball or stick. Caterpillar has sensibly retired inside now that we are in winter.
I was reminded of Christmas when a lovely wreath was left outside my back door by a super clever and kind neighbour. All the foliage was gathered in Ferns Lodge garden. A very happy Christmas and best wishes for 2023 from Ghillie and me.
Contact sue.grant@fernslodge.co.uk.