It’s always a farce when the clocks go back at the end of October for NGS Garden Ferns Lodge. I find myself paddling around in the dark trying to remember where I put the wheelbarrow and making mental lists of all those little jobs that weren’t quite completed before the blanket of darkness fell. With December upon us, it is truly winter – although we still have some amazing autumn colours with the Acers putting on a lovely show and the dogwood morphing into winter mode. The mighty oaks are starting to turn and their copper leaves are just beginning to flutter to the ground.
We have had our fair share of gales and the stick and tree fall pick up has taken literally days! The mowers are busy hoovering up the fallen leaves – the last mow took poor Simon a day and a half but it’s needed and the compost that we will have in a year’s time will be epic.
Meanwhile, the push is on to get everything done for next season. Hedges have been cut, shrubs are being cut back and the seemingly never ending clear up is underway. We have an abundance of woodchip for spreading and we will start on the mulching early in the New Year.
More exciting is Dan’s new grinder, which has taken away many old stumps and a few new ones – particularly the big diseased ash root, leaving the ground looking rather as if a magic saucer has been visiting. The next job is the digger to level this, and the new areas now clear of rubbish and stumps, so that we can bring in the many tons of earth that are needed to level the areas and sustain new planting.
The badgers are going great guns and we are seeing much of our multitude of moles, who clearly like it at NGS Garden Ferns Lodge – particularly in the new grassed areas and the poly tunnel. Its floor looks like the surface of Mars (although rather more muddy)!
The new planting has started and we also have some special orders of very special new features for the garden in restoration for next summer. We hope you will think these as lovely as we think they will be.
Despite the mud, the short days , perpetually muddy kitchen floor (Ghillie NEVER wipes his paws) and mountains of jobs to do, sunrise and sunset here are a glory as the bones of the garden are once again easily seen and the late autumn colours are a joy. Preparing for the new season is such a good feeling and we look forward to sharing the garden with you in 2022.
Contact sue.grant@fernslodge.co.uk.