Oh, the joy of having time off when the sun is out. After eventually having a warm and dry couple of days I could happily slap paint on the long overdue to be finished wall that Luke rendered back last Autumn. It looks much better now.
Once I'd completed the painting I could indulge my love of planting by turning over the monochrome border and replacing the plants I lost in the winter. It's hugely exciting for me when the ranunculas are in the shops as these to me signify the start of choice and colour and a long summer season.
Saturday 26th March.
If we lose an hour when the clocks go forward this weekend when am I ever going to sleep? It's five thirty am and I've been up a while already. The birds are singing their morning chorus and whilst it's too early to be singing they really are creating a lovely background noise. Another sensory delight.
I'm back in work now after two lovely days off in the glorious and very unexpected sun. We've had temperatures of 15 degrees here which is clement to say the least. There's the saying, “March comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb.” which has proved true this year. Does that mean the old saying, ”March winds and April showers..,” is going to bring a change in the weather as we approach Mothering Sunday and my birthday? I well remember my 21st, birthday when I lived in a tiny lodge. It tipped down the entire day and I got soaked every time I ran to the gate to see if Mum had arrived yet. A good dry spell makes all the difference and I took full advantage of it on Wednesday and Thursday, out in the garden for hours in just a thin strapped top and trousers, how nice it was to feel the warmth of a spring day.
I still haven't planted all my purchases; I like to deliberate over where I place them. After all, they need to go in a suitable position, with the correct space and conditions for that particular plant. If I studied horticulture my garden would obviously be so much more productive but I trundle along, buying what I like and piecing it together to form a patchwork of shape and colour.
Currently, one year into the garden, we have a very typical area; a central lawn surrounded by borders in different colour schemes, the corner border we look out on is black and white, the other side of the steps is my friendship/pastel border which contains mainly blue, pink and purple plants that were purchased with birthday vouchers (it is very handy having a birthday just as the garden centre gets stocked up with this summer's beauties). Along one side of the garden are the roses and raspberry canes although the roses are still in their pots, buried into the ground, till I find a permanent position for them. In the top corner are a multitude of pots, planted up mainly with tulips which are now promising to open up and give us a bright and colourful show. Stretching along the back of the garden live the hens and in front of them is Luke's fledgling vegetable patch. We have designs for this patch, hoping to edge it in box and give it a little gated entrance to discourage the chicks from going in there and eating the new shoots. We hope to have a central feature, maybe a pot of lavender or a standard bay tree but for now this is a year or so off. Having got the bare bones of the garden sorted we can now leisurely plan the rest as inspiration and necessity takes us.
In front of the shed sits the greenhouse with the water butt and compost bin between them. There is a gap of about three foot from the shed to the greenhouse in order to plant up things which need shelter and warmth.
Sitting in front of the greenhouse is my topiary edged herb garden, still very much a work in progress and already I know it needs to be wider to allow for the spread of my herbs. The only casualty of the heavy snow is my standard bay tree which I'd had for years. I've watched it die off and had hoped there would be some sign of life but as yet there is nothing. I'm afraid it will soon be time to admit it's had it's day and dig it up.
The last bit of cultivated garden is the long border with a mature Acer which I have used to grow a climbing rose against (it should have been a rambling rose as they will bend in all directions but there weren't any in the garden centre when I needed one). The long border is the show off of the borders, with it's orange and deep purple clashing colours. This year I am adding a stretch of light blue and yellow to sit between the pastels and the brights. It sounds horrendous as I type it but we will see. The great thing about gardening is that in most things, if you don't like the results you can undo them.
Back to Thursday's planting.
I always feel unjustified in getting rid of a perfectly good plant and will try to reposition it in the garden if I can but a lot of what was left here when we moved in had either been badly planted so had produced weak, unproductive growth and no or bad pruning had left the plants misshapen. The holly was just a five foot high trunk with one holly branch on it!
With the unidentified shrub out I had room to reposition one of the original plants. I'm aware that I still have things planted too close together and as I have a lot of hollyhocks in this section there will be a huge amount of ground covered with their mass of leaves. I already have signs of rust on these leaves and whilst it's mainly cosmetic it does spoil the look of the plant. I removed the worst of the leaves. Hollyhocks do well in full sun and overhead watering can make rust on the leaves worse but what a spectacular show you get from these blousy Bet Lynch type of flowers. I do have shy, retiring plants in my garden which you almost trip over before marvelling at their delicate blooms and tiny veins tracing their petals but these hollyhocks shout, “Look at me” and I can't help but oblige.
A plant I adore which my grandmother had the traditional version of is Dicentra Spectabalis (what a grand name), also known for obvious reasons when you see it, as Bleeding Heart. I have the Alba version. This little plant will last for months and is a real sweetie tucked away so you discover it by chance and then get seduced by it's trail of miniature hearts perched along delicate stems. It's very easy to snap the stems so do be careful but left to it's own devices I've known this plant to grow at a tremendous rate.
Anyway, after a hard afternoon's digging I treated myself (having already spent fifty pounds in 24 hours in the garden centre) to an apple crate-planter for the front door with the house name on it. I may repot the Box ball into it and see what it looks like. Alternatively, I'll plant it up with some lobelia to trail over the edges and an assortment of flowers. The joys of planning and planting, it never ends.
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