TIME FOR A TOUR OF THE GARDEN

The idea for this came to me this afternoon whilst visiting a village nearby under the National Gardens Scheme.

The first image is of the lower garden looking through the white birches and the willow tunnel to the Writing Shed.

Next is the House as seen from the Wood showing the mass of red campion there and one of the many nesting boxes - this one has a great tit in it.

From the wood the stream tumbles through roots down a banking and past some planting including a red Acer and Royal Fern.

We do cut back some of the longer grass here to reveal the water and to make sure the stream does not get clogged.

In the driest weather this can dry up but that has not yet happened this year.

After that there is a panoramic shot of the woodland lawn. The undergrowth on the right, beneath the sycamore tree, is full of wild bluebells in spring whereas the tangle on the left has some willow growing in it which I harvest for hurdles and such. It also has such wild flowers as Hogweed and wild Angelica.

Other flowers in the wood, apart from the campion, include Herb Robert, Pignut and Foxgloves.

Of course there are also brambles and nettles, the latter important for butterflies.

We did try, in the spring, to harvest nettle tops and eat them like spinach but, to be honest, they were pretty poor, at least not to my taste.

At the south east corner of the

garden is bog, stream and two ponds. Here we get toads and frogs, water snails and beetles, water boatmen and pond skaters, damselflies and dragonflies.

The main pond is not lined (hence it sometimes leaks). The boardwalk is made from discarded scaffolding planks.

So now to the vegetable beds and fruit growing. In the picture, from

left to right, are the herb bed and cold frame, gooseberries, red and black currants and raspberries. Beyond this are the vegetable beds, two enclosed in chicken wire to keep the bunnies out, a rhubarb bed and asparagus bed. On the right are fruit trees - Bramley Apple, Victoria Plum, Conference Pear and Greengage. Beyond this is the horse manure heap and compost bins

In front of the house is a very dry banking with a shallow cover of soil over the hard core upon which the house stands. Here grow many grey leaved and aromatic plants, calendulas and geraniums.

Finally the flower beds with roses and paeonies, cardoon and crambe, aquilegias and pinks and self sown foxgloves.

The garden is full of alchemilla and catmint, poppies self seed and this year we had our first flowers on the wisteria.

And now, having done this tour I realise that some of the most important aspects of the garden are missing - the view over Morecambe Bay to the Forest of Bowland thirty or more miles away, the sound of spring lambs in the fields around us, the birdlife - not just on the feeders but visits from mallard, buzzard, heron and jays.

This is now long enough.

There is plenty more at http://darbishire.blogspot.co.uk/ where I have been spouting about the garden for a few years.