MANY MAYS

We have now been here for over 14 years, since Feb 16th 2007 when we first moved in.

By May 2007 the outline of our evolving garden had begun. The first veg beds were double dug and manured but much of the rest was rough grass and so on.

 

By May 2008 the path structure was in place and there were flower beds by the house. Lawn, or even mowed as opposed to strimmed grass was yet to come.

By May 2009 the garden was beginning to flourish. Sam's rhubarb was being pulled and the asparagus bed, in the foreground, was starting to mature. The various damson trees given to us by Kerry and Steve were on the march and the ash tree to the left of the image had not yet been felled. We had a new shed to the left of the house.

Now we are at May 2010 and this is the view from the house along the main curved path with shrubs and herbaceous plants, roses and our great white cherry painted on the left. In the distance you can just make out the line of the stream - it was later moved to the hedge line.

2011 and the Cherry Prunus shirotae is flowering above tulips Madame Lefebvre and Queen of the Night, forgetmenots and wallflowers. We have had to fell a large ash tree infected with honey fungus.

2012 and the Wendy House is down by the small pond, a writing retreat for R. The trunk of the ash tree has been roughly made into a seat (though we rarely used it until I did one year and found it had become a red ants nest!)

2013 and the flower beds are maturing well. On the left the copper beech hedge I gave to Andrew and the end of the willow tunnel are visible. The latter got too big and was grubbed out.

2014 and Prunus shirotae is a Wow! Several bits of fencing are in to try and divide the garden into areas. Lawns actually look like lawns though all I have done is cut the grass.

2015 and with encouragement the woodland is glorious, full of red campion, pignut, woodruff and bluebells. The spread of daffs and snowdrops has begun. Our son Roland has made us a path up between the trees.

2016 and we now have a new big pond and an old plastic heron from my brother. It does not deter wild herons and the mallard on the pond is studiously ignoring it. The seat on the decking is there best (only) place to catch the late evening sun. We face south east with our backs to the sunset. (But do get spectacular sunrises).

2017 and then self sown aquilegias have taken over. The sundial, carefully placed in the shade, has come all the way from Liverpool and  R's family. The tree behind is the great white cherry and it is getting big. Every year I put off pruning it.

2018 and I cannot resist putting another photo of the wood in this blog.

We have a paining of our wood done by Fiona Clucas - a touch of magic.

2019 and the damson to the left is now overshadowing the veg beds, However Sam's rhubarb seems to be quite happy and our first asparagus of the year is showing in the bed in the foreground. The house has an extension to give us a large living room with big windows and sliding doors out onto the garden. Upstairs is a new writing room for R.  The rosebud is now paved and a new bed has been made further out with the help of a gardener  Just a half day a fortnight but a godsend with heavy work and strimming etc. 

The Wendy House by the pond now houses a forlorn sofa bed and table for seedlings and cuttings. 

2020 and the new extension is a delight, especially on cold but sunny days when it acts like a heat sink. The two cherries arch over the long path though the shirotae to the right has had two branches reduced as they were getting too big.

Now many of the trees we planted are maturing there is a different play of light and shade throughout the garden.

 

THEN THEY HAD ME

Lawns mown, logs moved up to wood shed, A and J came and redid drain by shed - they are marvellous. I only rang them in the morning and they were there at 6 pm and did the job.

Good news - swallows have started sticking mud to the wall at the top of the west gable end - nest on the way. (We hope).

It stays so cold, 10C today and nearly June. Fortunately it does not stop the asparagus growing. I have checked the fruit trees and we will have plums and damsons - not all lost to the frost at blossoming.

And then I met my old - well not quite as old as moi - friend who escaped to Noo Zeyland many a song ago who is back in the home country again. He admits to reading this blog, poor fella!

I have resown broad beans and french beans as the first sowing never came up! 

Also J has given us 4 Brussels sprout and 5 broccoli plants so these are also in under a temporary net to keep the cabbage white butterflies away. The potatoes are through and have been covered by  bottomless plastic tubs. As the plants grow they will be earthed up inside the tub - the idea being that when they are ready I will lift the pot and Voila!

Two more garden visit pics - the top from Hampton Court Garden in Herefordshire and the bottom on is The Skating Pond at Bodnant Gardens in North Wales. A bit of a feeble pond!

And what about the Federation Internationale Fraud Association. We all knew it was happening but no one in a place of authority did anything. Beth Splatter should go but has not. And now Putin is all indignant because all his supposed backhanders might come to nothing. 
"The laddie doth protest too much, methinks."
And many officials have caught a cold - Qatar (catarrh?). I suspect much football is a little dodgy - too much money sloshing around.
If suspicion falls on Vlad watch the increased activity elsewhere (like Ukraine) to divert attention.

The bruiser of finches is the greenfinch - bullies the rest including the bullfinches and chases them away.

 







We have had a cockchafer in the kitchen and the butterflies have arrived. In the garden the queen wasps are about hunting for a place to start a nest. This brings back memories of last year -

THEN THEY HAD ME

First the wasps had the plums, then they had me.

Out of the jungle they came, predators,

drunk on fermented juice, seeking victims.

I was scything and sweeping campion

from the top banking, scattering its seed

for next year, removing the brittle stems.

The reach and rhythmic swing numbed my senses,

The blade sang as it arced across the slope,

slid over and through the tough tangled thatch.

I saw a dark maw and thought of wood mice 

or voles. I was stung into swift action

and scurried into the house, slammed the door.

Vinegar came out for the pain. She said,

‘Winegar for wasps and bicarb for bees’.

and patted the stings with kitchen paper.

They acted by instinct - I had a choice.

I killed the nest with poisonous powder

puffed into the entrance, and felt remorse.

I was death visiting with a curved blade, 

I was a threat. I raked off the banking,

carted the debris to the compost heap

and walked back by the fruit trees. On the plum

overripe fruit hummed - a haze of tigers.

First the wasps had the plums, then they had me.

SPANISH INVADERS, GARDEN VISITS

Some of the bluebells on the top banking are looking suspiciously like crosses between the Spanish and common bluebell. The previous owner did have a clump near the gate. I will have to go a digging but hope that it is not too late.
Common bluebells have the smaller delicate scented flowers up one side of the stem, the others are more robust and the flower spread around the central stem.
To make things worse there are some very attractive white Spanish bluebells that will have to go.
These are good old bluebell flowers mixing well with the red campion in the wood.

We go away and come back to hear bird tapping on one of the back windows - again - that B. blackbird. I creep up and open the door to find - not a blackbird, not a chaffinch but a red-legged partridge on the window sill!

Weeds have grown well after a week or so away (minding the grandchildren) especially the bindweed and ground elder. The white campanula had been smothered by common vetch. I have some elsewhere (the campanula) so a mass removal is probably the only solution.

Most of the drainage done - well all we asked - and somehow we have a huge length of pipe left over - will come in useful one day. The only failure is by the Wendy House where I will need to extend the existing drain - but nothing unsolvable.
R has hand weeded the asparagus and I have weeded the strawberries and put down the straw. I was wondering what to do for a hand hoe as I do not have one and found that a small mason's trowel works well.

One of the joys of going away is to visit other gardens. In Wales we visited the magnificent gardens at Bodnant in the Conwy Valley with the azaleas in full bloom. Unfortunately we were a week or two early for the laburnum tunnel.

We also visited Hampton Court Gardens in Herefordshire and after getting lost in the maze came across this magnificent Exocorda macrantha, The Bride.

The garden also had wonderful tulip trees and a walled area that had undergone transformation since our last visit some years ago. Then there are the real tulips planted here in a colourful swathe around the edge of a lawn.

Not everything in a garden has to be plants to work. The stark geometry of this rill with pots, presumably planted but not yet showing growth, is very effective - again at Hampton Court Gardens. They have quite a lot of hard structure in the more formal areas.

 At home the "Easter" cactus - as my mother called it - and this is the same plant, well an offspring of it - is flowering abundantly.
We have another in the other room that has no flowers and badly needs repotting as it is shedding leaves.

Down at the pond trouble is brewing with increasing algae so I have cast two bundles of straw into the water. How it works is complicated and not completely understood so if you want to find out search on the web for - algae straw pond - and you will find a site that will give you the details far better than I can.

So not far, a few weeks, to the longest day and we still have the heating on, the ash trees are struggling into leaf - oak first so a splash this summer. (Oak before ash - splash, ash before oak - soak).
And swallows and martins are finally here but not in great numbers and NOT HERE, just in the locality.

Finally something that has nothing to do with gardening. Went to Liverpool to see Don MacLean at the Phil. and took this picky of Paddy's Wigwam - a bit of proper architecture.