GARDEN, GARDEN, GARDEN

And drink a lot of tea and coffee.
 So lots of flowers in the garden, duck still on nest, sunshine and no rain.
Saturday, sun and I forgot to shut the shed so at dusk I went out to do so and as I turned to the house a white ghost floated past from the garden - the silent magic of a barn owl.

First asparagus spear through, time to put in potatoes, silencing with the self isolation, the birds sing and the minimal drone of traffic distant, and in the wood the first bluebells are flowering - in early April! The spring is moving earlier.

 So, what to do with all the photos of the garden?
Obviously inflict them on you -

The cherry trees are just amazing so lots of them - mainly shirotae but the great white is coming out too. Its is not quite so dramatic as the flowers come with the leaves rather than before.

 Then there are the other prunus - this is the Victoria plum but the greengage and damsons are also in flower.









The garden seems dominated by white and yellow at the present, even the bark on the birches are shining and the honesty is in full flood even escaping into the horse paddock next door.

But then there is the woodland where a dry stream tumbles out of the upper garden. The forked tree on the right is a field maple.

And up in the wood are dog violets, wood anemones, forget-me-nots, both pink and blue, one lone cowslip, a mass of wild primroses, flowering currant and fritillaries

With the dry weather I am having to top up the pond but that is okay as we have our own borehole. And bees are buzzing on the skimmia outside the kitchen -

These tulips have flowered year on year fort a decade, orange is R's favourite colour.






















All the camellias are loaded with flowers, the best they have ever been and on Friday we walked to the church and R put a small posy on the memorial where her mothers ashes are.

Easter Sunday service online with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the vicar from our nephew's church in Ealing.

I know this us an early blog but with the virus I have so much time to wander the garden with my camera, so . . . 

OF MICE AND ME, OF DUCKS AND DROUGHT

Nothing to do with Steinbeck (any way life feels more like Neville Shute or as R's blog says - John Wyndham. (https://roseydarbishire.com/blog/2020/4/4/not-krakens-or-triffids)

Just been to the shed to get the hoe and check on the cosmos and ammi plugs I potted on.
AAAAGH! Something has eaten most of the leaves and I think I know who (no not R) - the mice are back. The trays are old photographic print trays, not used much now with digital photography. 
  And the pond is starting to look a bit low.
There are two drakes asleep today at the top of the pond, perhaps they both think the chicks belong to them?
 

And the duck is still sitting on her eggs though the camera caught her sneaking out at night tine for a dabble on the pond. She is in the tuft of grass on the left. The video camera caught her returning to the nest from the pond.

Plum and damson blossom now so praying not to have a frost.
  I am fed up walking the lanes but there is not much I can do. The taskmistress will not allow me just to vegetate in a comfortable chair.
  Bonfire again lit a second attempt.
R is starting to deadhead daffodils.
 

More blossom though any tree will struggle to compete with the cherries.

The amelanchier is flowering and the bronze leaves are coming on the  cercidiphyllums. 

  I have put final muck on small bank below house where these tulips have come up year on year with their splash of orange.


Apart from that it is just primroses and wood anemones and violets and fritillaries and so on.
  So, if we get some sun and warmth I shall sit and look out at the garden, mug of tea in hand, chunk of chocolate cake in mouth. Might even take a nap - sometimes not much else to do in this plague year.
 

Sam the gardener has been again and trimmed the stream sides (dry from the drought) and laid a new paved crossing from the wood to the veg beds.
I trimmed the rosa rugosa so have a line of cuttings.

And so lots of images of garden as it is so photogenic now.
  

Finally watered pots and seeds - sown more rows, cauliflower, broccoli, parsnip and courgettes in pots, no rain forecast for a fortnight - thank heavens for a borehole.

BORED WITH SELF ISOLATION? 😣😣😣😣😣

Looking back from Monday - 
Thursday - R has been weeding, I mowed a bit, then picked up sticks fallen from the trees until my back ached (about 5 minutes), sat in the sun and drank tea, watered a few pots, wrote this bit of blog etc.
Friday - pruned endless  Buddleia. After seeing the quality of next door's tilth in his veg beds spent time getting mine up to scratch and making a barrier against the carrot fly. The bonfire gets bigger and bigger again.
Here are some photos from today, before the wind bends to the north and it gets cold. Watering pots nowadays, getting dry (except in the boggy bits of lawn). Shirotae cherry nearly out.

Saturday and a cold biting wind. Sowed first broad beans, carrots and perpetual spinach.

Sunday scraped the path below the house. 
Walked earlier and found this - 

Everyone is walking the lanes, walking their dogs, taking their pooh bags - SO WHY having picked up the pooh, leave it by our gate or hang it in a tree?
In the countryside, a wood or wherever, find/take a stick and flick it into the undergrowth, in a field where there are animals all poohing like mad what difference does it make, if it is on a pavement pick it up and TAKE IT HOME and/or put it in a bin.
We do not mind dog pooh in the undergrowth, we do not like the place littered with plastic bags whatever they contain.

On a lighter note, in the village, children off school had been drawing the road.

I am having to water the pot plants with the continuing dry weather. After the deluge in February this is such a contrast.

Hooray, gardener S here  and strimming banking but had to stop as mallard nesting there with load of eggs! He has used all the chippings I got, need 2 sacks more, place now shut for virus. Garden Centre now shut. At least got shopping done for the week.

Weeding a bit but a cold northeasterly.

More red tulip pics -

but there are other things in the garden

The camellias are finally coming out.

Monday and evening, here, my cousin A from Nelson NZ rings to check on how we all are. He is an expert on organic gardening and has written a book called Organic Futures. In comparison I could write my knowledge of gardening on the back of a postage stamp. 
It is so different talking to someone on the other side of the world nowadays, virtually no delay between talking to one another.

Tuesday and the bank has frozen my debit card - had to drive to nearest bank 6 miles away to use atm to unfreeze it. The card reader is kaput!

Duck is back sitting on eggs, have set up video camera on nest.
As I checked this morning a heron lifted from the pond - bad news for frogs.

R is weeding main bed, I have made lunch.
The Cosmos purity and Ammi majus plugs have come from Sarah Raven and I have potted them up - last of potting compost gone.
Rhubarb tonight, last of the sweet forced stems.

Wednesday and the routine walk around the lanes followed by a little weeding. Weather going off, actually thought it might rain this afternoon but just a few spots - not enough. 
The first cherry is out, Great White yet to come.