(Note: I posted this blog post and then WordPress had a little strop and ate it, so apologies to anyone who gets it twice!)

The first crocuses of the year are poking through – Spring is well on the way now.


Not an especially bright day but a mild dry one and it feels good to be outside and helping the garden to wake up for Spring. This year we stand a fighting chance of giving the hedges a trim before the nesting season starts for the small garden birds in March, which will keep everything looking a little neater and make such a huge difference to the light levels in the borders. I spent a happy few hours outside on both days – the days are lengthening noticeably and it’s a happy Head Gardener who can work outside past 4.30pm with still a little light left. This is not an especially good harvest of sprouts and it’s certainly not the biggest, but from two plants grown too late in the season, as an experiment (sprouts need to be sown early!) its really not too bad, and it’s gratifying to be getting food out of the garden this late in the growing year. We love sprouts so these will be just the job roasted with garlic and bacon and served with pasta.




I’ve moved the bench and arch by 45 degrees. This opens up a route from the patio (which may come in handy if I eventually decide to go ahead with my vague ideas about a pergola over the patio). Behind the bench is a gate in the fence. This is because there is an old deed with our property, giving us access across our neighbour’s land for the purposes of bringing heavy/bulky items to the back of the house. The route around their property is so convoluted that it’s actually easier to bring things through the house, so we never use the gate. The deed was created in the 1920s, when our house was a butcher’s shop, and specifically gives permission for transporting coal or manure, with or without a handcart. Well, we don’t have coal… we do have manure but we just bring it through the house (in bags!) I suspect in the 1920s the manure was actually leaving our premises not arriving on them, as there was land with the house which I suspect had livestock on it (possibly destined for the butcher’s shop!) Anyway… I decided that since we don’t use the gate, we needn’t keep it clear. The rose on the arch will be happier this way around and it opens the surrounding space up, leaving me some new options for rearranging things…

View of the garden from the bedroom window. That blue tarp covering the patio table is ugly, isn’t it? I think I’ll get a more subdued khaki one for next year. This is a bit too “Steptoe’s Yard’ for me. It looks like it should have a half-stripped-down car under it. Here below is more or less the same view (patio is just out of shot, but only just) five years ago, just before we moved in. I want to try to post more of these comparison shots through the seasons, just to really capture how much we’ve done.




Who would live in holes like these, above and below? My money’s on Ratty McRatface, though admittedly in our wildlife safari park anything is possible. Hopefully the wildlife camera will capture something sooner or later.





The early-planting garlic I bought this year was as huge as the autumn-planting bought last year but it didn’t arrive in such tip-top condition. The hard neck in particular (above) is a little dry at the top of the bulb (where I’m pointing to). I’m not going to pester the nursery about this, though, as I know they’ve been absolutely clobbered by the post-Brexit changes to plant imports and it’s caused huge problems to their business. This garlic comes from french growers (most does, in fact, although it is also produced on the Isle of Wight) and I suspect I’m lucky to get it at all. It may well thrive anyway. If it doesn’t, though, I’ll order different varieties or find another supplier (which would be a shame, as I really like this one – Pennard Plants – for all other items).


Nice big fat cloves – clearly been hanging about a bit as they’ve started to sprout. I suspect they have spent longer in transit than they should have, ideally, and probably got a bit warm too. All potted up now and snuggled next to the nectarine tree under its open-sided cover. They don’t need warmth – in fact, quite the opposite, they need a hard cold snap – but I want to keep the worst of the heavy rain off them to avoid rot and fungus. Once they’ve established good roots in their pots, I’ll plant them out in open soil (by which time the soil will be warmer, too and – hopefully! – less water-logged).


As usual for this awkward time of year, the greenhouse is groaning both with overwintering plants and the first few new sowings. In another fortnight or so I’ll start inspecting the overwintering plants for casualties and start moving things out gradually, to make space for more new sowings. The greenhouse is barely any warmer than the outdoors through the winter, but keeping the cold rain off is usually just enough to limp the more tender perennials through. I think my five year old heliotrope, grown from seed, has finally bitten the dust, though, sadly. I have either over or under-watered it through the winter – a difficult balance to achieve, as it’s easy to forget about plants in here and equally easy to encourage fungus and rot by keeping them too damp and wet. I’m not sure how long heliotrope usually last for anyway – many perennials are not actually all that long-lived and most planto lose vigour and attractiveness over a long period. It may be time to start again and release the pot for another use.
