The garden has had to withstand almost continuous rain, heavy snowfall and high winds. Terracotta pots have been damaged by frost or blown over and broken in gusty and destructive winds. But the plants have come through well, are growing healthy and now showing the first signs of Spring. Light levels are increasing as the days slowly lengthen and temperatures, recently at least, are climbing.The garden is showing remarkable powers of recovery after all that has been thrown at it over the past few months. Unlike our old garden, with its heavy clay soil making it impossible to work on the garden for long periods of time during Winter months, Ordnance House is remarkably dry due to the open southerly aspect and sharp drainage.
All of which is good news as we have lots to do in the garden. The Hellebores are nodding their elegantly beautiful heads in the sunshine and it's time to prune the Wisteria back to two buds and cut the Clematis viticella purpurea plena elegans ruthlessly to the ground at the foot of all the rusted arches up which it grows throughout the garden. In fact, we have just erected two more of these arches on the short stretch of path which leads to our rusted frame which makes up our garden arbour near the vegetable garden. Over these arches we have planted the same variety of Clematis as well as four Bleu Magenta climbing roses. The combination of Clematis and climbing rose, both being so close in colour and form, should work well while providing a framework for the pathway.
I also plnated many more Foxgloves in the central round border (Giant Spotted and Foxy) as well as Camassia caerulea along the length of the long border, which is amongst the dampest parts of the garden. In the newly extended part of the original border near our newly installed rusted arches, I planted a smattering of Poppies (Patty's Plum) and a Geum called 'rivale'. More plants will be added to this border soon as we have plans to make this our cutting border.
I have also decided to plant up many pots with Lavender to showcase our increasing collection. Varieties include Imperial Gem, Grosso, Blue Ice, Royal Purple and Melissa Lilac. This should also cut down on the amount of watering for the Lavender should thrive in the dry conditions of a terracotta pot with gritty compost mix. It should also complement the garden and the backdrop of the house.
Meanwhile I also managed to turn all our compost bins which is a task, I confess, I have been putting off for some weeks now as it is such hard work!
We also have new cold frames which Vanessa has been staining in our preferred colour palette which I call 'Ordnance House grey'. We will assemble them next weekend. But to finish off this weekend I have cleared the vegetable beds ahead of the Spring planting. Each raised bed was cleared, dug over and fed and I am now revelling in the crisp clean linear lines of the vegetable garden which, although completely empty is, for me, curiously satisfying.
So, fair weather has injected us with new vigour and stirred us from our late Winter malaise. There is a spring again in our garden steps!
