Green balls on a distant mound

In the south west corner of the garden sits a mound.  This overlooks the garden and upon it stands two majestic Beech trees of considerable age.

It's a lovely spot to take in the garden to the south of the house.  We had a bench made out of off-cuts of an Ash tree by Ray a neighbour and trained tree surgeon.  He did a good job too and the bench he made is one of my favourite pieces of garden furniture.

But the bench has looked rather lonely and forlorn since Ray made it last Summer.  I had planted a scattering of crocuses in front of it in the Autumn but the bench needed something to anchor it to the mound and give it a sense of place.  Last week we decided to plant six green box balls in a geometric pattern in front of the bench and these were planted on the weekend.

Over time these will get bigger and look more substantial but now the bench has company and looks all the better for it.

Powers of recovery

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!

Winter's duvet

The garden slumbers under a 6 inch white duvet this morning.  Only the lumps and bumps of plants and garden structures provide reference of what lies beneath.

Heavy snow rolled in from the south west yesterday and layer upon layer covered the garden.  Dean Hill to the south looks Alpine and the fields surrounding us stretch out like crisp linen sheets into the grey haze.

The branches of the trees are scratchy dark lines against the pale subdued sky and all signs of work carried out last weekend, creating the new western beds, is hidden from view.

It's a time to rest up and take stock.  I can only hope the thaw comes soon and I can get out into the garden again and continue my checklist of tasks.  But for now the order of the day is a hot chocolate and a thick woolly sweater.

Hard labour

Like most people occasionally life's cares and woes lay heavy on me.  My remedy is long periods of repetative, systematic hard work in the garden.  In recent weeks I have focused these labours on the lawn on the western elevation of the house.  I confess that I have held off starting work on the creation of new borders for this part of the garden, along with a completely new planting plan, because I dreaded what I might find under this lawned area.

In Summer this lawn dried out quickly and never looked healthy.  We had poked and proded the lawn and in large areas the fork had hit something solid just beneth the surface.  But in recent weeks I had decided to bite the bullet and get on with what I knew would be a long and very hard task in creating and preparing new planting beds.

I excavated some test pits and straightaway hit solid concrete.  Out came the pickaxe and fortunately I was able to smash my way through to find chalk beneath.  So clearly this was not the base of an old garage or some such structure.  First task was to strip the turf.  Crazily areas of the lawn had been laid on top of an area of concrete.  My assumption is that this was some kind of temporary work surface that the builders had used or even part of an access drive to the rear of the house.  Either way, breaking up this area took some time and a great deal of effort.  Then it was onto the breaking up of the whole area of former lawn with fork and pickaxe. 

Eventually the area was cleared and large amounts of compost laid to prepare for the planting.  I have used the old trick of making the paths wider at one end and narrower at the other to create the cheat on the perspective which appears to make the paths look longer.  This new area of the garden we have called the western beds and over the next few weeks we will start the process of planting them with a variety of plants creating a different colour pallette to the rest of the garden.  It is an important area as it is the first sight you see when entering Ordnance House.  It also creates a new line of sight to the Orchard Room on the far side of the garden.  But for now it is time to recover from the massive effort put in during recent weeks.  The planting will be the easy bit!

Taking advantage of the Sales

I spent the morning planting hundreds of bulbs.  Earlier I had dropped by my local garden centre to discover that they had a sale on and packets of bulbs were reduced to just £1 each.  Now that is what I call a bargain for many packs had between 25 and 60 bulbs in them!

So back home it was out into the garden to start some planting.  I planted almost 300 bulbs in the long border alone, creating five clumps of Narcissus Bridal Crown spaced equally along the border at different points. I then planted 240 bulbs of Puschkinia Scilloides Linanotica in one long drift from one end to the other.  If they take well we should see a glorious display of white blooms in March through to April.

Then it was into the Orchard to plant 260 Snake's Head Fritillary 'Fritillaria Meleagris' bulbs.  These should work well in the semi-wild setting of the Orchard.  I planted lots of bulbs around the base of the Orchard Room and the effect should help soften the structure in April and May when they are in flower. 

But I also managed to purchase lots my old favourites - Alliums.  I was particulary drawn to an attractive and wildly expensive variety - Allium 'Silver Spring'.  These would have been too expensive for me to justify purchasing pre-sale as they were £3.99 each.  But now I have planted a clump right outside the kitchen windows in the main herbaceous bed.  Come late Spring it will be a joy to gaze at them each day and enjoy their white and deep purple display.  They should do well in this sunny, free draining spot and I hope that over time they will multiply.

For now it is time to take a break for I have spent too long on hands and knees planting today than is good for me.  The rest of the bulbs can wait.

Heavy digging and Tulip thieves

Two days before Christmas and the Winter Solstice has passed.  It may not feel it right now but the corner has been reached and the turn toward Spring has begun.  No doubt there will be more bad weather to endure but at least the days will begin to slowly lengthen. 

The weather has been wet and windy but today was a respite in the foul conditions and I was able to get back out into the garden. 

The allotted task was to continue to widen the long border that runs the length of our southern boundary in preparation for more planting.  We already have an assortment of shrubs in this border and last year planted more plus a scattering of Foxgloves.  A couple of days ago I had taken off the turf, which was heavy work, but the soil underneath was compacted and needed digging over.  This was quite a workout as it needed a pickaxe to break up the surface, then forking over and finally digging and turning the soil.  I finished off with a thick mulch of compost which not only looks good but will help to improve the soil structure.  The planting will be easy and we already have many plants grown from seed and cuttings to help fill the space.  But this can wait until after Christmas.

I will certainly not be planting Tulips.  Some form of rodent has had a field day raiding our pots and digging up pretty well all the Tulips we have planted.  The bulbs have been carted off to store somewhere or have been devoured, so we have decided to call it a day with Tulip planting.  Daffodils seem pretty resistant to this kind of problem and so I will plant out Narcissus 'Bridal Crown' in drifts next year.  We have it in pots already and the pesky rodents have left these well alone.  I also love the bubble gum scent of these late flowering Narcissus and they were a favourite of ours in the old garden.

But for now we can take a break, enjoy the garden in its naked finery, sit back with a sloe gin in hand and immerse ourselves in Christmas.

The great outdoors

One of the benefits of owning a garden on a hill and being on sharp draining chalk is that no matter how much rain Mother Nature throws at us, we can be out working in the garden within hours.

Today has been lovely.  Sunny and not too cold after a sometimes wet and decidedly chilly week.  Great weather to be out in the garden planting.  We have planted four Ligustrum delavayanum standards to help define our curving gravel path.  These are in addition to the eight we already have on other paths around the garden.  Their green heads look like floating footballs dotted around the garden and the effect is really pleasing.

In addition and to add screening, we have planted seven Ligustrum ovalifolium along our southern boundary.  While creating a screen they also provide a backdrop for the Orchard Room, our oak framed gazebo and their fresh green leaves are a real bonus.

But with two steps forward there is sometimes one step back.  During this last week holes have appeared where we planted Tulips in the border which divides the orchard from the vegetable garden.  Some form of rodent has obviously been at work lifting and no doubt storing our newly planted Tulips for Winter fodder.  Maybe this is a sign that a cold snap is on the way but having spent good money on the bulbs along with all the effort of planting them it is decidedly annoying none the less.  We had even soaked the Tulips in parafin as a precaution against just such an eventuality but still some bulbs have been taken.

As an insurance policy I have purchased more bulbs and planted these in individual pots in a gritty compost mix and hope to grow these on to plant out when they have shooted nearer the Spring.  It seems only to be Tulips that our small fury friends have a passion for.  Our Alliums/Ornamental Onions are unaffected so clearly they dislike the taste and aroma.

Maybe this is an indicator that next year we should just plant Tulips in pots and not the ground.  After all, they look just as lovely in a pot as they do in a border and pots can be easily carted off to the back of the potting shed when they are over and the bulbs lifted and stored.