16th June 2024

Welcome

In the Vegetable Garden we are busy planting vegetables and herbs raised in the Greenhouse. We are picking Carrots, Spinach and Rocket. We have started digging Charlotte potatoes which are later than our earlier crop of Duke of York, but we prefer the flavour. Lots of herbs to pick and birds are hovering for the Strawberries and Gooseberries.

The Cutting Garden Flowers are huge this year and the Sweet Peas are lush but not as floriferous as usual- fingers crossed that some sun might help soon?

Outside the vegetable garden the rose on the Wall leading to the Potting Shed is Phyllis Bide.

The Greenhouse is full of tomato plants- some waiting to go outside if the weather improves.

The Iris have finished in their bed and will be cut to stop them wasting energy and rocking in the winds. The Delphiniums are now the stars, and I am so pleased with how well they are doing as they have been grown from seed.

Foxgloves are enjoying the shade at the edge of the wooded Dell.

2 kinds of Orchid have been spotted in the Fishponds- Bee Orchid and Pyramidal Orchid.

The daffodil area is still waiting to be cut but the Bog Garden has really enjoyed the wet weather and it is a good time to see it. Iris Black Gamecock and Iris Ensata are both in flower as are the Zantedeschia. The beautiful Variegated Grasses have loved the wet and are spreading well.

Hosta and Hemerocallis are filling the beds beside the path by the stream and Primula and Hydrangea are both enjoying the shade in the Water Garden.

On the West Lawn the rose covering the tree on your right is Pauls Himalayan Musk and looking across the Moat the white rose running up through the Maple is Wedding Day.

Sadly, one of the pair of geese whose home is in the Fishponds has been killed by a Fox but to our surprise a new set of twins were born on Saturday- almost 3 months after the arrival of our first lambs.

Very large Carp have been seen in the Moat and we haven’t seen the Heron for a while. The Song Thrush has woken us up every day and its song fills the gardens in the evenings.

Stay healthy and good gardening

Lynda Tucker