19th August 2024

Welcome

The Sweet Peas in the Vegetable Garden have been flowering for 6 weeks with the stems getting increasingly shorter and they will now be left to go to seed.

 The Sweet Corn has been underplanted with Butternut Squash and will soon be overwhelmed if the corns don’t ripen soon.

Runner beans and Cabbages as well as Chard, Beetroot and kale are all ready for picking and we are waiting for the Onion leaves to brown and lay down and then they too will be picked. Some Apples, Pears , Figs and Plums are ready and the Blackberry has had a bumper crop.

Tomatoes in the Greenhouse are a later variety but the tumbling toms in the outside chimney pots are producing well.

Cyclamen are emerging in the Dell – flowers before the foliage. Not a problem here but on the East Lawn we have Colchicums which have a similar habit and we need to be very careful with the mowing.

The Bog Garden is lush and yellow plants are flowering again- Marsh Marigolds, Trollius Europaeus and Stella d’ora are all in flower as well as  the tall purple spikes on the Thalia. The fallen willow tree has shoots growing along its length in the water.

The white flowers on the front of the Hall are Magnolia Grandiflora and you might see the Pink Criniums still in flower.

The West Lawn is transitioning to its Autumn plants and the Oleander are in flower in the pots. The plants in the gravel were cut down several weeks ago and are now flowering again.

House Martins are still under the eaves and a Fly Catchers nest above the courtyard lavatory. Sparrow Hawk, Heron, Cormorant and Buzzards are all in evidence. The fish we have seen in the moat are quite large- possibly too large to pick up ?  We have seen 2 swarms of wasps but not many bees nor butterflies. The widowed Goose seems to have established a mutual relationship with the swans in the Fishponds.

Stay healthy and good gardening

Lynda Tucker