29th November 2024

With Christmas fast approaching you are very welcome visitors to our online garden blog where the work in the garden continues.

The weather has been extraordinary in Norfolk changing from beautiful sunny- but very cold days, to gale force winds and the odd day of torrential rain.

In the Vegetable Garden we have removed the climbing vegetable frames and pulled up the Squash and Courgettes. We have dug the last of the Parsnips and Carrot but are still picking Kale, Chard and masses of flat leafed Parsley. Currants and the standard Gooseberries have been pruned and 3 new Redcurrant and 15 Raspberries planted in the original raspberry Fruit cage. We have still winter Cabbages and sprouting Broccoli but have given up on the late planted dwarf beans (a tv gardening programme tip) which stopped growing at the flower stage. We are about to cut down the Asparagus- which have only just turned brown, and we do like to dig over the beds after removing the vegetation.

We are cutting canes from the Nut Trees at the bottom of the Orchard before we do any damage to the carpet of Daffodils soon to be peeping through beneath them.

Jasmine is in full flower along the wall to the Potting Shed and the Orchids in the Greenhouse have lots of buds and will soon come into the house.

The Dell is brown with a covering of leaves which will mulch it beautifully and we are busy paying attention to our boundary hedges and clearing away unwanted vegetation around the roots.

The fallen Willow tree in the Bog Garden has at last been chopped into manageable slices and will be removed. The water table is high and we will wait before we work on this garden.

We are cutting down the flower beds and putting on a thick mulch on the Autumn Border. The Asters in this bed were very late flowering and we have reduced the height of the hedge and overgrown beech at the back to allow more light and sun into this North facing bed.

Nerines have just finished flowering in the bed along the wall at the front of the hall and we have planted 100 Tulip Queen of the Night. We have used a generous amount of chilli powder in the hope of deterring the squirrels. Time will tell. Also, at the front of the Hall we have pruned the large Magnolia which was threatening to completely cover the Rose and Crinium’s planted there.  Clematis Freckles will also benefit from more light as it is on the adjacent wall.

The leaves under the Nut Walk have been raked up to allow us to see the Aconites which will be appearing very soon. Already daffodil shoots are appearing. Not only do the leaves cover the Aconites but if we leave it too late to remove them we remove the flower heads at the same time.

The Holly doesn’t have as many berries as usual and the Mahonia we are picking for the Hall drops its flowers very quickly but it will soon be time to think about decorating for Christmas and bringing in the evergreens to liven up the Hall

Great skeins of Geese are flying overhead and whenever a fork is in the soil a Robin will appear. We still have the Heron, Duck, Moorhen, Game birds and Raptors but we miss the constant chatter of our summer visitors. We have Muntjac, Fox, Rabbits and lots of Squirrels and the house seems to still be attracting large numbers of Flies. The Hebrideans continue to munch their way through the Fishponds and Water Garden.

Stay healthy and good gardening

Lynda Tucker