february 1st 2026

Welcome to our February update.

With the days getting longer thoughts turn to Spring but there is still so much yet to do in the garden !

Plants are dormant, and that is the perfect time to give some of them a good haircut. I have been pruning the Weeping Pears by the Bog Garden – a cut that can only be made whilst they are dormant- a lesson I will not forget!  A huge amount of this seasons growth was removed to tighten up their shape.

The Gardener has spent over 2 weeks skilfully tying branches in the Nut Walk. Because of the hot summer the new growth has been shorter which makes it a more fiddly process -but he was able to let rip with a hedge cutter on the Pleached Hornbeam which has grown sufficiently to be cut as a hedge on stilts.

Walking round the garden the smell of Daphne Buhola and Witchazel draw you towards them-possibly intensified by the cold.

Aconites and Snowdrops are everywhere pushing up through a carpet of fallen leaves- the cycle continues.

With the roses pruned we can see their old wooden labels wired to the posts, not visible when they are in leaf. Still there is magic to be found in the garden- and not always from the plants.

The Vegetable Garden is producing Leeks and Sprouting Broccoli. It’s time to cover one or two Rhubarb to force them and at the end of the month we will be preparing the ground for this year’s plants.

Potatoes are being chitted inside and a few seeds sown in the Greenhouse -albeit covered with glass.

Our lone Goose is usually to be found on the Coffee Shop doorstep admiring his reflection in the window; but was in the Moat swimming with two Greylag Geese this morning.

The sheep are seeking protection under the hedges from the biting winds, but the birdsong has returned and a beautiful Kestrel was sitting on the top of the rose Pergola.

Stay healthy and good gardening

Lynda Tucker