17th March 2024
Welcome back to our garden.
Like everyone else we have suffered from a very wet winter.The Vegetable garden is on a south facing slope so the water does drain but the soil does still get saturated and we are only now getting back on to it.
Purple sprouting broccoli is now ready. We have protected it all winter from the wildlife with nets and we have had our first pick. In about a month it will be time to plant next year’s crop!
We are moving the rhubarb from the back of the garden where it gets baked by the sun to a more sheltered bed at the front. We are doing it in 2 stages and moving half at a time. This is so that we can continue to pick from the original bed whilst the newly moved rhubarb is settling in.
The space that has been left at the back of the garden has been replaced by Globe Artichoke who should enjoy this position. Again this is being done over two years.
The raspberry canes have been moved to a new bed because of the presence of Bindweed . The old bed has been thoroughly dug over and a fleece put down to warm up the soil. The potatoes have now been chitted and planted under the fleece which will be removed once we see some growth.
Elsewhere supports are being put up for beans and they will be planted first in the Greenhouse where they should avoid the mice and pigeons whilst they put down some roots.
The unheated Greenhouse is still packed with overwintering perennials. They will soon need moving to make space for the seeds being sown.
Enjoy the Daffodils- we have over 48 different varieties all coming at different times. At the moment the early yellow are visible but please keep to the paths to avoid treading on the later emerging varieties.
If you like yellow and blue this is a good time to visit with Scilla and Muscari everywhere and sometimes combining with the small daffodil tete a tete or primroses.
On the front of the house the Clematis Armandii is just coming in to flower with its beautiful pale pink flowers. Normally this flowers early April.
The Wild Garden is a mass of the wild daffodil Pseudonarcissus which enjoys the damp soil it finds there and this will soon be joined by the blue Anemone Blanda and Snakeshead Fritillaria. Although the snowdrops are over the giant white snowflake- Leucojum, has spread along the side of the Moat and is in full flower.
Our first lambs usually arrive on April 1st. This year they started arriving in mid -February. So far we have 12. The Swans have been visiting but yet again chased off the Moat by the Grey Lag Geese. The 2 Geese remain guarding the Fishponds and the Heron has appeared again. We have had many Moles, Rabbit and Muntjac- the joys of gardening!!
Happy gardening and stay healthy
Lynda Tucker
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