The Full On Gardener

 It helps enormously to have good weather when kick starting a new gardening season. I’m afraid I’m not a stoic when it comes to going out in all weathers. Cold + rain = stay indoors and read. It’s the law. Anyway, this week has been marvellous for Good Gardening Weather so after working on Tuesday and Wednesday, and attending a funeral on Thursday, I was out in the garden on Friday with a large trug and a pointy weed digger thing determined to do unto death (whilst they are still tiny) as many bastard thistles, docks, nettles and other assorted weeds of a perennial and undesirable nature as possible such as dandelion and buttercup. I was also intent on targeting certain plants I do not want in my garden, namely aquilegia and crocosmia. I’ve been tackling these two rampant spreaders for a couple of years now and believe I am now on the winning side.

Anyway, forth I set - two solid days of gardening. I’d already cleared all the weeds growing between the paving slabs of the courtyard and it was looking pretty darned good, so I tackled the courtyard flowerbed first. Found another clump of crocosmia. As I was wrenching it from its bed, I gave some thought as to why I don’t like crocosmia (aside from its presumptive ‘I’ll grow where I like’ nature) and I think it’s because it is orange. I won’t deliberately buy plants that are orange. Orange does not have a place in my garden. I was glad to see the violets are spreading, though. Now violets I do like. 

The eagle eyed of you will notice some aquilegia amongst the violets. Now, I’m not totally anti- aquilegia. I do appreciate they are very elegant plants. But they need to remain in their allotted space if they are to stay in my garden, so I am operating a strict ‘Do NOT Move’ policy and aquilegia found growing outside their allotted space will be removed forthwith and immediately.

I then worked my way up the woodland patch, then across the barbecue area, making a note to top it up with gravel. The area, not the barbecue. Then I was into the new rose garden. All four climbing roses planted by Andy on Boxing Day are putting on leaf and growth, so that’s good, given how much they cor blimey cost.  There are a lot of foxgloves appearing. I don’t know how they got there because for the last four years they have been in the opposite flower bed, but they somehow decided to move and voila! There they are! I love foxgloves. Like poppies and forget-me-nots, they are allowed free rein in the Damson Cottage gardens.

I pulled up the remainder of leeks that I planted there last summer. Enough to make soup, I reckon. Transplanted a sad little hydrangea from the flower bed on the opposite side of the lawn, along with some lily-of-the-valley. 

The flower bed opposite the rose bed has identity issues. Currently, it contains two apple trees, two hydrangeas who really don’t like it there, a buddleia, loads of forget-me-nots, and a swathe of daffodils that I planted in our first year here and are doing very nicely, thank you very much. I often stare at this bed and wonder what to do with it. It gets hit by some vicious winds sometimes, blowing across the fields. It’s on the evening sun side of the garden, but remains fairly well lit all day. The clay soil is currently rock hard. From that bed I have dug up glass bottles, about twenty window sash handles and likewise in number old fashioned three pin plugs and sockets, two metal toy pistols and a variety of other tat which really should have been disposed of at the hazardous waste section of the local rubbish tip. Despite that, this bed is very good at growing docks, nettles, brambles, cow parsley and a brand of particularly resistant grass which genuinely induces rage in me by its very existence. I have managed to weed my way two thirds down this bed. Just looking at the last third makes me feel weary. I’m wondering how much it would cost to block pave. 

And at the end of two days of intensive gardening, His Lordship Malarkey and I had a barbecue! 

His Lordship Malarkey has also been garden busy. He planted LOADS of veg seeds, mostly random of nature. We had a mild contretemps about the size of pots he put the runner beans in. I tried to explain the need for VERY deep pots or root trainers. He made it clear they were staying put in the small pots he’d already assigned them. When they all get blown over in the wind because of their inadequate root systems, that’ll be me laughing and saying, ‘Ha! Told you so!’ 

He has also planted various root veg - parsnips, carrots, beetroot - in our first proper raised bed...

And now he is watching all seed progress why beady eye and asking why they aren’t up yet. Sigh...

He has also tackled the remains of the old compost heaps behind the fruit cage, clearing them and sieving their contents into raised bed Number Two. He has dismantled the fruit cage and expanded it to encompass the WHOLE area between the greenhouse and the hedge, thus covering the ever expanding raspberry thicket, the two blackcurrant shrubs, the blackberry, the rhubarb and the enormous gooseberry bush. He has moved the door, too, which means I shall be able to enter the fruit cage without having to perform Indiana Jones style acrobatics in order to avoid being scratched to ribbons by aforesaid gooseberry bush. The new cage is looking quite, quite magnificent! Also, he has dug up and replanted all the raspberry cane runners that had escaped the cage into a nice neat line inside the cage! Suffice to say, he has worked up a greater sweat than I over the last two days.

We have also, between us, relocated several box plants, restocked the thyme and oregano herb bed and stared in vain at the pond for frog spawn. Ah well...early days, I suppose. 

The weather continues dry and fine this week so gardening shall continue apace. Oh, and my granddaughters have two MORE rescued guinea pigs, namely Peanut and Pan Pan. Don’t ask....