One of the positive outcomes of being working from home and my son being furloughed is that various jobs we have spoken about for a while are getting done. A case in point is the widening of the patio. If you look back to my tour of the garden at the end of March you will see that there used to be a border along the base of the wall which I had emptied of the ferns which had outgrown the space. The other weekend we finally got around to paving the space to widen the patio; due to the lockdown rules we have had to use what we had so the slabs aren't laid properly in sand and we have had to fill in with small paving slabs and bricks. Maybe one day we will do this better.
My little greenhouse is at capacity at the moment and it hasn't worked this hard for years. I'm just getting to the point where some of the tenders that are housed in here (out of shot) will be able to go out and the tomatoes will be planted up.
The view as you go up the steps from the patio and you get a clue as to why the greenhouse is working so hard - the Little Veg Bed.
I'm really pleased with the border along the top of the wall but it is really hard to photograph, as is most of the garden. I have focused the border on a very English border style. The backbone of the border is three step over apples which I have trained for some years now and the prostrate rosemary. Then the border has the majority of my roses which I appear to have been collecting without really realising it. I have interplanted around the roses with herbs - sage, curry plant, sweet cicely. These are accompanied by alliums, a stray camassia, geraniums, and some other perennials. It is all looking very lush and full and I am very pleased with the texture of all the leaves.
The creation of the Little Veg Bed was completed this past weekend. I haven't removed all the flowers leaving a border of flowers at each end and also two clumps which comprise of agapanthus and alliums which I don't want to use. Having cleared the border as much as I was going to I have planted out the sweet peas and mangetout and sowed a few salad crops. Again like the patio we have had to make due with what we could find for the plant supports; the price you pay when you get rid of everything in a big clear out and then decide to grow veg just before a lock down but I think it works.
The border at the far end of the garden has suffered from my loppers. There is a huge Euphorbia xpasteurii 'Phampton Patty' in this border which was completely swamping things. As a result of a conversation in the summer with Bob of Cotswold Garden Flowers I have chopped it down to the ground and will wait to see if it re-shoots. It has meant that I have cleared lots of space for the herbaceous plants that I needed to relocate to make the veg bed. If the Euphorbia re-shoots I will try to keep it under control more.
The top of the previous border going up to the top of the garden which is looking quite nice. The Rhododendron 'Happy' is just beginnging to flower and appears to have for forgiven me for another experiment with the loppers. There is a bit of thinning needed in this border especially as there is a large persicaria in there trying to take over but it can wait for now.
Looking back from the top of the garden to the Little Veg Bed and you can see that it is in a really central location which goes against the norm but I love it.
And the shady back of the garden which is a little out of control at the moment but in a good way. The slope is home to most of my fern collection and there are fern fronds appearing everywhere. I've recently moved the bird table here originally as it I was in the way when I was doing some weeding but it has stayed put (for now) and means that my son's workshop has become a sort of hide so he gets to watch the birds while he is doing his cabinet making.
My final shot this month is the top of the slope at the back of the garden which has been taken over by Honesty and is quite mad. I have been thinking I need to sort it out but my youngest son who dropped round the other day (keeping the appropriate distance) was amazed at the colour and thought it was great so it gets a reprieve for now. However, I will need to get the stems out as they go over as I dont want any more self sown honesty - honestly!
