Pots of daffs on their way to their springtime showplace
Like all my gardening friends, I have been desperate to get out in the garden again after the slothfulness of the Christmas holiday - and I have managed to do so on a couple of occasions this week.
So here, my friends, after last week's leisurely look at what is giving a bit of colour already, is the start of another -working- year in the garden at Autumn Cottage! Though everything seems brown, inactive, and a total mess, being a gardener and actually walking around, looking close to the earth, reveals that all is ready to go - and already going in some cases! (The mess, however, is real. Sigh. )
The first snowdrops are appearing, the catkins are covering the hazel tree in the front garden and bulbs are bursting through the surface everywhere. Today was dank and grey, but quite mild on the patio, so I thought a good day for clipping back the Lonicera nitida behind the bird table (a great substitute for Box for those who are in blight areas) that should have been pruned hard in the autumn.
From this...
To this
The long step in front of the conservatory also got a cleanup, ready to receive the pots of Red Devon daffodils that are already appearing above their surface gravel. They did need some weeding, as all sorts of other plants delight in seeding themselves in such a welcoming substrate when they are 'over-summering' - but now they are all lined up and another sign of hope in the midwinter garden.
Talking of the veg & herb garden…if you think that Autumn Cottage has a 'perfect' cottage garden - well think again. Friends - I give you…the Veggie Garden of Shame! (I'm only showing you this so you can all be very impressed when it is cleaned up and growing beautifully later on…I wish!!)
After the Great Oil Tank Disaster of last year, the veg garden became a storage area of desperation for the half of the plants that I was able to rescue, that were not buried under builders rubble as the environmental cleanup took place. I was grateful to have *any* space for that purpose, but it meant that there was barely room to move, let alone grow vegetables, and with all the extra work in the garden after the clean up, the veggies and herbs ran riot.
Never mind - one of the lovely things about having a garden is that it is all forgiving - the plants don't judge me, so I try not to judge myself and all that we have NOT achieved…we will just do what we can do and that will have to be good enough.
A bit like life in general - don't you think?!
Recent Comments