Getting Ready...

It is exactly a year ago that we had to leave the Walled Garden to look after itself, in the first coronavirus lockdown, and were unable to return until the end of June. For such a long time now, many of our friends and enthusiastic supporters have been unable to come and sit quietly, and absorb the wonderful atmosphere and glorious planting here. We have missed you all so much, although we have tried to give you glimpses of what has been growing, and going on in the past year. Here are some photographs of what's been happening during the past few weeks:

It will be a month or so yet (barring any more disasters) before we can open the Walled Garden to visitors, but we are so looking forward to seeing you all again. The volunteer gardeners have weeded and mulched and planted and lifted overgrown clumps (the plant sale table will be completely stocked with plants from the walled garden this year) and there is a new raised bed for dahlias, next to the tool shed up at the top of the garden. One huge job was to reduce the clumps of miscanthus that - though spectacular - had got rather too big for our comfort. We found a man with a specialist digging tool who downsized the planting, and Marion sawed up the lifted chunks until they would fit into large plant pots. Anyone with enough garden space will be able to find a bargain later in the year.

In February, as the crocuses started to appear, the dipping pond gave us a real shock by being completely empty one morning! We filled it up and, after another very cold week, it was empty again. This was really alarming but it hasn't happened since it was re-filled. We'll take greater care next winter. Then the auricula theatre, with its lovely display of snowdrops, crashed to the ground in the recent high winds, so Ruth has planted the rescued snowdrops in the orchard meadow and we've got lots of broken terracotta to put in our display pots.

One of our garden volunteers offered to weave a willow hurdle from all the branches Geoff had cut off when pollarding our willow. Easier said than done, and Penny is still trying to find a way of keeping the willow supple for a long time. She is experimenting with cornus too, now that there are a lot of cuttings around. You'll have to see how she has got on when you are able to visit.

The compost system is working really well - Geoff gave it a good sort out mid-March - and Helen toppled the last of the winter-display cardoons to make way for the coming year's spectacular show. The garden has all the signs of an approaching spring; there will be so much to see in another month or so.

With very good wishes from the garden volunteers.