Spring Jobs

Here are some photos from the Walled Garden this past month, with a commentary from Ann:

25 March The first iris! The cardoons are on their way and spring bulbs are delighting us all. The ‘orange‘ compost bin is ‘cooked’ and we have made some fantastic compost following Sarah’s rules. Our discipline in chopping everything up and not putting in seed heads or roots of pernicious weeds is starting to yield results. Geoff is using a lot of the new compost for his dahlia bed, and it’ll be a good test to see whether any weeds appear... but we doubt it. The compost looks and smells good!

1 April Recently we’ve pruned all of the fruit trees and the roses and Caroline has tidied all of the clematis. We’ve given the roses and clematis a dose of manure, too. The hawthorn hedge has been cut, lowering the height by 6 or 7 inches. Sarah sent broad beans to replace any that were struggling or had been disturbed; we are gearing up for spring. Sadly, some of the bulbs we planted in the autumn have been dug up and eaten. We think the fact the Garden has been deserted for much of the time has meant the local wildlife has grown bold and enjoyed a Garden feast! We still have a lot of pink tulips but the white and yellow ones are scarcer than we intended. Last year's creamy tulips by the wall have come through yellow this year.

9 April A few photos from the freezing day we had on Weds! Snow on the cowslips and snakes head fritillaries, tulips bent with frost... the beautiful white stellata blooms all turned brown and crispy. April weather ....... But we  have planted sweet peas at each end of the pergola because gardeners are always optimistic.

19 April The Paulownia and willow in the corner of the lawn were pruned today by Tim, while the Gardeners observed from the shade. Tim showed us the damage caused by woodpeckers on a dead branch - now safely down. Graham was working hard all this time, weeding the orchard trees, and Marion was checking the holding bay in the hope that we will be able to offer lots of plants for sale in a couple of weeks. And look out for the glorious new bunting, ready for the re-opening of the garden and museum in May!