Walled Garden Volunteers' Blog April 2026
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Ten years ago, in March 2016, artist Cleo Mussi arrived with seedlings she had grown, ready for planting in the almost-ready Walled Garden. We were not prepared to open to the public yet - there wasn’t much to see! With Cleo, we planned how each border might look through the seasons. That autumn in 2016, we pored over bulb catalogues and chose Tulips for a display in the Spring. (Professional gardeners had told us that we should always buy new bulbs each year, as they could not be relied on to flower again the following Spring).
And so, each year since then we have indulged in our only big outlay, using funds earned from our plant sales and donations, to choose Tulips for our colour-coded borders. Planting them all is a labour-intensive business, and usually in cold, wet weather, but the results are always worth the time and effort.
In March this year, 2026, the borders you see behind Cleo in the photo above, look like this: (feast your eyes!)…
The Garden has exploded into colour this Easter and into April; this entire Blog could consist entirely of images of tulips and other Spring flowers! It’s a not-to -be missed display this year, thanks to the generosity of De Jager Bulbs, who helped when our original tulips order with the firm, went astray.
In the shadier front garden under the Yew, gardener Cheryl has created a beautiful, calm picture, with just narcissi Thalia and a splash of bright Oratorio tulip (pictured in the background in the photograph below). Back in the Walled Garden, the cowslips have happily multiplied in the meadow, without any input from us! And the ‘Thalia in the Dhalia beds’ look wonderful - with work by us!
Blueberries are forming on our new bushes. Repairs are being made to the dipping pond to stop it leaking! Bees have been busy on the apricot flowers- Oh! And they swarmed, so called in Buzz Club who run the hive in the garden to save them!
Plenty of work is going on behind elsewhere, of course. Weeding, never a favourite job(!), reveals seedlings which Marion and Margaret can pot up and will soon be ready to put out for sale.
The mix of showers and sunshine is bringing on the Broad Beans at the pergola, though Sarah and Helen report delays on the peas…. Sarah had started them off at home, only to find the shoots had all been eaten by mice – twice! Despite the presence of a resident cat. The third attempt is looking better…
All is in order in the raised beds, with salad vegetables coming up, and the herbs beautifully tended by Nicola.
The Tulip blooms will soon be replaced by other delights. Already the Wisterias are coming into flower – and the irises, soon to follow. The Garden is changing daily, now. Come to visit often.
