When my window cleaner came the other day she said 'Gosh Lesley, have you had the cows in again?' She was referring to the time about four years ago when cows belonging to our neighbour Trevor escaped from his fields into our garden and trampled it to pieces one night in January. Listening to the sounds of marauding cows in the dark was very scary and when we surveyed the damage next morning we were horrified. This was mainly because our garden was going to open for the NGS Yellow Book later in the year for the first time and the situation looked irretrievable. My husband though is an optimist - and a grafter. He worked incessantly that Spring to put beds back together and save plants and trees. There is no-one like him in the garden for me. He says we're a team because I know the names and choose what to plant but I know the success of our garden is down to his intuitive skill and hard work out there.
All the hard work paid off because we had two successful openings and sold lots of plants we'd brought on. The weather was extra kind that summer and friends turned up to support bringing cakes to sell. I have some very special memories of people sat in my garden enjoying cake, drinking tea in the sunshine from bone china cups and asking lots of questions about the names of plants. It was lovely but the population is a bit sparse round here so we didn't make a huge amount for the NGS and decided the stress and worry of getting it 'just so' took away our enjoyment of our own garden a little bit. Since then we've continued to develop it for ourselves and where I used to plant lots of dye plants and grasses etc to make paper from we're now evolving into a garden mainly for the butterflies, moths and bees we love so much. The damage the window cleaner was referring to is the carnage wreaked this year however by marauding badgers instead. It has been worse than I've ever seen it. Similarly there are more moles than ever and the ground feels as if it is undermined by loads of little tunnels all waiting to give way underfoot!
We've spent today tidying up, cutting down, planning beds, sowing seeds in the greenhouse and generally taking in everything that's in flower now. I was inspired by Jeanne over at Tales of a Cottage Garden today as she has posted some beautiful photos of buds waiting to open and delight us all, so I went out and photographed some of our treasures. The forsythia is just about to open, the snake's head fritillaries are about to open their nodding little heads and I just adore the lovely green and purple colour mix in their flowers.... and then there are the wonderful hellebores which are a bit late this year but have suddenly come into their own. Please forgive me for just posting lots of hellebore photos. Some are bought and others are seedlings that we've grown over the years but they are some of my favourite things in the Spring garden to enjoy.
This lovely warm weather means we'll try a moth trap tonight and then get on with the veg sowing tomorrow. I'm always wary of starting too early with vegetables as the season is a long one and we're still a long way from the warmth of the summer sun that's needed to get them to do their best. We've just got round to our veg plot this afternoon and found that the badgers have dug up one of our rhubarb crowns. Now we'll never eat all the rhubarb we produce ( I make paper with it mostly!) but I'm beginning to get tired of the damage. I need to take a leaf out of my husband's book and take these things with more pragmatism. Of course I shall - even if it's through gritted teeth - I shall live with it! After all it's Spring and we've a lot of other things to enjoy in the garden. If you're doing the same, have a great weekend everyone!
7 comments:
Oh how I do know what you mean - we too have a lot of badgers round here and the damage they can do is amazing! I was hoping to plant some rhubarb crowns this year and I dare say the badgers will dig those up too.
Your hellebores are lovely and your garden must be a picture with all the spring flowers you mention. We have some primroses coming out now on our bank but nothing like the variety of plants you have in your garden I am afraid. Still this is our first gardening year here having left things last year to see what came up and whaere the sun shone and so on.
Hope your week has been good?
Jane x
How wonderful to hear that you were part of the NGS scheme.... we have had a good few lovely afternoons out looking at people's gardens. We (luckily) have only ever seen one badger in ours and it was the most threadbare of creatures. Deer found their way in last year, but didn't do too much. Our cat goes on "Mole Patrol" and sometimes catches them. I loved your photos of hellebores and the fritillaries are a great favourite of mine. I am an impatient gardener and have been poking around in pots to see if I can find any sign of Hosta shoots. At the time of writing I am wondering if they died due to the very cold winter. I shall give them a couple of weeks more........
No badgers, no moles in my suburban garden, but the biggest, slimiest slugs - like green chipolatas and dozens and dozens of snails devastated our garden last year. Spring seems to be coming at a gallop now. Your hellebores are lovely.
Jill
Your garden sounds super and so full of wildlife. Our garden is too small for bigger wild things but we like to see the insects and birds that visit.
Lucy xxxxx
Gorgeous hellebore photos. Sorry about your badgers ......... we have muntjack deer intruders every morning which love courgettes, lettuce, muscari, pansies and runner beans!
Lesley my laptop battery was running out and I didn't manage to say how lovely were your comments about your husband's support in the garden - there's nothing better, is there?
I'm very impressed that you have opened your garden for the NGS scheme Lesley, and the amount you did make all adds to the pot.
Your Hellebores are just gorgeous, as are the delightful little fritillaries.
Thankfully, we don't get any marauding cattle or hungry badgers in our little garden, but lots of snails and slugs!
I look forward to seeing how your wildlife garden develops over the coming months, thank you for the mention Lesley, that was really sweet of you.
I hope to do a post on 'blooms' shortly as things seemed to have romped on since my 'bud' post!!
Jeanne x
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