Newsletter 2003 - Garden
The garden continues to mature. I can't believe that it is only a couple of years old. When I look at it and try to imagine how it used to be, it is hard to realise that it is the same garden. I now have a wide variety of plants to look at and interest the whole year round.
Spring 2003 - The garden is starting to come alive again
The garden looked wonderful in Spring and early Summer. The beds are now starting to fill out and there are fewer and fewer gaps between plants. Instead, I am now have that wonderful overflowing mass of green. Flowers come and go to provide a wonderful, ever changing, feeling of excitement. I now am happy to cut back plants that finished flowering to allow space for the new ones coming along, rather than being worried about the spaces that I was going to cause. The wisteria on the back of the house is really coming into its own. It is growing so well that it is constantly trying to invade the roof. We had a wonderful show of flowers from it this Spring.
One area that needed some work was by the pond. I hadn't added much to the original planting and it was looking a little sparse. The main feel of the area is to be a green oasis. For that reason, I have decided to concentrate on plants that aren't in other parts of the garden and get away from the cottage garden feel that exists elsewhere. I bought quite a few hostas which seem to be doing pretty well. I have also put in a number of shrubs and a miscanthus. Now we just have to see how they look next year.
The pergola in Summer
The lack of rain this summer (we only saw rain on 2 days between July and September) had surprisingly little effect on the garden. For once I have to be really grateful for the water retaining capabilities of the clay soil on which I garden. Thank goodness for all the work that was done improving the quality of the soil. The main impact of the lack of rain was on my enthusiasm for planting. I was away from home so much that I knew I couldn't keep up a sufficiently frequent watering regime to allow for a lot of new plants, so the garden was a little neglected during this time.
The garden continues to draw a number of birds. The most frequent visitors seem to be the smaller birds, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Sparrows, Green finches and a Robin. I have augmented the peanut bird feeders with a seed feeder, which appears to have been much appreciated. The two water features appear to be pretty effective at providing the water requirements. I have even seen wasps drinking from the fountain.
I have now been able to use the contents of my compost bin for the first time. There is something quite wonderful about turning waste plant material into a soil improver. I never cease to be amazed at the volumes of material that can go into the bin. One week it is full and then the next, there is space for even more material - it's a bit like magic. I am really grateful for the shredder I bought a few years ago at Chelsea. It eats up the woody material and produces mulch which is much more compact and suitable for quick composting.