Middle-March

No, not Middlemarch, that’s George Eliot, and I can’t begin to approximate her writing style! But we are for sure in the middle of March, although the weather this week, while generally dry, seems to have taken a turn for the cooler! Being a ‘half glass full’ kind of chap, cool is good at this time of the year as it will prolong the daffodil, and other Spring bulb, blooms, which can collapse faced with hot sun.

That said, the little Crocus tomassinianus (blue with orange centres) have now gone over under the old apple tree. They’ve done very well, having flowered for over a month. Last March, we doubled the size of the original patch by using the bulb planter to remove a core of turf (and bulbs) from the edge of each clump. We then slotted them in to the new neighbouring turf, using the new turf lozenges to fill in the original holes. It worked well and we’ve just repeated the process again this week, so we should have an increased sea of blue under the apple next February.

We did something similar last Spring with our miniature daffodils naturalised at the edge of the south lawn, and it’s really rewarding to see the new plantings of the Tete à tete narcissus flowering alongside the old. Bulbs are such good value at this time of year, and neither of these projects cost a penny (so speaks the thrifty Scot!).

Beside the goldfish pond, the Lady Gardener has been populating the pots with pops of bright colour this week. We won’t be putting out the agapanthus for some weeks, so it’s lovely to have some nice colour so near the kitchen door. I don’t tend to ‘do’ gardening tips much, but there’s a lot to be said about prioritising some sparkle-factors on the journey between front door and garden gate; they have a disproportionately positive effect, helping you start the day with a smile! Anyhow, tip over! For interest, the LG’s being planting lovely Viola cornuta, dianthus and polyanthus primulas in themed shades of pink and yellow, with some contrasting uprights of freshly cut, red-stemmed lime (Tilia) twigs for contrast. These should all flower through Easter and well beyond, hopefully.

Elsewhere in the garden, we’ve started to cultivate the borders, starting with the hybrid tea roses. We use a three-tined cultivator which breaks up the surface of the soil and leaves a nice finish. So much safer than the hoe which invariably finds, and slices through, emerging shoots which you’ve forgotten about! We’ll work our way round the borders, removing perennial weeds as we find them, leaving behind a nice tilth to the soil. I’m ever hopeful that we’ll be able to augment the borders with some home-produced compost soon, but turning over the heaps this week showed that progress has been slow. There’s no heat in them at this time of year so we’re reliant on bacteria to do the job, and this takes a lot longer. Still, turning them over re-mixes the material and lets the air in…

View of the Summerhouse from the Old Orchard garden

And finally, nature note of the week. The Mallards are back on the lily pond for their annual early-Spring holiday! These three ducks, well two drakes and a duck to be precise, have been visiting the pond for years. They only come for a few weeks each Spring before heading off again to ponds-unknown! They don’t do too much damage while they’re here (just one or two broken stems) , and arguably might help to feed the water lilies, although they may also just contribute to an annual (albeit temporary) flush of blanketweed algae…. They do look very ornamental, though, swimming in the pond and it’s good to know they enjoy their annual vacation enough to want to come back each year. But three is enough, so hopefully they won’t discover TripAdvisor…