For the past two years we have entered a gardening competition for the Shropshire Star Paper.  Each time we have reached the semi-finals but no further.  Whilst driving up to Shrewsbury, last August, to the Percy Thrower Garden Centre to receive our prize we decided that this year we would not enter.  This all went out of the window when two seperate people urged us to enter and this year we made the final!!  Roy Lancaster came to judge the garden which was just the biggest thrill, though I would have dearly loved to be asking him questions rather than answering his.  Next Saturday we shall be going to Shrewsbury Flower Show for this years presentation.  Fingers crossed. 

I have done hanging baskets for the past five years and I love them.  However I do notice how the professional ones appear to last longer.  I have this year put a plastic liner inside the basket not just on the bottom section but right up to the top.  This did make pushing the plants through a bit more time consuming but the effect has been worth it with the baskets being full and overflowing without any plants dying off.  Note to self for next year! 

Well it is all over for another year.  The sun shone but the wind blew and blew. I asked the vicar if there was a message in this as last year the garden was dashed to the ground by the rain consistently before we opened and this year it would appear that the wind was trying to blow the garden into another county!  So many of the people of the village turned out to look at or to help with the garden.  The gardening club members came and manned the plant stall and we raised nearly £900 for the National Garden Scheme.  The down side of all this is that I have felt like a zombie for the last few days. I have very evidently fallen off my adrenaline mountain.  Well I am sure tomorrow I shall be back in the saddle and when I look at the plants still waiting to go into the ground I know I must get my skates on.

With just over a week to go till we open I hesitate to say but I think we are on track.  Friends and neighbours and bringing extra plants for us to sell on the day, and offers of help and cakes are coming thick and fast.  Non of these offers are declined.  The difficulty with the plants is that I invariably find a few that I rather fancy myself and end up putting quite a lot of money in the plant kitty towards those I have purchased. This is something the under gardener is quite in ignorance of. Hope he does not read this. 

I am busy filling holes left by plants that have gone over.  I have grown on a good number of Dahlias for this purpose.  I also grew from seed a lot of grasses.  In the past I have stayed away from these but this year I am using them to fill in as and when necessary.  Extra plants are waiting to go into the gravel garden and I have spent a good deal of time weeding the woodland!!! crazy I know but some areas have just go to be kept under control.  Other patches I just took the strimmer to them and then raked up the debris.  Unlike last year the weather is on our side, in fact a little rain now would be useful but I am afraid to mention it as last year when I said this it never stopped raining.

We have just spent a very pleasant afternoon showing the garden to Martin Ford of the Shropshire Star paper.  He had been here before when we were lucky enough to get to the semi final of the "Best Gardener in Shropshire" competition.  This time he is doing an article for the paper to appear on the Wednesday before we open for charity.  The sun shone and I have to say the garden had some of its best clothes on!  After tea and cakes ( got to bake many more cakes in the next few days) Martin left and the under gardener and I can rest easy, till tomorrow!

With now less than a month to go we have all but completed the projects that we set ourselves.  The under gardener has been perfecting the Arbour Seating area and I will post pictures as soon as the final touches are in place.  I am about to lift all the daffs from one area of the woodland garden to create an area of stumps, hostas and ferns.  With a problem here of ground elda, much better than last year but still some left I am going to cover the area with membrane having treated for the last of the ground elder and then plant through the membrane.  We are off to a plant sale in Saturday and I am hopeful in being able to buy the plants that I shall need to complete this area.  With this done we just have to keep the place tidy and our finger crossed for the weather. 

I have a "rolling" list of things to do before we open to the public, one day it feels as though everything is under control and the next day it is not.  It is raining right now but there is plenty to do in the greenhouse and I am just putting off doing anything today as I am getting a little tired but I know as soon as I get stuck in a new lease of energy will crop up.  I have sourced a real barrel from a local firm that make cider and I have said I will collect it next week.  It is to go by the garage to collect rain water.  The one side already has a water butt, which is plastic and not on show, quite serviceable but not very good to look at, this will look good and will be on show.  That is after we have drilled some holes in it and the down pipe of the guttering.  The under gardener was quite disappointed that the barrel did not come full! 

During the warm spell one of the jobs I have completed is the complete stripping out and cleaning of the greenhouse.  This takes a LONG time. I always get soaked when cleaning the window and taking everything in and then putting it all back is quite a job.  I am pleased that it is only twice a year.  I decided to put the shading up at the same time and this has turned out to be a good move.  You can see the results on the Spring page.   The "holding pens" at the side of the greenhouse also came in for a good tidy and now are stacked with the plants which we will be offering for sale on our open day. Well I am off now to do the hanging baskets, all the plants have grown on well and it is a job I so enjoy doing, especially in a clean greenhouse!

I am sitting in the under gardener's study and I cannot believe the difference in the garden that I can see from the window.  The Beech hedge which did not have anything but brown leaves on it a week ago is now a wonderful shade of green.  All the Alliums are standing tall and I spent a good deal of time yesterday staking things to make sure that they do not topple over.  I am rather pleased with myself for doing this as each year I leave it just a little too late and something flops onto something else and I could kick myself, but not this year.  I got some rough cut steaks from a local supplier and painted them all the same shade of blue/green so that they look good as they protrude above the plants ( not my idea, got it from Gardener's World! ). Better go and finish the job.  See you!

It is a wonderful morning and I have just been walking round the garden with the Dobie inspecting the work we did yesterday.  The lawns were cut and edged and lawn sand applied and the orchard was also cut and all relevant areas strimmed and made tidy. It really looks good with the trees now well on their way to full glory but it was the fragrance of the lilac, the coronilla with its yellow flowers and wonderful fragrance and the Viburnum Juddii all doing their thing. Now I think I had better go and finish clearing our the green house and cleaning the glass.  Oh joy.

It is Bank Holiday Monday and there is the most enormous pile of bark chipping at the top of the drive.  On Friday we had the Cherry Trees pruned, I watched with some horror as a couple of young men did this job, one on the ground and one swinging in the branches cutting as directed by his colleague.  The company come several times in the year to tidy up the trees and clip some of the hedges that we cannot do ourselves and on this visit they brought the bank chippings which is destine for around the whips that were planted just two years ago around the edges of the kitchen garden and the rest will be put under the newish beach hedge and the path through the woodland garden.  I am writing this now as I am trying to put off a job that I am not looking forward to.  Wish me luck! 

Yesterday we finished the pergola.  It really looks good. There are pictures of it on the website under projects.  I now have a barrow full of plants to put into the ground now to add extra interest.  I have bought the rose Rambling Rector to go over the pergola and with the mock orange which is already in place plus a clematis (yet to be purchased) and a winter flowering honeysuckle it should be covered in no time. So now I am off to go planting - Oh joy. 

I have done it again.  Some of the seeds I have sown have done so well that I am not quite sure where I shall be putting everything when it comes time for pricking out.  I had hoped to take the bobble wrapping off the greenhouse by now but it has gone very cold again so it will have to wait for a while I think.  We have been asked to open the garden a couple of extra times this year for gardening clubs to wonder at will.  We are both thrilled at the requests despite the extra work it will involve and of course it will bring in extra money for the National Garden Scheme so that will be a big bonus.

Now we are in April the under gardener is busy at work on a pergola which is to be sighted at the entrance of the woodland.  With the different levels of ground here this is not going to be easy, not to mention the difficulty of digging holes for the down posts which will have to be dug around tree roots.  However I think the finished result will look very good.  The wood has be purchased and we have borrowed a special spade to dig post holes with so now we are all set. 

It is about this time of year as all the seeds that were sown have started to poke their heads through the compost to view the outside world that I realise, as always, I have been far too adventurous and that I will have more than a tight squeeze to get everything when potted on into the greenhouse.  It is just that when I am choosing what to sow I am always tempted into just one more packet, and of course you can never tell until you open them just how many seeds there will be or how well they will germinate.  This year has been so far very successfully which is why I am facing this problem - again!  We sell a good deal of plants when we open for the National Garden Scheme and I also sell plants to raise money for out Gardening Club but that does not solve the pressure of space NOW.  All the experts are right when they say however big your greenhouse is you can always use a little more space. 

Can you believe that it is Easter so soon.  My work rate in the last week has been slowed by twisting an ankle going downstairs but it is on the mend now so things are getting back to normal.  I have just, and I do mean just, finished putting a new bed into the garden.  It is a small bed to mirror one put in last Autumn which has in it three roses.  This new bed now how three Red Hot Pokers in it that have grown too large for their previous position.  I am pleased with the end result and it has left me with some turf which tomorrow will be used to "patch" areas where the Dobie bitch has been.  Now that is what I call re-cycling!

We are like others experiencing high winds which are causing some problems and a good deal of clearing up.  This is proving a challenge as I have managed to badly twist my ankle rushing downstairs (to get out into the garden of course) and had to spend an afternoon with my foot in a bowl of iced water.  It did the trick but not a nice experience.  Much banged up I and the under gardener went to a reception for the Shropshire NGS where those who are opening their gardens meet and collect paperwork and just have a get together with the County Organiser.  It bring it home just how close June is.

We have a lot of Pulmonaria in the woodland but the problem is it is growing with ground elder.  I want to move it to other places in the garden but of course I do not want to move the ground elder as well.  So I have dug it up and spent some time trying to disentangle it from the burgeoning elder.  I have then split it and put it for the time being into pots so that I can monitor the progress.  I was pleased that the three of four clumps I dug up have given me now 21 plants but time will tell if they are residing in those pots on their own! 

No, not that kind of bank but the bank at the front of the cottage.  Now fully cleared (with the help of the chainsaw) we await a wooden wall to be built and in the meantime I am pulling the ivy off it.  Years and years of ivy off it and I am doing it a three trugs full a day, any more and I should go crazy.  Most of the difficulty come from the fact it is at such a steep angle.  I am, however, releasing all sorts of things such as wild primroses, ferns, bluebells and foxgloves so without much effort it will give quite a show on its own.  I am putting all sorts of things to one side to plant up when it is full cleared and then the party can begin. 

It has been the most beautiful day here but very cold.  Being more than a little fed up with chain saws the Under Gardener has had the day off and I have retreated into the greenhouse.  This was in a very sorry state when we arrived and it was one of the first jobs to be tackled.  I did have grand ideas about a new greenhouse but when I saw the prices I new I would never swing it.  It is without doubt the powerhouse of the garden and I just love it.  I spent this afternoon sowing seeds and potting on grasses that had self set themselves in the grave garden.  They have grown a good deal over the winter as we do have a little heat in the greenhouse and they are now big plants.  The problem I have at this time of year is that my aspirations are larger than the greenhouse and something has got to give.  There is not another inch of room to be had but it is amazing what I do manage to squeeze in. I have found from experience to label and date everything and the old plant labels that have been discarded are brought in and soaked in bleached water for about 3 days when with a little jiff they will be as good as new!

We have now all but finished clearing the bank and in doing this have "released" the snowdrops to the world.  There are a good deal of them here and I shall lift and divide these clumps when they have gone over.  The daffs are now about two inches tall and buds are on so many things that I am feeling quite giddy with the prospect that spring is around the corner.  The lawns look uneven and as though a good trim would not come amiss but it is so wet that this is just not possible.  The sun is shinning and I am off to prep air seed trays (after I have dusted round  )

If you have seen the two pictures on the site under "projects" then you will know just how much clearing we have done to the bank at the front of the cottage.  The chopping and clearing and then lugging all this up to the top of the garden pales into insignificance compared with processing it!  What takes two or three days to chop down taken well over a week to process even though we have to chippers.  We are about 90% finished with the processing and now the under gardener has decided to completely remove the remaining hedge at the bottom of the bank.  Over half of it has disappeared over time and we had at one point considered just re-planting in the gaps but now all has changed. So - tomorrow it is out with the chain saw and on with the work.  Wish us luck.

This morning I received our invitation from the NGS to a "bit of a do" which is held at the County Organizers home in March.  Here the garden owners get together for drinks and nibbles, collect paperwork, see presentations which are made to gardeners and generally catch up.  After the summer we had last year I know that some gardens opened in such terrible weather that not one person turned out to see them.  All that work and all that worry and then to be totally rained off, it makes me realise how lucky we were, however this letter is a wake up call that time is moving on at a pace and we have just six months to go.  Now I know that six months may appear to be a long time but with the list of things we want to complete by then it is not long at all. It is yet time to panic I ask myself. 

It has broken my hart today to see the snow drops doing their very best to pop up from under a carpet of ivy and old leaves that cover the bank at the front of the cottage.  My broken hart is down to the fact that for the second year running I had no option but to walk over them in an effort to clear the bank of all the over grown tangle of shrubs and trees who call this area home.  We had intended to put in a solid two hours on this work but in the end we spent over three and a half hours chopping and clipping and chain sawing everything in sight!  Then there was the mammoth task of hauling all of this up the drive towards the composting area ready for processing.  The pile is almost as high as the garage and if the weather holds we will start processing tomorrow.  I must say that all this work has opened up the area and when the Ivy has been cleared then planting can begin.  A hot bath and some aspirin now beckon. 

Why is it called the blues?  This month has just been grey but this morning a little piece of spring appeared.  Whilst walking down the drive to let the under gardener out of the property on day release I noticed that some Aconites were flouring just on the edge of the woodland garden.  I ordered just five plants three years ago.  The first year I thought that they had failed, then I noticed some leaf that I did not recognize, rushing to our neighbor opposite to look at his plants confirmed that they had survived and were coming thought.  The lack of flowers was disappointing but the following year we did get a couple of flowers and now 8 or 10 little yellow flowers are peeping through the leaves.  This has quite brightened my day and imbued me with new vigor.  On the strength of this the Doberman and I are off to walk the garden and make some plans for when it finally stops raining.

Does not matter as both are a pain, I have so much I wish to get on with but cannot go far from my sinex spray not to mention feeling as weak as a kitten.  Spent a little time this week clearing up where the under gardener had been cutting down the western boundary hedged.  Clearing up all the bits took nearly two and a half hours.  We have taken it down a good deal and I have posted pictures on the web.  I think next year this will be brought down further to help thicken the base but for now this will be as far as we go as the next project beckons and that is the bank at the front of the cottage.

Being up able to get into the garden I have contented myself by sorting out my tin of seeds and shall start sowing some of the as early as next week.  I am trying a lot of grasses this year, both for the garden and also to sell at our open day. Got quite excited at the prospect. Very sad! 

I am looking forward to my birthday next week.  Not looking forward to getting yet another year older but the fact that on day day two young fit men will arrive to work on two of the trees in the woodland garden.  It is the work I am excited about not the young men!  This will allow more light into this part of the garden and when they have finished I shall be able to start more planting of ferns on the fern bank which is behind the had rail to the steps in this part of the garden.  I have had the ferns for some time but decided to wait till the tree work was completed till I planted them as it would be my luck for large pieces to tree to fall on the newly planted ferns if I had not waited. So trowel in hand all I can say is roll on next Thursday!

New years day find the head gardener a little tired after going to "a bit of a do" last night.  The under gardener and I have decided to take the day off!  Tomorrow we start work on reducing the height on the western boundary of the property to allow more light into the orchard.  This will also allow the damson trees that are in this boundary hedge to make more of a statement.  We have both enjoyed a short break over the holidays but now it is time to get back to work.  We only have six months to go till we open again for the National Garden Scheme!

We have spent the last few days working on what is left of the leaves and tiding the composting area not to mention starting work on the hedges on the western boundary, but due to a technical hitch the hedge trimmer is back in the repair shop so we are left with loppers and the chain saw.  It is our intention to take this hedge down by some two to two and a half feet and this means cutting into some large stems along the way.  This will of course bring in more light in the summer especially in the kitchen garden.  The wood does take some processing but it is all good exercise especially as now for the next few days little will be done in the garden. I did that trick in counting the number of hedging species in any 100 paces to date the age of the hedge and it came up with 300 years which is about right for the age of the cottage, and after the week we have just put in on the garden it is about the age of the owners!  To anyone reading this may we wish you a very Happy Christmas and peaceful New Year.