What a lovely  and productive weekend in the garden.

Yesterday was actually rather cold and grey and I did some digging in the bed by the garage- long overdue, but rather a trial as it is so overwhelmed with bindweed roots, nettles and couch grass. Getting out all the roots has been awful. I decided to do just a little at a time and do it thoroughly.

I also dug up some really old and woody delphinium roots. I have divided them into over twenty smaller units which I hope will grow into new plants. Some are in the new left hand bed and others in pots in the greenhouse. I also transferred some iris-like things (need to find out what they are ) some red leaved bugle and the odd plant whose names I do not know. It is funny how so many plants in this garden are not ones I have gardened with before.

I also planted some chives, lavender and foxgloves under one of the orchard trees. I have had to cordon the area off with a gauze barrier which I hope will stop the rabbits and/or badgers from digging it all up. I plan to work around the orchard under-planing one tree at a time so that I can protect the small plants until they are established. I plan to use lavender, hyssop, borage, comfrey, nasturtiums and anything else that I read is a good companion to apple trees. The idea is the follow permaculture principles to keep the fruit trees healthy and encourage bees and other insects ( and deter codling moth and other nasty ones).