Best year yet for tomatoes in the greenhouse. Only three varieties however ‘sun gold’ and ‘moneymaker’ and a large marmande type from my friend Angela. Next year I must do more varieties. Also I am thinking that digging  an actual ‘bed’ in the greenhouse rather than using pots and grow bags will work better as the soil will be deeper and less, drying out. Oh and the jalepeno chillis and the aubergine are also doing well with some actual flowers now.

The next big project is to map the garden to enable better planning especially in the middle area where I think something radical needs to happen and I don’t want to be hidebound by what is already there. Given the scale of the garden it is so hard to know how much space I actually have so when I look at other people’s garden plans it is hard to transpose ideas onto the ground.

I have bought one of those wheelie measuring things and trundled it to the end of the garden and the estimate of length is just over 200 metres. The garden is about 20 metres across at it’s narrowest and 25 at it’s widest points. I now plan to mark out the trees we have, especially those I want to keep and therefore get a sense of those areas that we plan to develop.

The woods at the end will stay as they are and the orchard largely- although I plan to add a few more trees and I am considering fencing to reduce the rabbit damage- although that may annoy the badgers who like to cross this area each night. The ‘meadow’ will also stay largely the same as will the area around the lawn nearest the house that I developed this year.

It’s the middle section that needs most work. Currently it is over grown and overly shaded with too much shrubby and weedy undergrowth and not enough definition. The ‘wisteria walk’ in that area is overshadowed and falling down. The area around the existing pond is also overgrown and the pergola is in bad shape with a lovely grapevine that has got out of control. I would love a very large pond/lake and a more formal garden/shrubbery with secluded places to sit and paths . The wisteria could be trained better for a lovely wisteria tunnel and I could have formal beds around this. A planning project that will keep me busy this winter I think.

Before and after

I was all for getting rid of this tree. It was old, out of shape and the fruit was ugly and pitted. But it got a second chance when Dave came to stay and we pruned it ( very harshly and radically) together. I then weeded underneath and underplanted with lavender, catmint and antirrhinum and sprinkled liberally with fish, bone and blood. Top say it looks happier is an understatement and we are looking forward to a grand harvest.

All that back breaking digging in the winter finally paid off with a lovely display in June. The alliums, delphiniums and penstemons have been wonderful. The rose bush struggled as I think the soil is too poor. I’m thinking of concentrating on plants that can cope with the dry conditions going forwards. I’m still pulling out nettles and bindweed though so just keeping on top of the weeding is a job in itself.

There was a period in June and July when the frequent rain and busy family timetable meant that Ben frequently struggled to find time to mow. Necessity being the father of design lead to the idea of simply mowing paths through the largest grassy area thereby allowing a ‘meadow’ to grow. The results were beautiful; ground ivy and white clover with buttercups and waving grasses. The bees and butterflies loved it. I pulled up the ragwort as it appeared and intended to do the same with the nettles around the edges (perhaps later). Now we just have to mow it all over this month to allow for the same display next year.

Oh dear, the garden record that this blog is supposed to be got away from me over the summer mostly due to frustrations uploading pictures and then avoiding posting as I was getting too cross with our far too slow internet connection. Anyway, now to catch up as I want to keep this record to enable better planning over the years.

What has gone well

• Updating the pond was fun and the water got very clear with the addition of oxygenating plants.
• Pruning the golden delicious tree near the house, weeding under and adding bonemeal seems to have given it a new lease of life- more later
• the meadow- more later
• the new perennial beds are becoming established
• some success in the veg garden but not as productive as I would like it to be- good strawberries and salad leaves early in the season, garlic ok

More disappointing

• in this recent dry weather the perennial bed near the arch is very dry and the plants such as roses and shrubs are suffering
• brassicas not performing well in the veg garden
• herbs in the orchard are frequently nibbled by the rabbits and it is ever so dry
• area around the pond is overgrown as is much of the ‘middle garden’ , pergola area and wisteria area- needs a complete remodel and re-think

Beginning to clear the beds of the over-wintering crops ready for the new seasons’ sowings. Now that the birch has been removed the light is much better over the whole patch.

The early sprouting broccoli and the spinach and leeks are still going well as is the newly planted garlic in the foreground.

The circles of daffodils around the orchard trees have worked well even though I was worried that I hadn’t planted them deeply enough. The white ones are flowering later than the yellow but no matter. They do seem to have escaped the ravages of the rabbits and while there is something (a badger?) doing a lot of digging in the orchard none were dug up. Success! Now to underplant with herbs and lavender for later in the season, although I will need to fence off the areas as I do it as something digs them up as soon as I have planted.

I decided to clear out the pond and work towards it being a nice feature and useful wild-life habitat this Summer. I have taken out loads and loads of leaves and twigs and skimmed off masses of duckweed. Sadly there are no signs of life in the sludge – not even the odd snail and I think that because of all the decaying leaves the water is not good.

I plan to get some oxygenating plants and a water lily and see if I can make the water conditions better. In the meantime a local moorhen seems to appreciate my work and has been enjoying the water!

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).