18 August 2018

I was hoping for a big turn out today as the weather was perfect for gardening. The rain that fell a few days ago had left the ground soft and easy to work, the sky was overcast but not cold, and the glorious prolonged heatwave we had has now passed.

We certainly had enough people to do what was needed; the weeds had started up again, they are always the first to get going, and the morning was time enough to give the whole garden a good seeing too.

We planted a fig tree and discovered that the tree we had thought was an apple was really a pear! We have some fruit on our walnut trees already, and I must go and check on the hazels, there should be some fruit forming on those as well. It will be quite a little orchard.

It is quite amazing how well the trees from the Woodland Trust are doing, some will need to be clear-stemmed in the winter, but I think we will leave some as multistemmed specimens to ensure a bit of variety.

There will be plenty to do this autumn; it is the real planting season for gardeners. Some things need transplanting already, particularly one aster that has done remarkably well, it will have to be moved somewhere where it can spread out to its heart’s content.

I want to ensure that next year we have the Flanders poppies back under the purple hazel trees. They did look beautiful in the first year; however, this year they were swamped by ox-eye daisies which have been a Godsend elsewhere, although there are times when they are a little too enthusiastic!

Jane Jewitt