Off we go

So happy to back at Heale gardens this week, I had more time off than expected with illness and boy did I miss the space and the stillness.

The gardens have been getting on with it, the Gunnera decaying and feeding itself, the Miscanthus beginning to shed its old stems, the soil in the veg plots settling down after digging and the Tulips, Aconites, Snowdrops all starting to show themselves, tentatively poking their heads above the ground to have a look around. Moles have been happily tunneling along and breaking up the grass.

The Mice have been snuffling about eating the odd few things in our bothy so we have had to up our game and store seeds elsewhere out of reach. We sowed some Sweet peas this week after soaking and/or chipping to give them a head start. We sowed Sativus and Matucana which had been collected from the previous year.

The garden has many Wisteria and slowly but surely they all need pruning, removing the spaghetti like dead flower stems and cutting back to two buds on the new growth. Very satisfying to do.

We also planted some of the last Tulips to go in, we needed to prepare the borders by cutting back, weeding and tidying and then in they went - 100 Exotic Emperor. Job done! looking forward to

seeing them in all their glory.

This week The Great British Garden Revival on BBC Two, showed Heale in Summer and used the garden in its feature on Climbers and Creepers, which was so lovely to see! Great that the gardens have been seen by so many and hopefully many people will come visit us in Spring. The crew filmed for a whole day when they visited and so I am very glad we made the cut and Joe Swift was seen having his chat with HG Michael Maltby!

Lots to do, lots on the way and it is exciting to think we get to do it all again and see the garden in full flow.