May

My gardening week this week has been varied and has reminded me how us Gardeners need to be hugely flexible in skill. As the garden season enters full flow, heavy machinery is required for mowing, trimming, pruning and the next minute we might be pricking out tiny seedlings to nurture onto health or tying in Sweet Pea stems. One false move and weeks of hard work sowing and nurturing could be over with a squashed stem and subsequent dead plant!

I think ultimately this is why I love to be Gardening. As a Mother of two active boys, my days of calm and concentration have been lost for quite a few years now. I know, I know, it will all return but right now, I love the chopping and changing in my day. I love achieving short goals and feeling a sense of pride. I also find it VERY hard to sit still for too long so this seems to be the perfect profession for me!

I had to take my youngest son to work this week as his school had a training day. It was so lovely to show him what I get up to. Every child should be out with a Gardener at some point in their life. He managed 4 hours of helping me with the hose, planting with me, learning the differences about watering seedlings and watering shrubs, hearing birds, feeling the wind. He wanted to come back the following day but school won instead.....

I do love May, as I have said before, yet this year we have been hit by frost and some of the gardens are a sad state indeed. At Heale, Wisteria that should be emerging into full beauty look like damp rags hanging from a washing line. Figs have been crumpled, even the Gunnera looks unhappy with the situation. Yet we did have fantastic Magnolias this year before the frost so you know, nature chops and changes and keeps us on our toes.

The Veg garden is coming along really nicely this week. Potatoes are showing (also frost damaged), Peas are flowering, Broad Beans, Salads have gone mad. I planted out Broccoli this week which I do love to grow and eat. I still get a pang of fear though with the old Brassica. So much potential trouble with them and the faff of netting. We have some Plantbelle hoops though and I really love them. Brilliant design and gorgeous to look at for years to come. I will be buying some for myself next pay cheque!

At Heale, the Japanese tea house which has stood over the River for over 100 years now is having a new roof. The skill of the Thatchers working on it is a great privilege to see. I doubt very much I will see this happen again in my lifetime. They have taken the thatch off in parts, right back to the original Bamboo structure. It does make you think of the men who first built it all those years ago.

Yesterday it was windy all day at Heale. Very drying for the plants and soil. And me! I felt truly weathered by home time. But a quick glance up now and then from my weeding amongst the flower borders and what a sight. Grasses and wild flowers being blown about, the Cercidiphyllum leaves rustling and not a soul around.