Great British Garden Revival

Well it isn't every day you get the BBC coming to film at your garden so Tuesday this week was a bit of a surprise and really interesting to watch. The Beeb came to record Heale and mainly climbing plants for the new series of the Great British Garden Revival. It takes a long time to get a minute of footage in TV land and lots of retakes too. Joe Swift chatted to Michael whilst pruning an Akebia quinata and Michael was a pro throughout. The sheep wanted in on the action and bleated for ages until they settled down and realised all the kerfuffle wasn't to do with them!

All day long we tried to work where they weren't filming to give them a bit of space, so en masse we weeded the Lavender borders and moved up to the terrace gardens to the Robinia trees. I edged around some Honeysuckles which the crew wanted to film and we tried to second guess which direction they would go in!

Quite a surreal day all in all.

The garden is choc full right now and the most delightful change recently has to be the Roses and Nepeta which fill the length of the wall border all along the front of the house and croquet lawn, quite something.

Irises are just right this week, some are over and some are just opening. The borders are stuffed full with colour and the weeds keep coming. We spent time in the Miscanthus borders this week, weeding and edging and trying to avoid being scratched to death from the hairy beastly grass. It really does some damage to your skin.

Some of the gardens Magnolias are out like the wonderful (and rare apparently) Pyramidata and some are still to come and remain in bud.

This week I also got to try the monster that is the All Terrain Mower.  A petrol mower with gears and boy is it heavy. It sucks up anything in it's path and is great! We used it to cut meadow areas including down to the river. I didn't feel anything afterwards but the next day I knew I had used muscles that haven't been used for a while! And I only used it for a very short time. Dear oh dear...

Another great week, I remember Lambs, birds flitting around, jet planes and TV crews. Swans overhead, scratchy grass and mud. Wild grasses, the river and sunshine and showers.

The Month of May

I love May. It is official, May and October are my favourite months full of change and colour and not too much heat (and that is not a joke, most of us are moaning about the cool weather but I quite like it). I love the way that May brings the lush greens and the Bees are buzzing in earnest. There is movement in the garden, whether it is the wild grasses or just seeing creatures and animals darting about.

With this of course comes growth and it seems as if more weeds pop up as you turn your back for a second. Much regular weeding is needed in any garden and Heale has its fair share. We sorted out the Yew Hedging edges this week, rammed full of Nettle, Thistle, Cleavers, Groundsel and all sorts of higgledy self seeded bounty. We weeded amongst the Lavenders on the croquet lawn and attempted the Box hedging edges in the veg garden. The Box itself took a quick trim and looks rather happy and much tidier and then of course comes the hedge clipping collection. A long job and even longer in sticky wet soil from a wet night before!

I get to check over the Tomatoes we potted into the Greenhouse, a while back, and pinch out side shoots. I also got to do the same with the Sweet Peas trained to canes. Tendrils need removing and weaker shoots removed. Some have now started to flower and look much stronger, despite the onslaught of Snails and Slugs recently, due to the excessive rain.

The Japanese garden is a real treat to wander through, Hostas of all colours, shapes and sizes mixed with Ferns galore along with Wisteria and Acers. The little bridges over the river. The Bamboo rustling and the Arum Lily has come into its own, the Zantedeschia.

Michael introduced me to a Copper Beech this week, near the Tennis Court, a beautiful purple leaf with hints of pink along the edges, that you would miss should you not stop and look. A real beauty. Fagus sylvatica purpurea 'Tricolor'.

Whoosh

Everything is going crackers right now, sun and showers make for perfect conditions. The best time of the year for Wisteria and Peonies and the borders are waking up from their sleep. There are several Wisteria at Heale and they are all beautiful, racemes hanging down like rain falling, long, flowing, and the scent! The one on the house has been trained over the door, under two windows and is stunning. In the kitchen garden an arbor over a walkway is dripping with yellow Laburnum and Japanese Wisteria floribunda 'Multijuga'.

This week I helped edge and weed the Peto pond lawns, a private area of the garden with regular visits from one of the family dogs, sitting at my feet.

I also helped to plant our Dahlia tubers in the kitchen garden. Multi varieties left over from last year. We measured and cut canes to size, evenly spaced them and dug a deep hole for each. We gave some bonemeal to help revive the shrivelled tubers and planted them, not too deep and watered. They will be glorious when all in full bloom.

We erected a Raspberry support too, single wire, for Summer fruiting varieties. A brilliant idea is to use screw in eyelets into the post, attach the wire and when the wire becomes slack, tighten it off by turning the screw. I want one for my allotment! Now I now how to go about it. We planted out several varieties of Raspberries and will mirror that with more planting the other side of the Strawberry cage.

I got to work a bit in the Pool borders too, planted into gravel are Alliums and many Grasses. Wisteria of course hangs over the pool shelter and a magnificently strange Magnolia has been placed near the river, the 'Germolene' Magnolia as it shall forever be known to me. A beautiful white/cream flower, with tightly packed tiny pink insides and such a strong fragrance; Magnolia x weiseneri.

The wild banks and wild triangle in the garden are freely flowing with Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor), having been planted by Michael and I have never seen this plant before so it is great to see.

I noticed Astrantia major in the kitchen garden this week, a lovely delicate pale green flower and also the self seeded Euphorbia lathyris (Caper spurge), with an interesting leaf and caper like seed.

An Abutilon and a Choisya flank a walkway to the Peto ponds and are both in full flow.

I know nothing about Roses and Michael introduced me to some on the walls of the house, Rosa ayrshire 'Splendens' a white/pink with the scent of Myrhh, Rosa pom pom de paris, a little pink rose and Rosa alchemist, yellow.

Another lovely week, spending time at Heale doesn't feel too much like hard work to me, maybe I am mad but even when the rain comes the garden has a lot to give and I enjoy seeing the rain soaked plants. Change is daily, a Magnolia in bud one day, out the next, gone the next.