Sunshine and showers

This week at Heale I had two days of polar opposites, rain and then sunshine, like on another planet. Getting muddy wet gloves is not much fun but the flipside of planting out in the sunshine, is worth waiting for, a Gardener's life.

I weeded the parterres this week, Buxus and Lavandula edging with lawned pathways mean weeds. It is a time consuming job on your knees. The realisation soon hits that this type of garden design means you are going to have to do the job all over again in a few weeks to boot! The pathways need edging too of course but when the job is done it does look good.

When it rained heavily I spent time with Michael 2 (I must find another way of distinguishing between Michaels) in the prop, cutting Tulip bulb foliage down, washing the bulbs and drying ready for storage.

Michael HG also gave me a masterclass in Secateur maintenance, thank goodness, as mine were in dire need. WD40, oil and a sharpen later and Bob's your Uncle, off you go again. They are so much better and now at least I know how to look after them once a week/month or whenever I remember to care for them. Felco are the best as you can strip them back and clean them in pieces.

I also spent time this week in the kitchen garden amongst the veg, planting out Borage, Calendula, Nasturtium and Mint, in the herb/cut flower area.

The Single Cordon Sweetpeas have suffered the Slugs amongst other damage and so I set about removing 40 plants and replacing them. Tying in, snipping the tendrils and they are good as new. Hopefully they will make it to a ripe old age and give us show stopping long stemmed flowers later in the Summer.

The Wisterias in the garden are coming into their own, beautiful racemes hanging from pillars and walls all over the place, spoilt for choice. Alliums are bursting open now and Poppies are dotted about. The number of greens to look at are wonderful, layer upon layer. There are a vast number of Iris, very tall, adorning various borders.

Much to my surprise one morning I got involved in Sheep herding into a nearby field and feeding Kunekune pigs in the meadow amongst new born Lambs. Country life eh? It's bonkers.

Latin, Latin, Latin

Lots of new plant names this week and much to remember. I find taking a photo helps and recording the name over again and then researching it on the internet. It somehow finally goes into the old brain box.

We worked in some of the borders this week, the gravel border outside the kitchen garden and the Iris borders along the river. The gravel border has lots of bulbs in it so needs light care. I was introduced to a crazy mouse plant, Arisarum proboscideum, which has tiny flowers underneath lots of green foliage. Totally weird as you cannot really see them unless you hunt for them and yet they are beautiful. Alongside grows Ajuga with tallish blue flower spikes, a creeper and quite pretty. Also, creeping Viola riviana 'Purpurea' amongst other plants. Slowly does it and you get to the end of the border. Working in a large garden really helps with understanding scale. Tidying a border at Heale is quite an undertaking compared to gardening at home and experiencing that really helps you to understand timings and gives you the ability to prioritise.

Edging the grass of the borders makes a huge instant impact and is less time consuming. I find this quite satisfying really!

Lots of trees at Heale are busy changing as Spring gets underway. Michael showed me a Plymouth Pear also known as Pyrus cordata which has come into a pretty white blossom in the meadow area and the Sorbus aria 'Lutescens' (Whitebeam) looks fantastic glaring in the distant corner of the garden amongst many greens.

The rain came this week and we hid in the 'Prop' house sowing veg for the kitchen garden, Pak Choi, Onions, Salad amongst others. Great to practice seed sowing and remind yourself of the process, mixing compost and using presser boards and sieves. At Heale I have used glass on top of the modules for the first time to keep in moisture.

When the weather was kinder to us we carried on in the Iris borders along the river, cutting back Hellebore flowers, leaving behind the beautiful new foliage, ready to go again. The flowers were so beautiful and grand in scale I couldn't chuck them all, so brought a few home!

This week I also got to prune an Akebia quinata cream form which grows along a balustrade near the house, a vigorous vine with lightly scented delicate flowers. Everything about it is delicate really, even the leaves. I learnt to prune to one node from the old wood and even though it initially looked like a tangled mass of spaghetti, the plant ended up tamed and ready to get going again. A lovely job, slow and steady. Wet leaves mean wet sleeves too.

A great week, Heale is a magical place with no contact with the outside world (no phone reception anyway). I feel like I enter another dimension there and have to remember that life speeds up again as soon as I get back home. Much to learn but Michael is a great teacher.

Tomatoes and many, many greens

This week at Heale I saw the lush greens produced by rain and then sun and then rain again, the layers of Lavender, Box, Lawn, Roses, Trees. There is new growth in abundance and as the new leaves unfurl their colours change quickly. The blossom that was bright on the Prunus trees two weeks ago has already passed its peak yet the Apple blossoms are just coming and are pink and white and full.

There had been lots of change in the borders, there is Solomons Seal amongst Hosta, Allium and Pulmonaria and lots of different Tulips.

We took some time this week to prepare the Greenhouse for Summer. We painted on Cool Glass which I had never done before, a solution which shades the plants inside the Greenhouse and can reduce the temperature by around 10 degrees. The mind boggles as the solution remains on when it rains and yet when we want to remove it in the Autumn, we just wipe it off with a cloth. Once we had cleaned the Greenhouse we lit a Sulphur Candle which kills all pests and bacteria so we can start growing afresh. It stinks and reminds me how much rubbish you can breathe in as a Gardener but it seems to do the trick! It is left for 12 hours until you can go in and check it is all done.

I helped to place straw around the Strawberries in the fruit cage this week. Membrane had been put down to suppress the weeds and the Currant bushes and Strawberries are now the only plants to show above the straw ground. It looks great.

We prepared 24 pots for growing Tomatoes in, (which had already been started in root trainers, I will definitely be buying root trainers, they seem to do an excellent job of starting the plant off) and created two wires across the Greenhouse both sides for the plants to be trained to. The Tomatoes were planted and tied to a cane to give them a helping hand on their way. I was shown how to do a Hitch Knot which stays firm to the cane but failed miserably and need more practice! The Tomatoes were finally watered and fed with Tomorite. What lucky plants.

The Hybrid Musk Rose borders were in serious need of a weed so I helped out with that. The borders are planted at the front with Nepeta clumps which will be great once they fill the space. I have never worked with Hybrid Musk Roses so will look forward to seeing them change. Michael told me they range in colour from white, cream, apricot to pink and have wonderful names such as Penelope and Buff Beauty. The border is full of Roses and runs the width of the front of the house, a step down from the Croquet lawn, in a uniform line.

A potter around the garden is a reminder to look at ALL the plants available and not just what is in front of you. There are many trees which I take for granted and Michael showed me an Acer pseudoplatanus 'Brilliantissimum' which is a beautiful kind of pink /peach and sits across the Japanese bridge. Also, many Magnolias which are dotted about, the heavy scented 'Allspice' and the bright yellow of 'Butterflies'. So much to learn but I am enjoying it and taking it all in.