Sunshine brings smiles

18 Feb Sunshine brings smiles

 A truly stunning day in the garden. Frost here overnight but by 10am warm with birdsong and no breeze. We installed another hose in the Peach House and gave the strawberries a good feed. In the glasshouses Charlie’s micro herbs were romping away; he has been in Devon for a couple of days so Benjy, Martin and I have been looking after them. This means that we are paranoid about heating, ventilation and over/under watering. Still, this is what they looked like today. In rude health I think you’ll agree:

 

Outside in the garden I was joined by Honour, the daughter of BE’s owners. The sun was shining and we worked together digging and chatting. It was a real pleasure to have such an enthusiastic, hardworking girl about the place. All our chit chat about paddling and picnics reminded me of my school days and how precious time spent in the outdoors was. Half term’s and holidays always seemed to pass in a flash and being indoors again was such a struggle.

Out in the service area, FINALLY my office arrived! We’ve had several non starters and then a delivery, that wasn’t a delivery as we had too many branches in the way. Anyway, here it is being winched into place:

Within seconds of the cabin touching down, I had potatoes chitting in the kitchen space and a sweet, odd assortment of chairs and table sourced from around BE. We have special grey/green paint for the outside and as soon as we get water hooked up, I’m going to scrub the inside and deck it inside and out with plants.

A book I have wanted for quite some time has arrived. ‘Walled Gardens of Suffolk’ by the Suffolk Gardens Trust is a bargain at £7 and contains years worth of research undertaken by the Walled Kitchen Gardens Recording Group. If you are interested, visit: www.suffolkgardenstrust.org. BE gets a mention, with its condition being described as ‘excellent’ and an interesting fact about the walls – they are varying heights for a specific reason, to allow  maximum sunlight to hit the south side of the north facing wall – no wonder all our glasshouses perch along it like birds on a wire.

Mouse update. Gardeners: 3 Mice: 1