Matshead Lodge

Last week we visited our first garden of the year under the National Garden Scheme. Matshead Lodge garden is at Bilsborrow, about 45 minutes from where we live, but was well worth the visit. The garden is not far from Barton Grange Garden Centre and the instructions were to park on the car park there and walk to the garden. We weren't told how far the walk was, just that it was along a public footpath, over the railway footbridge and along by the river. I was hoping it wasn't going to be too far. We both have stiff, achy joints.

It was a lovely little walk apart from the noise from the traffic on the M6 nearby and it was only under a mile, so quite manageable. As we walked along the path we met people coming the other way who told us the garden was well worth the walk. That spurred us on and  I'm pleased to say that they were right, it was worth it.

The garden is about 2 acres and has many interesting features. There was a  little Japanese garden. I didn't go over the bridge, I wasn't sure if I would be allowed. It was safely guarded.

The pond below has a crocodile living in it. Can you see it?

Throughout the garden there were many rhododendrons in bloom, providing lots of vibrant colour.

We wandered around the pathways, through archways and walkways dripping with wisteria and clematis. There were a lot of archways which gave a sense of wanting to know what was beyond, where did they lead to?

There were plenty of seating areas too, which I liked. I always like to try them out, to see what view there is from that particular point.  I love an enclosed sitting area which you just come across in a secret little area. This one was quite special.  We sat on the sofa for a while, thinking it would be good if someone brought us a drink and a meal, but no one did.

Another seating area

Another archway

When we visit open gardens we nearly always come away with an idea to use in our own garden. Our visit to Matshead Lodge made me want to plant more clematis in my garden.  Perhaps I will do that, although I don't have the space for so many archways.

There were no plants on sale at this garden, but back at the garden centre where we had parked the car, we went in to look around. Barton Grange is a big place and the plants are a bit pricey, so I don't buy from there unless there is something I can't get from a local garden centre. But I couldn't resist buying a terracotta bowl and some alpines which I planted up when we got home.

Our new garden project--almost there

 When you're a gardener, your garden is never finished, so I've heard.

That is certainly true for me. In my last garden I seemed to have a new project every year. Not necessarily a big project, sometimes it was just rearranging a border, adding more plants, making a new seating area etc.

The plans we had for our new garden are now completed. I'm sure we will make changes as time goes on, there are still one or two corners of the garden where I'm not sure if it looks right, but time will tell as plants mature.

In the back garden the last thing to do was to make one border bigger and bring it up to the shed. I hadn't been sure what we were going to do with the area in front of the shed, but now it looks good and I have been planting it up with cottage garden plants, lupins, astrantia, achillea, geraniums, poppy. I have put a tall obelisk in the middle and am going to plant sweet peas there soon.

The side border below the shed was a little narrow and crammed with plants. Making it wider has meant I could move plants forward and allow them all to spread out a bit.

In the front and side gardens we have not made any major changes as it didn't look too bad. There are some good mature shrubs in there --weigela, viburnum, lilac, hydrangea and chaenomelese.  We have simply made the borders bigger so I can get more plants in. The original narrow borders were quite dry under the wall and a bit stony making it difficult to plant anything. So I have been busy collecting plants and planting up. I'm hoping for a colourful display this summer. I bought a garden bench, my husband wondered why I would want to sit in the front garden where everyone walking past would be looking at me. It is simply somewhere to plonk myself for a few minutes when I want a break from weeding.

So that's it, our new garden is finished for the time being. When we look at it now we find it hard to believe how much we have achieved in two years. It looks so different to when we first moved in.

It's gone from this 

To this

and from this 

to this

to this

and this

Our garden is now a space that we enjoy being in. We spend a lot of time out there, both relaxing and gardening. I will continue to blog about it, but not as 'our new garden project'.

Through the garden gate--April

Back in October I celebrated my 70th birthday and my daughters gave me garden vouchers, which is one of the best presents to buy me. Stocking a new garden with plants can be expensive and although I brought a lot of plants with me from my old garden there are still other plants which I would like.

I really wanted another tree for the garden and after much time spent looking at trees in garden centres I finally decided on a crab apple--crab apple 'Evereste' is the one I bought.  I like crab apples because they have blossom in the Spring, good autumn colour and fruits which the birds love.

When we planted the tree a few weeks ago it had lots of deep pink blossom buds on it. It finally burst into flower at Easter with beautiful white blossom. It has been the star of the garden during April and is still looking good.

Underneath the tree are two pots of tulips which I planted up last autumn.  They are lovely shades of white and pink and look lovely next to the white apple blossom. It's funny how sometimes plant combinations work well even when they were unintentionally put together.

The amelanchier has also been flowering during April and was a joy to see.  Outside our house on the grass verges lining the road are trees full of pink blossom. April must be the month for blossom.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.

spring sowings and plantings

It's getting to be a busy time on the allotment now.  After weeks of tidying up and getting the plot ready for the new growing season suddenly everything seemed to burst into life in the flower areas bringing some lovely colour to the plot. The weeds are growing too, which is a sign that the soil is warming up and its time to start planting and sowing seeds.

Over the last few weeks my kitchen has been full of pots of seedlings and propagators. I started in February with chillies, then tomatoes followed by cabbage, kale, brussels sprouts, cauliflower and leeks. Now I am sowing flower seeds for a cutting bed in the garden or for filling in gaps in the other borders. Also for the allotment to attract the pollinators.

Down at the allotment I have two greenhouses but they are not heated so seeds which need warmth in the early days are sown at home where I can give them some extra care in the kitchen. Once they are potted on I then take them down to the allotment greenhouses.

Weeks ago I sowed broad beans and pea seeds. I planted the broad beans and peas out in the ground last week. They are looking good and its great to see something growing in the allotment beds at last.
Over the Easter weekend I sowed another lot of broad beans directly into the ground.  I shall be sowing peas soon too.

There's so much too do now. The greenhouses are filling up with seedlings. After weeks of bare soil the allotment is beginning to look like its coming to life and soon my kitchen will be clear of pots and propagators.

Through the garden gate--March

We've had some lovely days out in the garden recently. At this time of year as the new growth starts to come through I always think it's like meeting up with old friends. I'm so pleased to see plants again and look forward to them flowering later on. There are others which I remember planting last year but where are they? Then when they appear at last I am so pleased. Last year everything was newly planted in our garden, this year there are bigger clumps and more flowers. It's good to see that they are happy in their new home.

There are lots of spring plants in bloom now and each day more buds appear on different plants. Down in the bottom border which is very damp, the marsh marigolds which came as cuttings from the allotment pond garden have buds about to burst open.

There is lots of blue and yellow about in the borders at the moment from the Brunnera and pulmonaria, the primroses and daffodils.

Last autumn I planted up pots with blue violas and they are now coming back to life. The tulips I planted in containers have got big fat buds and I am so looking forward to them flowering to see if the colour combination I chose works.

A few weeks ago I bought a tray of mini daffodils and a tray of muscari and planted them in a container hoping that as the daffodils started to go over the muscari would be coming into flower. And that's exactly what happened!

The Amelanchier tree is about to burst into blossom. We planted another tree recently--a crab apple. I spent months researching trees and deciding which one to buy. It has lots of pink blossom buds and will be flowering soon. 

The bees are busy, we have seen butterflies and I don't think I have ever seen so many ladybirds so early on in the year. There have been quite a few in the house over the winter, they have been hibernating in the bedroom window frames.

I love this time of year when everything in the garden is so fresh and new. It's all about new life, growth and change and there's so much to look forward to.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.

Tidying up the strawberries

 Last year the strawberries on the allotment didn't do at all well. There were other allotment people whose strawberry crops had failed too. They blamed it on weevils, which apparently eat at the roots and so destroy the plants. I think my strawberries failed because they were old. Strawberries work well on a 3/4 year rotation. It's usually best to get rid of them by the third or fourth year as they start to flag and don't produce much fruit. My strawberries had seen better days, when I thought about it I realised they were probably about five years old.

I grow my strawberries in big tubs and the bath and usually have year 1, year 2 and year 3 tubs. Each year I take cuttings from the runners to start a new year's crop. Well, that's my plan, but I haven't been very good at working to it for the last couple of years.

Last year I bought some new plants and planted them up in the bath, but being their first year there wasn't much fruit, they should do better this year. So this year I decided to get rid of all the old  plants in the other containers and start again. Back in February when we had that lovely weather  I potted up lots of plants from the runners of the old strawberries which were rooting themselves all over the plot. I had a good clean up, getting rid of the weak ones and selecting the healthy looking ones. 

I also tidied up the strawberries in the bath, getting rid of the dead leaves which looked such a mess. 

All the new potted up strawberries have been in the greenhouse for a few weeks now and are looking really good. This week I moved them to the cold frame. Soon they will be ready for planting in their big containers.

Remembering a few years ago when I couldn't pick the fruit fast enough and I made lots of strawberry jam, I'm hoping for a better strawberry harvest this summer.

Through the garden gate--February

 The garden is starting to wake up, little clumps of bulbs and primroses are flowering in the borders. Crocus, daffodils and cyclamen which I planted last year are looking bright and colourful.

There are some lovely blue pulmonaria flowering now, they are always early and bring some welcome colour to the garden at this time of year. I brought these from my old garden and they have taken well to their new home.

Last year I planted 50 snowdrops in the green and planted them around the garden. But 50 snowdrops doesn't go very far. So this year I ordered 100 and I have planted them all in one place, under a big weigela in the front garden. This should give me a better display. It's a shame that I have to wait until next year to see the result. 

I've started tidying the borders, cutting back the dead flower foliage which I had left over the winter for the wildlife. February is a bit too early to start disturbing the soil as the new plant growth is just starting to come through and I didn't want to damage anything. I'm still trying to remember which plants are in there as it was all newly planted up last year and I don't always label my plants.  As I worked my way around the beds I was doing a bit of planning as some of the plants were planted in the wrong place last year and will need to be moved. That's a job for March when everything has grown a bit more.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.