April

A bit of a shock getting back ti the hisue and discoevring that a couple of our cast-iron radiators had exploded, and a chunk of the sitting room ceiling had collapsed. And there was plenty to do outside as huge quantities of gravel and mulch had arrived and needed to be shifted. Although some sections of the gardens had suffered badly from the extreme cold and wet other parts seem to have sailed through

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May

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June

More mulch!

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July

Rain rain and more rain…. but it has done wonders for most of the garden, and it’s never looked  so lush and colourful.

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August

The weather continued to be mild and with a reasonable amount of rain at the beginning of the month but then the heat wave hit us, and the garden, quite suddenly with temperatures of 30+C for days on end.  Nevertheless we managed to get a lot of work done.  Edward built  a stone staircase linking the two levels of the garden,  and using much of the remaining hardcore and rubbish we inherited.   We created a new series of shaded nursery beds, and have also begun a extension of the woodland

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September

We only had a few days at the house in September, and by then, not only had it not rained for about 6 weeks but also  we had to cut down a lot of the plants that generously self-seed  to prevent them taking over while we were away…so the garden looks a bit tired. 

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October

Two trips over in October – which gave us plenty of time to plant up a large part of the area behind the big barn.

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December

It was as wet in France as it was in the UK but luckily for us not at exactly the same time. So we escaped London’s rain and spent a week gardening in  the relative warmth and sunshine.  The lake was overflowing, parts of the garden were a quagmire but it hardly rained while we were there, so we managed to get a lot of work done.  More fruit trees and hedging, hundreds more bulbs and plants  went in and we began the reorganization of the kitchen garden and replanting the entrance area.   And we managed lunch outside on the terrace on Christmas Day.

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