There’s lots to look forward to in spring!
It’s time to look back on our gardening year and then to plan for the year ahead. It has been a drier than average year here in south Norfolk, but most things have, with a little help from our many water butts, survived the conditions. We’ve not made many changes, just a few tweaks here and there. We’ve moved a few established shrubs and also added some new shrub roses. Now we’re looking forward to seeing the results.
The veg garden has been cleaned and tidied and we’ve extended it and laid gravel, which will allow room for more containers for growing all our vegetables in the coming year. The seed order has arrived, courtesy of the gift vouchers I received for my star letter in GN’s Pick of the Post.
We’re lowering the height of a hedge at the bottom of our garden over winter. As both of us suffer with arthritis, we’re doing it slowly, but surely!
The Cotoneaster lacteus in the front garden is full of berries, just waiting for a visit from redwings or fieldfares – or maybe even waxwings! One regular visitor to our feeders is a beautiful male bullfinch.
One part of the garden that keeps looking good over the winter is the shade bed – it’s the largest and lies under a canopy of four huge conifers. Majestic and imposing, they’ve graced the garden for more than half a century, their presence creating a microclimate.
The bed is planted with a mix of ornamental grasses, geraniums, heucheras and ferns, with aquilegias and Japanese anemones providing a splash of early and late colour. The grasses look spectacular waving
in the breeze and can look fabulous on a frosty morning as the sun rises.
This bed is flanked on one side by lawn and on the other by a gravel path, which meanders under the conifers. Between the conifers, we’ve our spring borders. Planted with brunnera, euphorbia, polyanthus, pulmonaria and forget-menots, these are the first to burst into life in the spring and it’s a lovely place to walk on a bright spring morning. So, plenty to look forward to – roll on spring!