Notes from a Cottage Garden

Another year has flown by and the garden is now gently reducing in vigour. It’s a mixed blessing for me as I enjoy having more time for other interests but I also miss the variety of jobs that a garden requires through the growing season. The winter for me is more a time for rather dull chores like cleaning the greenhouse, digging over the vegetable beds and arranging to have the lawn mower serviced. But it’s also a time to make plans for the year ahead and think of ways to improve on this year.

After last year’s bumper harvest, 2016 has been very disappointing for fruit — only the strawberries and pears have done well. The apples, plums, blackcurrants, gooseberries and raspberries have yielded either nothing or next to nothing. I think this may be down to over-vigorous pruning on my part so I’m not cutting anything this year. The vegetables have fared better with the purple sprouting broccoli once again proving to be the easiest and most reliable crop. The flower garden also did well apart from the wild flower area which mainly produced daisies and nettles — nothing like the wide variety of last year.

We took part in the “Open Gardens” organised by our village this year to raise funds for the church and this was really beneficial to the garden. Aware that our garden would be under scrutiny, my husband was galvanised into action and soon had the path repaired, the garden seat painted, the tree cut back and the lawn levelled! I’m going to offer to open it again next year!

Netty News

After raising a large family in 2014 our garden hedgehog left us for pastures new. We didn’t see her at all last year but just as the nights started drawing in this year she reappeared at the back door waiting to have a share of the cat’s food. At least I think it’s Netty! She’s now doing very well as our next door neighbour is also feeding her so she should be well able to cope with the winter ahead.