A fine start to the season

A couple of weeks ago we had a covering of snow and freezing temperatures. Then we had days of heavy rain. I thought Spring would never arrive yet quite suddenly, with no warning, it visited for just a few days. On Friday the lawn was still under a few inches of water in places, but we knew it was going to stay dry for a few days so we ordered in a ton of compost to mulch the borders.

I cannot stress the importance of good soil. At our old garden we were lucky with rich loam and a plentiful supply of horse manure. Here, the soil is thin and sandy and bone dry in the summer. A good thick layer of mulch this time of year helps to trap in moisture, adds nutrients and gradually improves the structure of the soil.

It was quite hard work. My trusty under gardener did the wheel barrowing while I weeded, forked the surface and spread the compost. Some people think mulch is unattractive and the surface is liable to dry out but the idea is to get your plants to grow so strongly the soil will not be seen. I fed the roses and clematis before mulching - it is a bit early but better early than not at all.

I've been busy ordering plants on line. I had several David Austin roses to plant; Summer Song, Eustacia Vye and Munstead Wood, and a last minute birthday buy of Judi Dench. I also bought more clematis - I really can't resist at this time of year when everything is so bleak. I highly recommend Taylor's Clematis, the plants are well grown and healthy and arrive in one piece! The hope of a summer of clematiis and roses is what keeps me going. I've been after  Rebecca for some time so I popped her in the sunny border to grow  up an obelisk along with Viticella Super Cute, underplanted with allium. In my head, the clash of red, pink and white looks fantastic, whether it works out or not, we shall see.

Before the mulch went down, I also took the opportunity to move some things that were getting crowded or were growing too far to the back of the border. If you recall, we increased the depth of the sunny border last autumn so there is quite a lot of geranium and spring planting in the wrong position now. The snowdrops and dwarf daffodils will be moved when they've finished blooming.

It took us creaky, not-so-young gardeners two days to use up a ton of compost and we only treated one side of the garden. It messed up the lawn a bit but it will recover, grass is tough. The shadier borders are not so urgently in need of mulching as they don't dry out and the plants that grow there are tough as old boots and put up with anything.

With that major task out of the way, I took the opportunity to tidy the greenhouse, sow a few seeds and top dress and feed some of the pots. John put in a new pond pump. The old one was still working but it was solar so on dull days the water did not get circulated. This one plugs in and will work all the time. The fish seemed to like it.

So now, apart from the lawn, it all looks tidy. Next job will be to weed and feed the lawn before it has its first cut in a few weeks time. I still have to feed the roses in the front garden. then we can just watch and wait until it all grows and the dead heading begins. I am so grateful for the brief appearance of Spring but I can't wait for her to some to stay. Happy gardening, until next time!