LATE MARCH - ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET ...

Is it really nearly the end of March already?  We've had some good weather this week, and the plants are unfurling their leaves and putting on a startling amount of growth.  

1. The Rose Garden

I've fed the Roses with a granular rose feed and then mulched them.  In the left hand bed is Strulch and on the right hand bed is leaf mould.  The leaf mould looks less obtrusive, and is what I usually use.  I've never used Strulch before, so this is by way of an experiment to see which I prefer.  



The next photo is also of the Rose Garden, showing the Oak tree which towers over it (and of course drops its leaves on it).  
  



2. The Long Border

This week I (finally) cleared away all of last years old stalks and leaves, putting them through the shredder.  Most satisfying.

You'll notice the side of the woodshed on the right of the photo and be thinking  - she could grow a lovely clematis over that.  And you'd be right. I just need to choose a suitable one.



3. Tree planting


Over in the Orchard a couple of fruit trees have been planted.  I chose a Victoria Plum and an Oullins Golden Gage.  There was an ancient Greengage tree here when we moved in which produced a great crop for a couple of years before dying.  Hopefully this one will be equally fruitful.





4. The Knot Garden

We lost one of the standard trees last year to Winter wet, but this year they seem to have come through unscathed.    The dwarf hedges are almost knitting together now.


Another plant that was lost last year was a Clematis, though it was the Summer drought not Winter rains that killed that one.  Here is its replacement - Clematis alpina Cyanea, flowering beautifully, albeit at ankle height.


5. February Gold

Down in the woodland the Narcissus February Gold are still looking good.  


6. The Potager

Over in the vegetable garden (or Potager if you are pretentious like me (and Rosemary Verey), there are the potatoes to plant this weekend: another case of enthusiastic ordering in the dark days of winter.  



There are swaths of daffodils about to flower and the buds on the Magnolia Soulangeana are beginning to open, so there will be plenty of Spring loveliness to report next week, frost permitting. But that's all I have for this week.  

Thanks as always to The Propagator for hosting Six on Saturday.



Comments

  1. Paddy Tobin27 March 2021 at 08:07

    I especially love the large tree in the first two photographs. It gives a wonderful sense of strength to the garden.

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    1. Hortus Baileyana27 March 2021 at 13:30

      It is a majestic tree and it produces an awful lot of leaves.

      Delete
  2. Stasher27 March 2021 at 09:15

    Now that is a really lovely Potager, with a fine fence. I have a tiny plot for playing at growing a wigwam or two of beans and half a dozen lettuce and still call it a Potager. In my case it is a joke in your case it is well desserved.

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    1. Hortus Baileyana27 March 2021 at 13:31

      I'm glad its not just me - and it is a little bit tongue in cheek, like calling our bit of woodland with its random collection of tree 'The Arboretum'.

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  3. FRED27 March 2021 at 10:18

    I love this large oak which dominates the back of the garden in its splendor. Very nice photos !

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  4. One Man and His Garden Trowel27 March 2021 at 10:58

    You've been busy. The Clematis alpina Cyanea is lovely.

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    1. Hortus Baileyana27 March 2021 at 13:33

      I can sit back now and relax (and rest my aching muscles).

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  5. Gill Heavens27 March 2021 at 11:02

    Greenhouse envy as always! Isn't it lovely when the tidy up is done and the mulch is on. Will be interested to see how your experiment goes, I have heard good things about Strulch but never used it.

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    1. Hortus Baileyana27 March 2021 at 13:37

      It's great that its all been given a good tidy. I wonder how long the weeds will stay away. I'm hoping the Strulch will do the trick.

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  6. Megan Hall27 March 2021 at 11:04

    What an enormous garden! And a beautiful tree. We have a v large pin oak, though not as big as that, and it doesn't stand alone.

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    1. Hortus Baileyana27 March 2021 at 13:39

      The garden is about 2.5 acres, which is just as well. That tree could fill most gardens.

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  7. The Nostalgic Gardener27 March 2021 at 14:31

    That oak tree has a lovely shape. A case of enthusiastic ordering during the dark days of winter? You're not the only one! The potager wears its name lightly, here of course neighbours refer to my raised veg bed as 'un petit potager' so I reckon you can get away with it. No idea what Strulch is, I'll have to look that one up.

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    1. Hortus Baileyana27 March 2021 at 14:41

      Strulch is a commercially made straw based mulch which looks rather like grass clippings. Thanks for the info about the 'petit potager'. I presume that to a French speaker it seems less pretentious. Does the word allotment have the same charm to them? Somehow I doubt it.

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    2. The Nostalgic Gardener30 March 2021 at 20:16

      Thanks for clarifying re strulch! Potager is not pretentious in French, it's quite sweet sounding, although there are some impressive examples of them nearby, with wonderful formal layouts, grids within grids, maybe when the season gets going I will do a post on our local one.

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  8. Pádraig27 March 2021 at 19:15

    Such a beautiful garden! Your selection of photographs bring me to all corners.
    By the way, why is the Knot Garden so called?

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    1. Hortus Baileyana27 March 2021 at 19:48

      Thanks for your kind comments. In answer to your question, a Knot Garden is supposed to have a symmetrical design laid out in dwarf hedges and topiary. They were popular in Elizabethan times but fell out of fashion in the Eighteenth Century. Moseley Old Hall in Wolverhampton, England has a rather good one.

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  9. Andrew27 March 2021 at 20:52

    A friend mulched their entire garden with Strulch a couple of years ago. I can't say I was too taken with the look of it but, given the circumstances, I haven't been able to see it since. It'll be interesting to see what you make of it.

    Anyway, nice wider shots of the garden - it's looking great!

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    1. Hortus Baileyana28 March 2021 at 11:55

      At the moment I'm not that keen on the way it looks, but I'm hoping that once the plants come up it will be mostly hidden. I'll write an update later in the year.

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  10. Flyfisher28 March 2021 at 10:16

    I'm not sure I like the Strulch either. Still only in my strawberry bed, can't summon up the enthusiasm to put it round the roses. I have just imported 1000 litres of composted green waste which I will use instead this year. Perhaps it's the colour, or the texture, or both! I am going to give it a fe more coats of looking at before I take the plunge with the other five bags!

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    1. Hortus Baileyana28 March 2021 at 11:57

      I think the composted green waste has a more natural look certainly. You do read in older gardening books of people mulching their roses with grass clippings, which I thought would look odd. That's what the Strulch reminds me of at the moment.

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  11. Katharine - Tea Break Gardener28 March 2021 at 11:30

    Wow - that oak tree is huge and wonderful. I can't believe I'd never spotted it in your pictures before. You also have a beautiful greenhouse - what a lovely setting for it. I planted a Victoria plum whip 8 years ago and we now get a very good crop from it so you've made a very good choice with that.

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    1. Hortus Baileyana28 March 2021 at 12:00

      Unless I stand well back and look up all you get in photos is a bit of trunk and the rhododendrons that are at the base of it. It's a bit like walking round a city and not seeing the skyscrapers, only the shops at street level. I'm looking forward to the plums.

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  12. chloris28 March 2021 at 12:27

    I love all the views of your beautiful spring garden. I know what you mean by over enthusiastic seed ordering. I despair of getting all mine sown. Whatever was I thinking? But I do it every year.

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