A WEEK IN MY GARDEN - 1 FEBRUARY

 It's not just 'a week in my garden' this week.  Mr B and I have been on a little jaunt.  Our first stop was Sissinghurst (always a favourite) and then on to Gravetye Manor.  There may not be many flowers to be seen at this time of year, but I'm such a gardening bore that I am happy to admire a lovely bit of mulch.

We practically had Sissinghurst to ourselves.  The gardeners were there of course, tidying and planting.  

View from the Tower towards Delos

View from the Tower over the Rose Garden

The roses hadn't been pruned yet and last years perennials hadn't been cut back in the rose garden, which is kind of cheering.  Stops me worrying that I'm not on top of things.

On the Long Walk early purple crocus had self seeded themselves everywhere, even in the cracks in the pavement which looked stunning.

Then we were off to Gravetye Manor, the former home of William Robinson, the Victorian garden writer.  It is now a very lovely hotel and the gardens are beautifully managed by Tom Coward and provide produce for the hotel kitchens.

The borders are so beautiful even in Winter.  The heathers looked very attractive and quite at home among the low stone walls.

The borders are so well maintained with just a few grasses and the cardoons left for their structure.  Quite a few Galanthus elwesii grew in the flower garden where they looked very effective, being larger than the Galanthus nivalis we have in the woodland here.  I'm going to have to order some for home.

Sprouts were among the vegetables growing in the walled vegetable garden.  At dinner they appeared on a little garden salad with beetroot, romanesco and confit egg yolk. 

But enough of enjoying ourselves.  Back at home, there was gardening to be done.  I spent a couple of hours clearing the leaves, tree seedlings and other weeds from the woodland floor to reveal the snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis).  There are autumn flowering cyclamen with their attractive leaves, some primroses and ferns here too.

There were small branches and twigs brought down in recent high winds.  It's very satisfying to feed these into the shredder to produce a lovely surface for a the woodland paths.

There are the hedges to be cut and all the tedious clearing up the follows.  The hedges are mainly hawthorn.  Sadly that is supposed to be a border in front of that hedge, but after the winter rains and weed seeds washed in from the ditches behind us, it is looking in dire need of some work from me.

After that, lets finish with something pretty.  Some double snowdrops have opened under this Azalea in the front garden with a lovely harts tongue fern.

That's it for this week.  The weather forecast looks a bit iffy, but hopefully I will be able to get a little gardening done.  Thank you for reading and hope to see you next time.