Gardening

I'm very pleased with the way my plans for the garden are beginning to take shape. I have a gardening team (JFK Gardening) on-side. On Saturday, the two-man team, Dan and Jason came to assess what was needed and give me a quote for the work, They come with recommendations and were very mindful of the need for social distancing and taking the hard work off my hands. Before they left, Dan replanted the dying Californian Lilac in the spots I'd marked for them on the lawn.

They assured me that the jungle that is the East-facing border will not be too much trouble to sort out. They may even be able to save some of the older shrubs that have been damaged by neglect. I'd moved the garden store so that they could inspect the head of the border from the side nearest the house. There, the ivy has pulled the trellis away from its anchor points on the wall. This has broken the viburnum - a shrub that has been in residence beside the fence, since 1961. This in turn has brought down a low branch on the crab apple tree, complete with birds' nests.

JFK gardening  has promised that the work on this border will be finished well ahead of the delivery of a new garden shed, in early August. Then work will start on the west-facing border which is not nearly so bad.

All this renewal has spurred me on with my kitchen garden. The tomatoes are doing really well. Out of seven flower trusses, three are fruiting, and the bees continue to visit to pollinate the remaining flowers.



The basil, in between the two tomato plants, continues to provide fragrant leaves to add to my lunchtime salad; a perfect accompaniment to the feta, tomatoes, and lamb's lettuce. The second basil, in the strawberry pot, unfortunately drowned in the downpour we had a couple of weeks ago.

I'm a bit worried about the strawberries. I have lost the two flowers that had appeared, but the leaves seem to be running riot. I checked on the gardening forums. It appears that in the first year, the flowers must be removed as soon as they appear to allow for the development of runners. The strawberries should then crop in August, after the second flush of flowers.



The mint in the strawberry pot was beginning to take over, so I planned to remove one of the plants and put it, with a cutting I'd taken about a month ago, in a new herb garden planter, when I could decide on which one I wanted/could afford.

A few weeks ago, I re-discovered a favourite meal of mine from our times in France on the boat; pork in a creamy tarragon sauce. I used to serve it with pasta - Côtes de Porc à la Normande but decided to use up the carrots and new potatoes I had in the larder. 

I'd ordered a jar of dried tarragon from Ocado, but it was out of stock. A bunch of fresh, French, tarragon was substituted. I will never use the dried version ever again.

I decided I needed more herbs, preferably perennials, to live just outside the utility room, for ease of gathering for culinary purposes. A little bit of research, via the RHS website, convinced me that I could grow French Tarragon in my herb garden. Sourcing was difficult as nowhere local stocked the plant. Then the Facebook page of the local Garden Centre posted pictures of its latest deliveries. I scanned the pictures. There was the plant for which I had been searching. I rushed down (it's literally less than half a mile away and picked up the tarragon, the zinc planter I had my eye on, and some variegated sage.

Until all the plants have grown bigger, I added one of my rosemary cuttings to save a walk down the garden to the bushes. My little herb garden is no longer a plan!




The yard is looking very different, even though there is more to be done. I moved the tool-shed (aka the Sentry Box) to what had been the division between the yard and the side-patio. The new shed will sit beside the Sentry Box, with its back to the head of the border. Opposite is the 'studio' - a storage room accessed from the yard, and the kitchen garden pots.

From the door to the utility room

The side patio (terrace) is now fenced off from the remainder of the terrace. The old garden store fits neatly beneath the paneled windows of the conservatory and isn't visible from inside when the 'window' panel is closed.

From the garden

To its left is the garden tap, the clematis, and the water-butt, making this the working part of the garden. It is nicely screened from the garden itself, but has enough space in which to work without feeling cramped.

The garden itself is looking much the same as it has done for the past ten years. It will soon be very much changed. I am making a garden that will be mine, not ours. It's a new way of being; a new way of living. I'll have to get used to it before winter sets in.