Garden Report - May 2008

I am getting frustrated again. After the glorious weather at the start of May it has turned cold and dull again so I am stuck indoors. However, I did get a lot done last week.

The grass had grown at a rate of knots so I knew it was going to need cutting when Paul got back from his long bridge weekend away in Stratford. I weeded the rose garden so that the grass cuttings could be used as a mulch around the roses.

I also weeded the little raised bed at the top of the drive. I have discovered a lot of small geranium seedlings there. It will be interesting to see what they develop into as I have three different varieties of geraniums planted in there.

My major project, however, has been making a small path along the new bed by the trellis. I had rediscovered the stepping stones I had brought up from Sandhurst when I had cleared out the back of the cowshed and decided they could be put to good use. I also had brought up a lot of lawn-edging that had been sitting in one of the sheds. I set about cutting out the grass/weeds to make a flattened path just about wide enough to stand comfortably on. At intervals I levelled a larger area to slot in the stones. I then hammered in the edging to stop the 'garden' land-sliding onto the path. I only had one disaster when I lost my footing coming down and now have an enormous blue/yellow bruise at the top of my left leg. I think it was worth the best part of a day's work as I can now weed most of that bed whilst sitting on the stepping stones so it should save me a lot of pain, effort and danger in the future.

Paul helped out by keeping the dogs amused... Well, give him his due - he has strimmed the verge which is looking a lot better for it, mown the lawn several times, and has been back on dandelion duty.

I also finished weeding the bottom of the long bank, including digging out the photinia that I had cut right back last year. It was hard work but it looks a lot better for its removal. In the space cleared I planned to plant the auricula that Janet gave me last year - when I got it out of its pot I actually found there were five... I also managed to remove the self-seeded pampas grass that was growing in the middle of a saxifrage. That whole area is looking lovely at the moment - I am especially pleased with the tulips I planted last year.

I still need to do the top/middle - ground elder is taking over again in places. Everything seems to have put on so much growth just over the weekend I was away. I also need to get back up the high bank where the goosegrass is swamping a lot of my plants.