When shopping at Lidl yesterday Jackie discovered quite a number of empty shelves. In the central aisles she did find some flat-pack ones that she would like for the garden. She found them so easy to assemble and returned for more today.
She bought another four packs. There are now three alongside and one behind the Head Gardener’s shed. One is inside the building, but in too narrow a space for me to photograph.
I carried out so much dead heading that I needed to tour the garden to assure myself that we still have some colour.
These are a few views that are identified in the gallery, which can be accessed with a click on any one.
This evening we dined on succulent steaks on a bed of peppers and leeks; fried potatoes; crunchy carrots and cauliflower; tender spinach and runner beans, and meaty gravy, with which Jackie finished the Pinot Grigio and I dram more of the Dao.
It seems that we can be reasonably confident that the weather will improve from today, which has remained hot and sunny.
On the strength of that, yesterday evening Jackie righted the garden furniture and swept the patio and the path between the kitchen wall and the Pond Bed.
Today I carried out the same operation on other paving and brick paths. Perhaps I will rake the gravel tomorrow.
This evening we dined on succulent roast chicken and pork chipolatas; sage and onion stuffing; crisp Yorkshire pudding; boiled potatoes; crunchy carrots and cauliflower; tender mange touts and runner beans, with which Jackie drank more of the rosé and I finished the Comté Tolosan rouge.
Today remained hot-sticky-humid throughout with very little sunshine. This morning Jackie ironed the last bedsheet; this afternoon I pressed the last three shirts.
The Head Gardener continued clearing, composting, and planting; while I applied myself to dead heading
such as Mamma Mia, Crown Princess Margareta, and Absolutely Fabulous; and to gathering up heaps of clippings.
Day lilies and everlasting sweet peas continue to proliferate.
The Brick and Gazebo paths are now clear once more,
as is the Phantom Path running between Margery’s and the Cryptomeria Beds.
Soon after we arrived here we found the iron ends of this bench in the jungle that we inherited. I bought timber for the slats and fitted them into place. It has become somewhat unsteady. Today Jackie reinforced it with metal stakes and resettled it. We no longer need to be apprehensive when sitting on it.
During a rest period I read enough more of David Copperfield to scan the next three of Charles Keeping’s excellent illustrations.
‘ ‘Miss Mowcher!’ ‘
‘My aunt sat looking benignantly on me, from among the borders of her nightcap’
In ‘People about me crying ‘Silence!’, and ladies casting indignant glances at me’ Mr Keeping makes the reason clear.
This evening we dined on roast chicken thighs; firm carrots and broccoli; tender cabbage; and boiled potatoes, with which Jackie drank more of the Sauvignon Blanc and I finished the Fleurie.
Warmed by this morning’s sunshine I completed my work on the front garden gravel path, and, ignoring a nesting sparrow’s warning cry, and scattering slithering woodlice seeking safety, opened up the stepping stones to the compost bin that stands behind the hydrangea and the red carpet rose.
This afternoon I dead headed Félicité Perpétue and in the process stripped out yards of binding convolvulus. Much of this prolific white rambling rose needs tying back and pruning. This will be done tomorrow when I will also have to cut down many of the Leucanthemum Superbum marguerites in the corner which obscure Jackie’s view when driving out.
After this I settled down to watch the second Wimbledon Men’s Semi Final between Novak Djokovic and Denis Shapovalov. During a tie-break in the first set we experienced an hour long power cut. There was nothing for it but to go into the garden and clear up some of the debris from Jackie’s all day long weeding, pruning, and planting. The following photographs are hers:
The first two images are of the Pond Bed which appears at the bottom right of her work in progress along the Brick Path.
She is very pleased with her dahlias, kniphofias, and day lilies.
The Westbrook Arbour has received further planting; the Shady Path Bed’s recent planting is flourishing; the Owl Urn has been cleared of a surfeit of obscuring Japanese anemones, and the bed fed with compost.
These giant mulleins seem to reach the top of the greenhouse; The Head Gardener is particularly pleased with the arching diorama; the plentiful Polish Spirit clematis; the climbing Brownie rose;
and most of all with the Japanese maple that, as a spindly seedling, she dug out of a gravel path and has nurtured into life.
We had our electricity back in time for me to watch the second half of the match.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s tasty cottage pie; crunchy carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli, and meaty gravy, with which she drank Blue Moon and I drank more of the Cotes du Rhone.
On another warm overcast day of humid atmosphere brightened by the end of the morning, most of which Jackie spent in her customary garden maintenance – this time in the Rose Garden , where I joined her in bagging up and transporting to the compost bin some of her debris. I carried out more dead heading, then made a photographic record.
Here Jackie sweeps the paths. The first image displays her clearance of the last set of footpaths; the second is now (8) in the “Where’s Jackie?” series. Bigifying is recommended.
Bees and hoverflies abounded. There are many self-seeded poppies in evidence.
A bejewelled Lady Emma Hamilton clearly hasn’t minded being exposed to the overnight rain.
Here is a view looking towards the Rose Garden from the lawn bed, and another taking the eye across to North Breeze.
White foxgloves speak to the Erigeron in the redesigned Pond Bed.
Now, I must pose a question to my readers.
Delightful as are the sun-dappled pages of David Copperfield, when you have finished gardening for the day and sit on a bench distracted by that very light and shade; by a myriad of insects flitting and descending rose petals floating in and out of dazzling beams; by the sweet scents of the fragrant flowers; by the bright burbling of the water feature, the symphonic notes of a host of birds, the busy buzzing of the bees, the swishing of your lady’s broom, and the drag of her filled trug across the swept paving; broken only by the chimes of a passing ambulance, what do you do?
I closed the book and enjoyed the views before me, occasionally carting weeds to the compost bin.
This evening we dined on a takeaway meal from Red Chilli. We started with prawn purees; followed by Chicken Saag for Jackie and very hot Naga Chilli lamb for me. We shared a plain paratha and special fried rice. The very well cooked and packaged food was ready on time, and, as before far too plentiful for one session. There will be ample to carry over tomorrow. Jackie finished the Sauvignon Blanc, while I did the same with the red Cabernet Sauvignon.
On a day that returned us to warmth and full sunshine, Jackie spent much of it
examining her floral babies and stretching to care for them, while I mostly wandered in and out of the garden with my camera.
We have a number of clematises;
numerous roses;
freshly blooming rhododendrons;
and more welcome alliums.
The Kitchen Path runs alongside the Pond Bed towards the arch bearing a blue solanum.
The Gazebo and Brick Paths are colourfully bordered.
Jackie’s new planting in the Shady Path Bench Bed is burgeoning nicely.
The Byzantium gladioli are standing in several beds, including this one in the Rose Garden; the pink cabana Jumbo emerges from a blue pot; the red Japanese maple still dominates the Pond Bed.
Geranium palmatums, cosmos, dandelions, convolvulus, companula, pansies, and poppies are other thriving blooms.
Florence at Fiveways stands in front of our newest bench; the Nottingham Castle replica is the oldest.
Weigela and two different erigerons overlook the concrete patio.
This evening we dined on more of the marinaded chicken with boiled new potatoes, and tender runner and green beans, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Shiraz.
Here is the next ten of Charles Keeping’s illustrations to ‘Nicholas Nickleby’, scanned yesterday:
‘No-one could have doubted their being twin brothers’
‘ ‘My children, my defrauded, swindled, infants!’ cried Mr Kenwigs, pulling at the flaxen tail of his second daughter’
‘A quiet, little frequented, retired spot, favourable to melancholy and contemplation’. You will usually find a cat or a dog in Mr Keeping’s drawings.
‘The terrified creature became utterly powerless and unable to utter a sound’
Mr Browdie gave his wife a hearty kiss, and succeeded in wresting another from Miss Squeers’
‘Divers servant-girls were almost scared out of their senses by the apparition of Newman Noggs looking stealthily round the pump’
‘ ‘What do you want, sir?’ ‘How dare you look into this garden?’ ‘
‘Miss Squeers elevated her nose in the air with ineffable disdain’
‘A bar-maid was looking on from behind an open sash window’
‘Stepping close to Ralph, the man pronounced his name’
The outside temperature is now hot by our standards. We made more progress in the garden.
Jackie has finished planting her hanging baskets and other containers flanking her favourite view from the stable door and along the Gazebo Path. The red Chilean lantern tree to the left of the second picture, and the yellow bottle brush plant on the right will soon be in full bloom.
These cosmos, petunias, geraniums, and angels wings in containers by the rhododendron can be seen near the end of the path on the right.
I finished the weeding of the footpath through the Weeping Birch Bed. I still have to find some more stones to complete the repair, but I couldn’t manage that today.
These gladioli in a trough outside the kitchen door increase each year.
Love Knot, and Gloriana, with purple aquilegias alongside, are two of the roses coming to fruition in the Rose Garden.
I only normally watch daytime TV for cricket and rugby. Today I made an exception for the 1958 version of Dunkirk, starring John Mills. As I said in my eponymous post, both Jackie’s and my father survived the event, and I had an urge to watch the film for the first time.
This evening we dined on oven fish and chips, baked beans, and cornichons with chilli. Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Malbec.
Jackie continued planting, including various pots, and mending the bed into which I fell beside the Heligan Path two days ago. She had been most concerned about the foxglove which, after she had extricated it from beneath my shoulder only lost a couple of leaves. I can now see that the shrub into which I took a dive was probably the still standing euphorbia.
I made a start on reviving the footpath through the Weeping Birch Bed. This involved lifting stones in order to remove the unwanted alliums from beneath them and removing others from the edges. These beasts even attach their babies to daffodil bulbs from which they had to be extricated. My chair was not stable enough for this task, so after a while I used the long fork standing up, and bent when necessary. I was able to take respite by leaning on the implement, but could not crouch enough to replace the narcissi. Either I’ll have another go tomorrow or the Head Gardener will need to step in.
Aquilegias, such as those seen in the bottom right of the Gazebo Path, and the Rose Garden beds, are ubiquitous. Maybe my next weeding job could be along the Rose Garden paths which look a safer prospect.
Various shrubs, like viburnums, and rhododendrons, are spreading for summer at last.
Clematises such as the blue Daniel Deronda and the white Marie Boisselot are now flowering, and Dr Ruppel buds are raring to go.
Other climbers, for example, the blue solanums and rose Arthur Bell are on their way.
The rose scales the arch beside the Dragon Bed which houses these peonies.
This is the view from the Rose Garden, past Florence, and across the lawn towards North Breeze;
and these are, in turn, from the pieris overlooking the Nottingham Castle Bench facing the Brick Path diagonally opposite the West Bed.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s most flavoursome sausage casserole; creamy mashed potatoes; exceptionally tasty carrots from Tesco; firm cauliflower; and tender runner beans, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank Mendoza Malbec 2019.
This was a day of intermittent steady rain and occasional sunshine.
Jackie began, in the rain, by photographing her new planting in the Pond Bed. She plans to do this periodically to record its development.
Shortly before lunchtime, Elizabeth arrived with her gardening kit, brought the sun with her, and set about
weeding the Head Gardener’s Walk.
There were plenty of plants, like these sweet woodruffs, spilling over for her to transplant to her own garden.
In the first London Marathon of the modern era, this photograph by Mark Shearman shows the winners crossing the line hand in hand. Inevitably, fierce competition for kudos and for prizes has superseded this sporting gesture which Jackie and I were to emulate in our contest over reaching
the Ace Reclaim Bench in our weeding of the Shady Path.
Fork and trowel met to share the final removal. Jackie produced this selfie from beside the bench, which I photographed from beside the nearest
rhododendron in the Palm Bed opposite.
Serious rain set in after lunch, so my sister donned her hooded raincoat and continued her task. The third picture, “Where’s Elizabeth?” (1), contains the scented clematis Montana Mayleen making its way up the lopped cypress.
During a later sunshine break I was able to photograph Elizabeth’s work on both the Head Gardener’s Walk
and the Heligan Path. She gathered up her piles before departing.
Meanwhile Jackie photographed raindrops on
the rhododendron on the corner of the Lawn;
the red Japanese maple;
the grey Cinereria Angel’s Wings;
Pheasant’s Eye narcissi;
and aquilegia buds.
This evening we repeated yesterday’s dinner menu with roast parsnips replacing the green beans. Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Recital.
Late yesterday afternoon we were both too knackered to clear up and put our tools away. The good news about today’s weather forecast is that we will be enjoying steady rain; the bad is that this will come with 60 miles per hour wind by the evening. This meant that we had to be out early this morning making our usual preparations in addition to the said clearing up.
We emptied trugs (WP you’ve got drugs on the brain) containing compostable material and buckets of alliums for bagging separately.
The trugs were then overturned to prevent their being filled with water.
Chairs were laid down gently before the wind did it ferociously.
If you biggify this second image of the scene, and examine the owl’s head you should see Where’s Nugget Junior? (2). While he was interested in what was going on he was not inclined to come any closer.
Paths were swept and hoed.
Beautiful as they are, the Weeping Birch Bed is just one that reminds us we will need to be back on the case soon enough.
Although the wind increased in ferocity we received no rain until early this evening.
Later this afternoon we drove to Keyhaven in search of windsurfers. We found none and therefore turned inland.
The rape fields off Sowley Lane are coming along well, and the oaks beginning to come into leaf.
Ponies grazed on the road ro Burley.
Cattle, blending into the landscape, foraged at East Boldre,
where some of the stumps and fallen trees have been around long enough to host lichen and frame violets.
A number of the roads in the New Forest area have been resurfaced. One of these arrives at the green sited where South Baddesley Road begins. Clearly a troop of donkeys has been engaged to maintain the grass in keeping.
Many of our English bluebells have been replaced or hybridised by Spanish imports. We have all three in our garden, but a number of our woods still contain our home grown variety. The first image in this gallery is alongside Sowley Lane; the rest along South Baddesley Road.
This evening we dined on oven fish and chips, baked beans, pickled onions, and cornichons, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Fleurie.
