Rain stopped play

Spending the second half of May in London, I was hoping for a chance to do something about the garden... but it rained so often that I only managed two days gardening. One of these was spent half at the front, half in the back.

The front garden doesn't need much maintenance - mainly hedge-trimming. I've reduced the height of the hedge on the northern side so that I can manage to trim it myself, but I can't manage the top of the hedge which divides us from our neighbours at number 9. It's actually their hedge, but as they never do any gardening we've taken it upon ourselves in recent years to trim it - otherwise the appearance of our own house is spoiled. I would like to reduce the height of this hedge too, so that I can reach to trim it, but that's for the future - for now, Mike's higher reach means he cuts the top of this one (this time, he did the sides too).

The back garden was not only looking like a building site since the removal of the ponds, but an overgrown building site at that, having been left to its own devices for some time. My other day-and-a-half of reasonable weather were spent clearing as much as possible of the former ponds area - and having done so, laying a weed suppressant blanket over the cleared ground to prevent a repetition of the jungle appearance, as I'll be away for nearly all of June.

It wasn't just weeding - a car load of rubble was also shifted (retaining bricks which may still be re-used), bagged up and taken to the tip. The new fencing which I started to treat earlier is still unfinished, due to the weather - it can only be done if the timber is completely dry. Blackberry blossoms over the one remaining arch, but I'm concerned that I don't yet see any new canes emerging from the base to provide next year's fruit. I did pick - and share! - the first strawberry of the season. More will ripen while we're away, and I've asked Eva to help herself to them so that they don't go to waste.

While I'm away I should still be able to do something about the London garden - planning! I need to make a priority list of work to be carried out, that which I can do myself and that for which I need help.

May flying visit

In the middle of May I came to France just for a few days, so that the garden didn't get too overgrown - and I also wanted to keep fertilising it. When I arrived I was really pleased to see how the geranium on the porch had burst into flower, and in the back garden the philadelphus was also covered in bloom, for the first time since it was planted about 8 or 9 years ago. I spent about three days working in the garden but didn't get round to posting any update here. Several areas needed work.


One of the "Desmond Tutu" roses was suffering really badly from rust - so much so that I had to remove almost all the foliage and just hope it would recover. Fortunately the rust had not spread to the other roses, though there was black spot on some.

The furniture in "Yvonne's corner" needed more protection, and I'd brought several bottles of teak oil from the UK (where it is MUCH cheaper than in France). Mike had sanded off some rough parts and applied the remainder of our teak oil in April - the bench seat and table have now had three coats of oil applied so should be well protected. The outdoor dining table has been covered this winter (though the cover wasn't a good fit, and has several holes where the wind has rubbed it against the table's corners). I tried to repair the holes with duct tape, but really I need to source (or make?) a cover the right size before next winter.

There was good news on the citrus front: both the kumquat and lemon trees seem to have recovered from the drought they suffered earlier in the year; they have new shoots and plenty of new foliage. The orange tree has several tiny fruits so we may even have an orange or two later in the year!

I spent some time (and money!) at Jardiland, and have replaced some plants which died from lack of water (lavender, white gaura) as well as adding quite a bit of colour, mainly in the east border which has never had much. I was really pleased with the way it looked after being thoroughly weeded and stocked with flowering plants - mainly annuals but one or two perennials - lupin ("Persian slipper") and salvia (Salvia gregii Fuchsia). The watering system in this border had suffered badly from the neighbour's cats knocking it as they leapt on to the garden wall, so I've replaced it with soaker hose.


In the front garden I cut the photinia back hard. It had grown far too tall for its position - as high as the fig tree next door - and was keeping light from the plants beneath. It will need regular pruning in future. The cordyline growing in a pot by the fence I had thought was dead, but a new shoot proved me wrong. As it recovers, I've given the pot some colour by adding a couple of petunias. I bought another cordyline, too, and planted it in a tall blue pot we brought out from London. It's now on the decking.

Why ever did I plant ivy?

I really should have known better... and would have, if I'd paid any attention to how big the ivy trunk had got in the London garden. Looking back over my photos, I see I planted it in 2007, and it looked good as it began to cover the front wall. However, once established it began to grow very rapidly. By 2011 it had reached the top of the wall, and the following year began to encroach on the bedroom windows and the porch. 

May 2010

Since then it's needed regular attention to keep it away from the downpipe and gutters, as well as the shutters and front door. This is fine now, but what would happen if I became unable to climb ladders to deal with it? Judging by the thickness of the stems in the London garden, it could force the guttering off the wall.

April 2011

I now pull/cut off enough of the plant each time to leave several inches of space between ivy and gutter/window surround etc - but haven't noticed how long it takes before it needs doing again. I should now be able to look back at this blog in future to track its progress.

April 2014 - after cutting back

Timber is not everlasting

A springiness in some of the deck boards led Mike to unscrew them - not an easy task, as they've been down for nine years and varnished over a couple of times - to check the supports. Water damage was evident in some of the supports; some rotten timber could be dug out, and the resulting holes stabilised and refilled, but some was so extensive that the best solution was to replace the supports completely - these were in the area which gets most traffic, directly outside the French windows. We couldn't find treated timber of the right dimensions, so untreated timber was bought and given two coats of "lasure". This was given plenty of time to dry out, and then installed in place of the 3 worst beams.

Now that the boards have been replaced - and re-fixed using longer screws - the deck feels very secure again.

Heady scent

Jasmine

On returning to France we found the jasmine in full flower and its scent so powerful that with the back doors open it perfumes the whole house! The cape marigold planted under the blackberry is providing a superb display of flowers, tumbling to the floor; I will get more of these (in other colours) to plant in the front garden. I'm relieved to discover that there are signs of life in plants which might have died due to the lack of water in Feb/Mar; just two tiny shoots on the kumquat, but the lemon tree has many leaves starting to open, and the potted hydrangea, whose leaves were shrivelled, now looks nice and healthy. I think I've lost the lavender and white gaura though, so will replace those. Now in full leaf, it's obvious that the wisteria is coming back to life; it will be fed throughout the season and maybe we'll have a good display of flowers next spring.

Cape marigold

The weather is fine and sunny and we've put the gardenia back outside. It's looking great at the moment after its winter indoors. There is some other colour in the garden - the roses are starting to open, the clematis is in full bloom, and there is blossom on the fruit trees - in fact the fruit is already setting! However, I would like to see more colour and will be thinking what to plant next to achieve that.

Fishy farewell

How the ponds looked when first built

After demolition

Well, the fish ponds have all been destroyed now... it was sad to see them go, but what's left of the garden after the conservatory went in was just too small for them. There would have been no space for drying laundry, and little for adding plants, so they've gone (I found a new home for the fish using Freecycle - they've moved to Mile End, to a pond which had lost its fish to a marauding heron). Now we have piles of rubble to sort and remove, and then we can start the process of reconstruction.

I plan to keep the layout similar - but where the ponds were will become fruit and flower beds. The gap between the conservatory wall and the new beds will have room for a pathway and also a herb garden (my cunning idea there being that we'll be able to open a window and cut herbs without even going outside!).

I bought a replacement for the bay tree ... and have restored an old half barrel which I found on the Thames shore to hold it. Red cedar preservative and black Hammerite were used to give the old barrel a new look:

Desiccated citrus

On my previous visit to France I had forgotten to check the batteries in the watering system (the system consists of four separate ares, each controlled by a battery-operated timer). One of the batteries had gone flat whilst I was away; combined with unusually dry spring weather, this led to the drying out of part of the system - including the pots containing the lemon and kumquat trees. When I removed the winter protection from them, I discovered that all the leaves had shrivelled and some of the branches had turned brown. After removing all the dead material they now look very sorry specimens...

My March visit - just over a week - was planned mainly for the purpose of gardening. I managed to clear a couple of areas in the front garden - the beds under our bedroom window, and the one beside the bins - happily discovering while doing so that the wisteria, which we had feared dead, had leaf buds beginning to open. I've started fertilising it and hope it will recover to flower again one day.


The front garden was created from the existing soil on the plot when we bought it, whereas the back garden has been supplemented with better topsoil. Both these beds had been a bit neglected recently, and it's time for an overhaul. The escallonia had once again succumbed to the black spot, so has been cut right back. I need to have a way of identifying each bed rather than having to describe them as, for instance, "the bed under the bedroom window", "the bed up against the front wall" and so on. Maybe a plan with numbers (or compass directions) would be the way? It's something to think about on my next visit.

Spraying in London

Early buds

The weather has finally improved - no rain and wind - enough to get the sprayer out. It seems tar wash isn't available any more (banned maybe?) but I've used a product called Virax winter tree wash on the plum and damson trees, despite the fact that the unusually mild weather recently means that buds are beginning to open already. I'm hoping we don't get a severe spell after the buds open; that happened last year and we had hardly any fruit as a result. The trees were also badly affected by aphids last year.

Both trees were pruned in the summer and I've just taken a few crossing branches off today to tidy them up a bit.

Nearly all that remains of the back garden has to be reorganised this year following the installation of our new conservatory, which is now finally complete, and provides us with a lovely room from which to enjoy what's left of the garden. Having had in the autumn to dig out my bay tree, which used to grow just outside the back door, I bought another - cone shaped - and mudlarking along the Thames discovered a small half-barrel which makes a good container for it - though I may decide to plant it out eventually.

The finished conservatory

Second spraying

After several days of wind, I was finally able to get out with the sprayer again today, so a second treatment has been applied to medlar, quince and apple - also to the stump of the cotoneaster, which I had previously cut right back as it's impossible to spray the undersides of the leaves. Both escallonias are showing black spot reappearing; the one at the front seems to have the infection confined to one side, so I hope to be able to save it by removing all the spotted leaves. I'm not so hopeful about the one at the side, which seems to have a fairly widespread infection so there may be little left of it if I remove all the spotted sections!

At the front we now have a lovely splash of colour with the Japanese quince in full bloom, and attracting bees. Two horizontal wires have been installed so that it can be trained sideways.

Colouring in

The last few days have seen good weather, but with the promise of cold and rain to come, so I've been busy tidying up outside in advance of the change. There was very little colour in the garden apart from the brown of dead shoots and leaves - the winter jasmine began opening a few days ago, and that was the only bright spot. So I paid a visit to the garden centre and bought a few plants to add winter colour - plus some for ground cover. There's still a way to go, and I will need to buy in some more topsoil soon to top up planters and borders, but I'm pleased with what I've achieved so far.

Front doorstep 8th Jan

Front doorstep now

The pots by the front door have a few bulbs as permanent residents, but I usually put flowering annuals in in the spring. This time I wanted some immediate colour so have put in cyclamens and forced hyacinths. In the process of clearing out the pots I unearthed an enormously fat toad - perhaps the one which was lurking around the pots last summer, but much larger now! The trough to the left will house herbs again later, but for now has bright yellow pansies.

Along the driveway wall I've finally given up on the gooseberry cordons which I planted several years ago, but which have never amounted to anything - as the olive tree developed they were thrown more into shade so their lack of growth was probably due to lack of sunlight. In their place I've just cleared the patch and put in a few ground cover plants (Ajuga reptans atropurpurea) and - for now - some pansies. More pansies in the troughs add a bit of colour to the bay tree corner too.

I hope next autumn I will remember to put down a tarpaulin under the olive tree as the fruit ripens - olives, leaves and olive pits make a real mess on the white gravel! Each day I clear a small area but don't know if it will ever get completely cleared...

A few polyanthus and a couple of cyclamens have brightened up the planter against the front wall, and this will soon have a little more colour as the Japanese quince flowers.

A-sprayin' we will go

I woke to stillness this morning, the gusty winds of yesterday having disappeared leaving the merest breath - not even enough to rustle the leaves of the olive tree. So out came the sprayer again, to treat the apple trees and the quince.

Winter pruning

There was no progress yesterday - apart from a journey to the déchetterie. Today I've concentrated on the other fruit trees, completing the winter pruning and clearing of the apple trees, and also pruning the mulberry and quince trees. With the mulberry, I was trying to remove some of the lowest drooping branches, as it's difficult to get under it to pick the fruit, but at the same time trying to maintain a good overall shape. I also treated all the cuts on the mulberry with a wound sealant, as it tends to "bleed" when cut. What I wasn't able to do, though, was the insecticide and tar oil treatment, as today was too breezy for using the sprayer.

It's good to be here in France this month, as the weather in London is certainly not conducive to gardening - though there is much more work there to be done than there is here, it will have to wait until later in the year - provided that the rain finally stops falling!

Empusa pennata

This morning was medlar-jelly-making morning. It seemed to go quite well, but the jelly doesn't seem to be setting, so it may need to be boiled up again - with added pectin.

Today was to be apple day... I removed the last remaining apples from the trees, then started the winter pruning and clearing the ground around the trunks, only to be distracted by discovering an insect I'd never seen before. Photographing and then identifying it took so long that I will have to complete the winter treatment of the apple trees tomorrow. Anyway, the insect was finally identified - using the internet - as one of the larval forms of Empusa pennata, a type of praying mantis - apparently known in English as a conehead mantis.

Regeneration...

Today I turned my attention to the pomegranate - the tree blown down by strong winds last spring, but which later produced lots of new growth from the base. I've selected just one of these and removed all the others. I'll start to re-train it next year as if it were a 2 year old tree.

Before ...

... and after.

The medlar treatment continues... so much fruit that it's taken two loads to process, even using all three jelly bags. The first lot dripped through overnight, and the second during the day. Tomorrow - jellification!

2014 begins with the medlar

I arrived in St Jean Lasseille yesterday, and in beautiful sunshine today (T-shirt weather in January!) have begun the winter gardening. The first thing to be tackled was the medlar, whose winter treatment so far consists of:
- gathering the fruit (almost two buckets full) - already bletted by being left on the tree
- clearing the base of the tree
- light pruning (just removing twigs which crossed each other)
- spraying with insecticide and tar oil
- preparing the fruit for jelly making