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.