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.

London again

We got back to London to find the garden suffering from drought! While we'd been in France, very little rain seemed to have fallen on London, which was not good news for the plants I'd moved before we left. Some of the transplanted strawberry plants looked very sad, other plants had died completely - and the water level in the fishpond was down by several inches.

My first tasks were to give everything a thorough watering (usually the precursor to a downpour!), clean the pond UV filter and top up the water level. After that I continued the task begun last month - preparing the area where the new conservatory will go. The composter will need to be moved, so I've added compost accelerator and thoroughly mixed the contents. We'll not add any new material now until after it's moved.

The loganberry will be lost completely, so although it's really too early in the season, I've started to layer new shoots to propagate a replacement plant. I'll try several at different times in the hope that at least one will "take". The original plant will be left where it is until after this year's crop has been picked. It might be possible then to lift and replant but I doubt it.



One week on from watering the dried-out strawberry plants which had been moved under the pergola, most seem to have recovered. Others remained in the ground but most have now been moved into temporary homes - containers - until the autumn. Earlier in the season I rooted several runners into small pots; they have almost all survived and may go into a strawberry barrel in the autumn. There will be so little garden area left once the conservatory goes up that many more things will have to grow in containers in future.

The corner of the garden next to the workshop was planted with mint, and had become invaded by lemon balm. The mint (two different types) has been moved into containers, and I've now cleared the area which will house the composter currently in an area destined to be part of the conservatory. We will level the area first and pave it before moving the box - there will be plenty of paviors which we can lift and re-use. In fact the pathway next to it has dropped so we will re-lay that at the same time. There were some self-set shrubs (possibly mahonia - I'm not sure!) growing in this patch too, and I've moved them into the front garden, into the area which looks bare, where the tree used to be. In time they may mask the view of the bike shed from the road.

The recent transplants looked very sick for a while after being moved, despite being given plenty of water, but they have now started to recover, so I'm hopeful that they will survive. Still wondering what to do about the bay tree though... RHS recommends semi-ripe cuttings but it's too early to do that; perhaps in August.

Removals begin

So instead of being a "vague notion", the conservatory has become a definite plan for later this year. This means losing or moving some of my garden features, and a lot of its plants. Being reluctant to lose any, I'm now beginning to work out how to save as many as possible. The weather was kind to me this weekend, so a start has been made. The large area which used to be my herb garden (and strawberry patch) has been left to its own devices while we worked on the house, though I did make a start on clearing it in the autumn. Work has now been started in earnest - though as I'm off to France in three days' time there will be another three week hiatus!

The former herb garden after being left to its own devices!

The same view after this weekend's clearance work

Strawberries relocated

Only time will tell whether the moves have been successful, but so far I have "rescued" the following in addition to the rhubarb: crocus bulbs (moved into a planter in front of the kitchen window); two pelargonium plants which I thought had been killed by the bad weather, but which turned out to have signs of life at the base after all; my bergamot (moved into a large pot for now); about two-thirds of the plants from the strawberry patch (moved beneath the pergola); golden marjoram (moved into the low planter on the left of the garden, in turn necessitating the move of some "tumbling Ted" to the back of the garden); two wallflowers; two primulas (badly snail damaged)... but the old herb garden still has some way to go before it is cleared.