The Garden 2021

 ....Continuing the Story

It's February and it's below zero so not a day to be out in the garden as the ground is frozen and the plants are all wilting under the continuing cold.  There is hope of Spring on the way as the temperatures are due to get a bit warmer (so take that as rain!) next week.

All of the perennials have been cut back and it's ready for Spring but the garden waste is piling up as compost heaps not quite ready to be spread on the beds yet and the brown bin for garden waste which is collected weekly by the Local Authority has not been collected since before Christmas as they are short staffed due to COVID related staff absence.  

January

11th January, early morning on a clear cold day with a hint of sunrise on the Ridgeway

17th January - the first snowdrops have appeared at the bottom of the garden.

Sunday 25th January, good day to have a proper snowfall as the kids could get out on sledges and not much traffic around but it turned to rain by early afternoon and was gone by the Monday!

View of the Eucalyptus tree before the Tree Surgeons arrived.  My neighbour reckons it's the tallest tree in Shrivenham.  Whilst it has a solid root base (unusual in this country as not a native so can often be shallow rooted)  However, they grow VERY tall as they get a lot of water and the branches act like a large sail so can be quite scary in high winds.  We had it topped in 2013 - it's on the page for The Garden in its Original State for comparison so time to do it again!

Tree Surgeon is also reducing the canopy of what we think is a Cherry Tree - it's never really been 'happy' so no blossom etc but when in full leaf its a lovely tree so this is an attempt to bring it back to it's full glory.  It has also suffered from being under the canopy of a large Sycamore (now removed) and in front of another Sycamore and the Eucalyptus. 

Man up a tree - the Eucalyptus tree to be exact - these guys are amazing and having spent 7 years in New Zealand this particular guy knew a lot about these trees so he has done a great job reducing the canopy.

Almost there - you have to admire what they can do at height with chainsaws strapped to their belts!

Canopy back to a reasonable height and now a good shape too

Wood chips from the branches removed from the Eucalyptus smell amazing.  We use these for the garden paths to suppress weed growth.

February

The Eucalyptus looks quite small in the background as the Scots Pine still dominates the skyline

Both sides of this path have now been edged and looks much better - the Eucalyptus wood chippings will keep the weeds at bay for a while hopefully.  Border on the left has been cleared out and cut back to allow us the point that wall in the Spring - have to wait until the frost has passed.

Even the bottom of the garden is looking quite tidy - apart from the large white bag of garden clippings of course!

The Clematis Montana has even been tidied up to encourage Spring growth.

Bulbs have started to come through so Spring is on the way.

The Japanese cherry is covered in buds so hoping for even more blossom this year as it matures.

The rose bed in front of the wall we pointed last year has been improved so hopefully will give a good display this year against the refurbished wall.