Time to review my Lake District garden 2015

It's the time of year when you look at the garden, make resolutions about what to do differently next year- then forget to make a note about it. The result is that you make the same mistakes next year. Or is that just me?

Here goes on some thoughts about White Moss House garden 2015. It's a Grasmere garden, a Lake District garden , so the thoughts below may not apply to gardens elsewhere.

First thoughts.

Two things are totally out of my control

1. The weather. It's been cold, dull and wet. You know that- we all know that.

2. Rabbits. We've not had rabbits for years, but in the past two weeks we've seen two. They've eaten the annual cornflowers which I sowed with love, and which were finally beginning to flower well. They've also eaten the Nigellas which had been beautiful. The nasturtiums are another target, and they've even bitten through the stem of a Japanese anenome leaving the stalks with flowers lying on the ground.

Of course, you might say that I can do something about the rabbits. Get someone to lurk around with a shotgun would be top of my list right now as I'm so fed up with them, Is that legal? Failing that, over the winter we'll have to dig in a rabbit fence around the main beds. We used to have these years ago, but as we've been rabbit free they've all be taken down.

Here's a photo of the border taken early August.

White Moss House garden

The penstemons planted from plugs in 2014 are looking good, and the mesembryanthemum that I bought from the WI market in 2014 is doing really well. I divided it into 3 clumps and each is flowering well ( it's the lilac coloured flower) Also, an erodium I bought last year from the WI market has been brilliant. I divided this into 3 as well, and it's been a really good colour source all through the summer. It tends to be a bit leggy, and I've realised that you need to cut the leaves off from below as they die. It's a member of the storksbills, a relative of the much loved cranesbills.

When it started to flower in June I wasn't sure of it's name. In the end, I described it to the lady at the WI market, from whom I'd bought I bought it last year. "Erodium"- flowers all summer, just keep deadheading.

Here's a picture of it taken early in June.

Erodium, White Moss House

Just a few more thoughts today, looking at the flowers above.

Plugs- don't bother with them ever again! Yes, I do still have a good showing of the Pentsemons, but I'd rather buy 6 larger good quality plants than fuss around with 24 plugs that need repotting. This is just my opinion. Nothing against Thompson and Morgan who sent excellent plugs.

Plants from Ambleside WI Country market are an excellent buy. They've been grown locally , so will love the conditions in my garden. Buy plants for a  Lake District garden from a Lake District gardener- it makes sense.

Final thought today, memo to self. Next year, don't both to sow seeds in seed trays and then plant out. Those sown directly into the border did just as well.

That's enough for one day. Back soon with more memos- mostly for me, but if they help you, you're welcome.

Why no posts for so long?

Why have I not posted here this year?

Well, it was January and very wet. No gardening to be had. I was away in February, then when I returned in March, it was still wet. Very wet.

The worse thing though was that all the daffodils in our whole garden have been eaten by deer. Usually the large back hillside garden in covered in daffodils that have spread over the life of the house. In our side garden we have the little narcissi that Wordsworth wrote about. You can see and read about them here.

Wordsworth daffodils

These are the Wordsworth daffodils growing wild in our garden in happier years.

In our main garden we also have daffodils that I've planted myself.

All gone.

This is the culprit.

Deer looking down at me from the top of our garden

The deer are not scared any more. They just look at me, as if saying "so? What you gonna do about it?" The whole area around the deer is usually yellow with daffodils at this time of year.

Oh, the woes of gardeners! I'm not alone . Every gardener in Grasmere has a similar tale. It's dispriting.
Shall I even bother to plant anything this year?
Watch this space............

Things are starting to grow at last- tips of lovage, little sorrel leaves

The ice cold weather has finally relented, and we're up in the dizzy heights of 11C . Not great, but better. It's also raining, which is something I'm not normally a big fan of, but we need the rain now to help the buds open.

Here is a picture I took in March last year of the lovage just coming up. You can click through this link to find out how to grow and use lovage. This year the lovage still isn't as big as this. We must be  3 weeks or 4 weeks behind last year. The sorrel is still tiny too.

Lovage at White Moss House, Grasmere , 20 March 2012

Just seen a red squirrel- good news!

I was sitting at my desk, checking for any early morning messages, when out of the corner of my eye I saw movement in the garden.

It was a Red Squirrel hopping about. They're not easy to see right now against the brown bracken, but it hopped onto the trunk of a silver birch and ran up into the branches. The Grasmere  Red Squirrel Watch people put a Squirrel cam in our garden the other day . They move it round between the various local squirrel sites. Hope they got a sighting- it makes all the hard work fighting off the greys very worthwhile.

Yesterday we had two big deer and the normal bunch of sheep, one of which is very bad tempered- practically stamps it's feet when I try to "shooo- go on, get out..." them away. If they only ate the grass I wouldn't mind - just leave the daffodils please.

White Moss, Grasmere, crocus, 10 March 2010

I've found this photo on my files from 10 march 2010. This year has been so cold lately that I don't think my crocuses are out yet. I'll look for them today.

Time to cut the sweet cicely back

Actually, I should have cut the sweet cicely back some time ago, but it was too wet or I was too busy. I got out yesterday and cut all the foliage and flower heads right down to about 2 inches off the ground. Another crop will come along soon, and we'll be able to use the sweet cicely leaves to sweeten berry desserts, so cutting down on the sugar.

For more about sweet cicely, how to grow and use it, take a look at my article All about how to grow and use sweet cicely, with recipes too. It's a pretty herb when it's in flower as you can see here.

Sweet cicely, White Moss House, Grasmere

Snowdrops all out early.

As it's been so mild, all our snowdrops are out. Sometimes they struggle to get properly out by March , so this really is unusual so far north.

Snowdrops at White Moss House, 5 March 2010

I haven't taken any photos of them yet, but here's one I made earlier. By 5 March 2012 I think the snowdrops will be well over.

Dark at 5 pm- so little time to garden

Here we are on the first day after the clocks have gone back, and I'm realising that the joy of evening gardening is a pleasure that will now have to wait until March.

The garden has been tidied up pretty well, apart from my own private terrace, which needs a lots of TLC.The cold night a few days ago killed off the begonias, and the phlox are drooping. A serious afternoon with the secateurs and trowel is needed to clear out the debris.

The White Moss herb garden is actually looking pretty good. We've cleared all the tired herbs and weeded around, but we now have a few fresh sprouts of fennel, and some lovely fresh baby sorrel, great for making sorrel soup or using in a salad. The sage is still looking great, but probably needs to be picked and dried if it's going to be ready for Christmas stuffings.

Here's a baby sorrel leaf, still growing in our Grasmere herb garden at the end of October.

The bay tree is blooming after it's drastic pruning on the order of Monty Don this spring. Will it survive another cold winter? We'll have to wait and see.