It's all about size

Our rhododendron and azalea collection dates back to when the garden was originally laid out, from 1910 onwards.  The colour starts in late winter (depending on the temperatures) and there is a continuous succession of blooms right through until summer.  After a dull, grey winter, they are a blast of vitality and the acidic soil at Springfield has enabled them to flourish.

Not sure about the colour combination but it wakes us up in the morning!

Rhodies in particular are heavy-weights and if given their head, they start throwing around too much weight.  And that’s the problem, isn’t it?  When we moved here, they had been allowed to grow unheeded and we set about pushing them back and showing them the colour of our loppers.

But the time came when an annual moderate pruning was not enough.  So this summer Doc has almost massacred them but finally we can distinguish each tree and walk between them.  They don't look pretty at the moment and they won’t flower next season but this is a price worth paying for reclaiming the garden.  They won't die though, they are already sprouting green shoots and before long they will be back in the business of providing colour, but on a smaller scale. 

There was over a foot deep of leafmould around these thugs, the result of decades of decaying leaves, spent flowers and twiggy bits.  When Doc dug all this out, he found lovely stone edges to the beds and the path between the rockeries is actually much wider than we thought it was which is going to be very useful.  (Though we will need a fence to keep people from falling down the banks!) 

 

We can use the leafmould as a mulch elsewhere in the garden and it will be rich in nutrients.  Doc has piled up the largest logs to feed the log burner next year and the rest of the mountain of debris has been burned on a bonfire which lasted 2 whole days.  He calculated that he had walked 4 miles, barrowing it all down to the bottom of the garden. It is one of the reasons he is currently so slim!  I feel guilty that my disability meant my only contribution to the mammoth task was to trim the leaves from a few branches.

The process has been cathartic because we feel that finally we own the entire garden, not just part of it.  We are busy planning what to do with the banks now we are back in control.  One of our ideas is to create planting terraces with sleepers so we can plant some attractive ground cover plants, bulbs and so on.  Without planting pockets, new plants would be washed down the banks in the rain.  We also have plans for a garden room with a retaining wall at the back of it so this will be a major project.  It is going to take some careful thought and of course, we must keep on top of the rhododendrons....

Size is the current theme because we have had great success with the carrots.  I know that baby, sweet carrots are best but since we find growing carrots quite a challenge, we are proud of this particular whopper.  With such a cold spring we thought germination would be impossible and even when we did see some growth, we did not water the plants very much, nor did we get round to installing a baffle to deter the carrot root fly.  However, nature has provided and this carrot was perfect and has lasted us for 3 meals!  We are hopeful that the white carrots (parsnips) will be just as productive.