“I never realised it was so satisfying to see bare soil '' said Mark at the end of last Fridays 'work in the garden day'. We were working alongside three volunteers and the five of us made good progress waking up the garden by trimming back the dead standing stems of herbaceous perennials like Nepeta , Verbena bonariensis and Veronicastrum
Working with plants that looked dead having flowered last summer it was hard to imagine them in bloom again. Sadly we found the severe cold and damp weather has been too much for our Caryopteris 'Heavenly Blue' so we will be looking for replacement plants that prefer a wet climate! The lavender's are looking pretty lifeless but we live in hope of them flowering again while another grey leaved blue flowered sub-shrub Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Blue Spire' has faired better.
Weeding, removing moss which loves our damp climate along with dead leaves reavealed the clean looking bare soil which so surprised Mark. 'Self seeders' were abundant, Libertia grandiflora , campion and our native bugle being our main culprits, all welcome and pretty in their place but they had to go! Foxgloves and evening primroses were a little luckier and were reduced and will be allowed to contribute their blooms this summer. Marjoram and lemon balm seedlings survived too as they will always be welcome in the kitchen.
The bare soil has now to be mulched with homemade compost which will feed the plants, suppress the weeds and keep in the moisture, hardly necessary in our damp climate.
The indoor garden by contrast survives largely unwatered and provides warmer work space on cold days when the wind chills us.
As the season changes we are looking forward to being able to open the garden at week ends and have more foody things planned from foraging with Rachel Lambert, community meals with guided garden tours to learn about how the garden grows to the launch of Potager Preserves.