As yesterday was sunny and quite warm I spent a few hours in the garden.  First I had a huge tidy of the garden shed, which was in dire need of doing.  I cut back the stems of my over wintered pelargoniums and removed any mildew leaves, swept the floor as I have had little visitors eating anything they could and washed all the pots ready for a new gardening year.  I knew I also needed to clear up the dead leaves from around the ponds and this was when I came across a little Gold Finch that was clearly fasinated with its own reflection in the mirror by the pond.  It wasn’t at all worried about me watching, it was so intent on looking at its self in the mirror, I was spellbound I have never seen anything like it before.

A fantastic find

We had just finished loading a delivery of logs into the log store and it was still light so I took a stroll around the garden mentally planning what needs doing on a dry day when I came across an old compost heap.  This was something I knew was there but had forgotten about.   I was so excited as it meant that I could go ahead and start to mulch my herbaceous borders and all for nothing !

Hidden Compost heap

So on Monday morning I got out into the garden as soon as breakfast was over and mulched to my heart’s content.  It really makes such a difference to the look of the garden and does it good too.  I am of the no dig mind and let the worms do all the work a thick mulch also suppresses the weeds so less work for me as well.  I felt so much better when I came in for lunch and can’t wait to get out again and tidy up some more.

Tidy borders

Yesterday I was determined to clear the leaves from under a large maple tree by my driveway.  I find that if I don’t clear them up they become very slippery on the drive and start to smoother the grass and make it go yellow.  I figured that some old fashioned raking would burn up some calories and being outside is so good for you. It looked so good after I finished but as I looked up at the tree there are quite a few leaves still to come!!

maple-leaves

I have been lucky to have been staying in a lovely hotel with a stunning garden over the last few days.  I have been at Barnsley House in the Cotswolds.  I love every aspect of this mature and well thought out garden but I think my favorite area is without doubt the potager.  It used to be the main vegetable garden but now the hotel grows most of its own vegetables for the kitchen the potager is too small. They have developed a new and impressive vegetable plot in an adjacent paddock. The potager is now used for herbs, apple and pear trees, fruit bushes and at the moment there is chard and beetroot growing too.  As in every garden at this time of year some borders are free of plants and snuggled up in a thick layer of manure.

Visiting a garden like this makes me think of all the jobs waiting for me to enjoy getting on with at home it also gives me inspiration to make time to get on with them.