First signs of spring.

A few hours of sunshine lift the spirits and spring greening begins – but soon we are overtaken again by showers and dull days. Not quite round the corner yet. So the ground remains soaked and sodden and the air, while milder, has not pushed everything into full growth. The trees and hedges are beginning to bud, the daffodils blossom, and primroses peek into flower.

The bare patches of grass pathways in the woodland have been reseeded – if the temperature rises for a time after this rain they should germinate well. Further seeding of wildflowers where the works were completed around the aqueduct should hopefully renew this area quite quickly.

In the Parkland in particular pheasants have scratched out a lot of the thatchy moss from the grass – so more patches to reseed. All these areas have also been given a dose of organic high nitrogen fertiliser to hopefully get things going.

Trees have been planted – yew hedging extended by the Roman garden surrounding the herm, behind the Flautist urn forming a green wall at the perimeter between the Woodlandgarden and Parkland, a silver birch by Henry Vaughan, and Irish yews like columns stand either side of the brick pathway entrance to the Temple garden. 

It is noticeable just how much light has now filtered in to those areas where overgrown trees were taken out over the winter – hopefully dormant ground cover will now be given a chance to fill out and form a green carpet.

The wooden Kailyard gate, and two wooden footbridges by the top pond have been renewed and are in place.

Water problems continue – perhaps caused by just too much rain – the source continually silts up and needs cleared to keep running, and it seems to have caused an airlock in the pipes somewhere in the supply to the house – this will either right itself or need further investigation and intervention.

Seeds are coming on in the greenhouses, but far too soon to be thinking of planting out.

In the last week of the month all of the unwrapping of artworks has been completed – there seems to be little damage to report – the limestone base at the Cottage entrance gate has crumbled a bit and will need refilling, and the Arcadia column in the lower parkland has a similar bit of damage which can be easily repaired.

All of the other smaller pieces in storage have also been placed out.

It is always interesting to see just how transformative the process of revealing these hidden objects can be – the garden takes on its proper purpose again, announcing the promise of new beginnings….