Ravendale House

Well the snow that was forecast yesterday has arrived overnight. The weathermen had a severe weather warning out for heavy snowfalls and said there would be 2cm – 5cm at lower levels and up to 15cm on higher ground. I still work in old money so for me that is a worst case scenario of 6″.

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Today has been an afternoon of mixed fortune. Firstly the good news, it was a lovely day, the first one in ages where I’ve been able to get outside and do some gardening. I started by hoeing a few weeds from around the shed and under the hedge, it’s a bit too early for weedkiller, but I just wanted to stop them in their tracks for the next week or two, and then I’ll weedkill them properly when it’s a bit warmer.

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A few years ago I ordered some so-called ‘plug’ plants by mail order, Pansies I think they were. After a long wait they finally arrived, and what a disappointment they were. Small and weedy, not really big enough to be out on their own. Not many survived and those that did were wimps. I wrote a letter of complaint to the company but received no response, and I vowed I would never buy plants by mail order again.

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Today I’ve spent a pleasant afternoon in the flower garden. The weather once again was sunny and cold, which will do just fine. Everything is pretty wet after last nights rain, (not suitable for kneeling down or digging) so I decided to turn my attentions to a geranium, a few foxgloves and the ivy growing around the bottom of the conservatory.

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Today was another glorious day, cold with blue sky and sunshine, so we decided to go for a walk along the lovely lanes of rural Lincolnshire that surround our home. What could be nicer on a winters afternoon? We chose the shorter of our ‘circular’ walks which is about 3 miles. There isn’t much to see at this time of year, but it was still good to be out in the fresh air.

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Today was another nice day, so I decided to prune the clematis and solanum that grow together up the side of the kitchen window. I usually do them about now, and they both look a real mess when I’ve finished, but it’s not long before they begin to put out shoots and very soon they will both be thriving. In fact the clematis already has lots of buds on, so I’m not a moment too soon.

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It’s always a good feeling when the first snowdrops appear. There’s been one brave little soldier flowering on his own by our backdoor for several days now. I don’t quite know how he came to be there all on his own but there he is.

I noticed today that the big clump at the back of the house have appeared, so that’s a good sign, though I often wish they were in a place where we could see them more easily from indoors.

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I might have been pleased with Billy the shed the other day, but I’m not so pleased with my apple trees today. Something is eating the bark from round the bottom of them. Could it be rabbits? I don’t know, I haven’t seen bunnies in the garden since last Spring and there are no droppings apparent on the ground, but something is certainly eating my trees.

We bought these 10 apple trees about 5 years ago so they’re just nicely getting into their stride, and we’ve had some tasty apples already. They make a lovely apple walk between the bench and the arch so we can’t do with losing them now. I need to protect them against whatever it is that is eating them alive.

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At last, a nice day and I can actually do some proper gardening. I haven’t been able to do that since way before Xmas.

January is a funny time of year really, too early to do some things, too cold and wet to do others, so I decided the best thing was to do some digging. Apart from anything else I need the exercise after all these weeks of inactivity.

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Here’s the story of how we made a new garden from scratch. It’s not Sissinghurst and it’s not Kew, but we like it and we hope you will too.