First of all, I have changed the ‘style’ of the blog – hope you like it. The old look was a bit limited, and italics for some reason didn’t display properly. Time for a change.

At The Farm I have been doing some more work in the Walled Garden, as well as tidying up grass edging elsewhere in readiness for the start of the mowing season. Sadly, a lot (let’s be honest, most) of the wooden edging on paths and lawns alike has deteriorated and crumbled. It really needs replacing but that will be a time-consuming and fairly costly job: maybe one for next winter? Many of the border edges have consequently ‘migrated’ over time, to create odd and wavy lines which are difficult to maintain. The danger then is that they creep further and the problem gets worse. Nothing looks neater than a newly-edged border, so out came the half-moon spade.

I also took the opportunity to widen one or two ‘strip’ borders in order to allow some more planting. At the moment this looks like a crop of white plant labels, as I have been using bare-root perennials – but they will come. Those I put in a couple of weeks ago are already showing green shoots in many places.

The Hellebores continue to look lovely, with a whole range of dusky pink shades. I have been taking off a lot of the foliage so that the flowers can be seen better, uncluttered by floppy browning leaves. Ignore the area on the other side of the path: the wall is about to be repaired, and I will replant completely once the building work is done in a few weeks’ time. 

Working along that border was a mouth-watering business, thanks to the amazing scent wafting over from a large Curry Plant (Helychrisum italicum) by the gate. Usually one thinks of Curry Plants giving up their eponymous odour only when the leaves are picked and sniffed closely, but this substantial old specimen sends out a cloud of delicious Garam Masala-aroma on the breeze.