Garden Pictures 2019

An archive of the picture gallery from 2019. The oldest pictures are at the bottom of the page. Time flows from right to left ← ← on any row. Click on any picture to see a larger scale version. As you scroll down a 'return to the top' button will appear in the lower right corner of the screen.

	December 2 and the clearance of the top part of North Glebe [for the third time!] is progressing well;	It doesn't take long before the buttress is complete, about 2 hours; the concrete mixer has now been put away for the winter [which means we will probably need it within two weeks!]	November 12 and we are casting the concrete of the River Pond buttress; the torrent of Winter Stream is being diverted around either side of the dam;
Meanwhile, down in the south west corner of the glebe land the trunk of the ash that fell - presumably back in the Great Storm of 1987 - is showing some lovely fungal sporocarps [fruiting bodies];	Early November and the North Glebe is coming together nicely : more path has been finished and the clearance of the last section is progressing;	October 30 and planting is starting in the freshly rotavated section of North Glebe; This lower section is wetter than higher up towards School Oak and has been conceived to be a swathe of herbaceous perennials with some low growing shrubs;	October 28 and we have had the first ground frost of the autumn; the colours of the garden are starting to turn;
October 22 and it is too wet to rotavate the composted area of North Glebe but the first wood chip path is complete and Rob has started digging out bracken again; this time any remaining bits will be removed as they appear next spring;	Looking from the other direction one can start to get an impression of the final effect [once it is dry enough to complete the buttressing so that the bypasses can be closed];	October 21 and we are told that October rainfall in the south east has been 168% of the long term average for the month so far [and 10 days to run ...!]; despite the bypasses around the dam the water is only 2½ courses from the spill height;	October has been a wet month so Winter Stream is in full spate over the weir under Chinese Bridge; when the dam is finished [again!] the 'river' below the weir will be up to the top of the first brick of the weir but the weir will be one brick higher;
The first of the wood chips were then applied to the path; the chips will tone down with time;	Tuesday, October 15 and the first of the compost is applied to the rotavated part of North Glebe;	However, the water doesn't really go back far enough so a third course of bricks will be required;	Mid-October and the weir under Chinese Bridge has done its job : water is spilling over;
The compost itself [and some wood chips for the paths] arrives late that drear afternoon : muck spreading next Monday!	Monday October 7 and the first part of North Glebe is being prepared for composting;	This shows the final edge from the rectangular manhole round to the pebble path in front of the orangery;	The same day, the edging and sub-base of main road was completed; this shows the interface with the drive using a Corten strip;
Left-over mortar was then used to start the buttressing of the dam for River Pond;	Monday September 30 and, following a bit of international travel, the weir under Chinese Bridge is laid;	By the end of the day the Corten edging on the west of main road down to the manhole was installed and the last of the turf had gone;	The weir foundation was complete before noon [there was a concrete mixing interval while more cement was purchased ...];
Once that was finished, the focus turned to casting the weir foundation;	Monday September 16 and the second buttress foundation is nearly cast by 09:00;	Down at Chinese bridge the foundation of the new weir is excavated and shuttered ready for concrete on Monday; the buttress foundations at the dam are also ready;	Mid September and there is progress on main road [despite international travel]; the ground was extremely compacted and loaded with builders rubble;
The same day, good progress was made on the pathway to the west of the house, extending it north as far as the slope; filling the grid close to the edge will take care and time;	This is the wildflower meadow side of the main road from the drive to the hornbeam hedge; the asparagus bed side of the road has not even been prepared yet;	Monday August 27 and some of the Corten edging for the main road is installed : this is from the the hornbeam hedge to the deck; Corten rusts to a lovely brownish red and then stops rusting;	Mid August and a strange sight : a slow worm [Anguis fragilis] in the open of its own accord down on North Glebe; in the past we have only found them under carpets and similar cover; this one was about 600mm [2'] long;
August 12 and the autumn crocuses [Colchicum autumnale] in the spring beds are already making their appearances; so much for summer!	Late July and the red lobelias down at Black Pond are starting to come out next to the [yellow] ligularia; note that the Primula vialii are still flowering their socks off;	The result was good although the oven could have been a bit hotter in order to get a crisper edge;	This is the pizza in the oven; we went for a simple garlic butter topping in case it was a total failure;
Sunday July 21 and its time to try making our own sour dough pizza base; well it is more less round ...	Mid-July and we have a golden-ringed dragonfly [Cordulegaster boltonii, the longest of the UK's dragonflies]; unfortunately this one somehow found her way into the house and couldn't get out again;	Up by Top Pond the kniphofias, planted last year, are coming into their own;	Early July and summer is really here : the Rhodesian Guinea Fowl [Scrapus carpartius] have completed their migration [from Chelsfield];
Closer examination shows that a wasp nest has been exposed but it doesn't look damaged : either they have worked fast at repairs or they fended off the attack before any damage was done; the detail shows that the wasps are flying in with mud to repair the surrounds;	July 1 and a badger or fox has been busy digging up part of the wildflower meadow; bees or wasps are buzzing around;	The achilleas in the formal garden east bed are coming into their own; this is Achillea millefolium 'Terracotta';	The end of June and there is evidence that Black Pond is doing its job : several cast skins [exuvia] from dragonfly larvae are in evidence; the short-bodied shape of this one implies a 'chaser' or a 'skimmer' [there are about 30 species in the British Isles];
The logs down the side of the house have now been moved into the new store;	Main road was also progressed on June 24 with roadstone doubled in length and more turf removed at the far end;	This is the arrangement after the connection had been made; the connection is actually outside the manhole [to the left in this picture] with isolation and non-return valves plus drain valve [above] in the manhole itself; the standpipe works!	June 24 and the manhole is in place and levelled for the connection to the water main;
June 21 - summer solstice - and the olives that stand at the orangery end of the formal lawn are full of flower buds; they are unlikely to produce any olives however!	This is the completed standpipe; now we need to focus at the other end where the connection to the existing pipe has to be made : a job for next Monday when Rob is here;	June 20 and work is underway at the standpipe end of the new water line; this will also serve as the record picture for where the pipe is underground;	June 17 and the blue corydalis in the rockery [Corydalis elata 'Blue Summit'] is in flower;
That, in turn allows the roadstone [the foundation layer] laying to start; unfortunately, 2 tons only does about 7 metres ...	June 11 and the water pipe is soon laid down in a trench under main road; there will be a stop valve and drain near the underground connection so the pipe only needs to be shallow;	June 7 - just 12 days after the picture immediately below was taken - and the water lilies in top pond are flowering;	June 3 and we are playing 'hunt the pipe'; we won! so now we can plan a garden standpipe at the end of main road;
In the wild flower meadow the Yellow Rattle [Rhinanthus minor] seeds sown last year have produced a mass of plants;	The end of May and down by Black Pond the Rogersia rescued from the weeds in past years is looking magnificent;	May 27 and the lilies in top pond are starting to accelerate; the newly planted purple iris is also in flower and the yellow flags are showing promise;	May 25 and the log store is finished;
Near the end of the day we ran out of roofing nails, just five boards short of finishing; the store is not attached to the garage wall, it just leans against it;	May 21 and Ben is visiting on his way back to Capetown : an opportunity to assemble the log store which has been in preparation for a few weeks;	May 20 and Rob finishes off the excavation of main road as far as the end of the east edging; back-filling with road stone is the next task;	Mid May and the main road is making progress; the board is the depth marker for skimming down before the road stone is laid down [the yellow self-binding gravel will go on top of that];
We also have proof that at least one fox visits the garden in the dead of night; we will try setting up in the glebe land next;	We now have proof that it is badgers which have been grubbing up the grass in places, presumably looking for worms and the like [80% of their diet consists of earthworms];	We have [finally] set up the wildlife camera; initially it is close to the main oak looking down towards Black Pond as in this daytime picture;	Just after the previous picture was taken, Phred's son from last year came wandering through quite fearlessly; compare his plumage with Phred's and you will see that it is not really up to breeding standard;
Monday April 29 and the edging of the main road is finished; the line is remarkably straight, all things being considered;	Phred the Pheasant appeared with two mistresses about a month ago and just before Easter he appeared with three; females are well camouflaged : hover over for help spotting them;	Turn the camera anticlockwise and from the same viewpoint [on the deck] the deeper blue haze of bluebells can be seen in the glade at the far end of the woodland path;	Still Easter Week and the streamside path through the northern glebe land is starting to take shape; in the foreground Tiarella 'Spring Symphony' is blooming and off to the right is the blue haze of Camassia leichtlinii caerulea;
The same day, the rockery garden is starting to come together; the white flowers are a dwarf epimedium : Epimedium youngiamum 'Niveum';	Easter Week [late this year] and work has started on the edging of the main [yellow brick] road between the formal garden and the wilder eastern garden;	Mid-April and the eastern drive bed is looking good with the muscari and fritillaries joined by the species tulips and the tiny violas;	Sunday, April 7, and the compost bins are [finally] finished; fighting the spring weed crop is my excuse for the lateness;
Thursday, April 4 and the cherry tree is at its best; although the buds have a pink tinge, close up the flowers are pure white;	Up near the drive the snake head fritillaries [Fritillaria meleagris] are now in flower too; the muscari should be 'weeded' out for best effect;	The same day and the red camellia down on the east border is finally in flower, not bad for a first year;	Monday, April 1, and three days since the previous picture : the cherry buds are bursting; the tree is not yet at its best so keep watching!
Friday, March 29 - 9 days since the previous picture below right was taken - and the big cherry buds are close to bursting : watch this space!	Monday, March 25 and the preliminary clearance of the remaining north glebe is proceeding well; however, no doubt the pernicious weeds will continue to appear throughout the year; [BTW : the lawn had its second cut today]	Lest you think that it is all fun and no work, this is the new compost area under construction, hopefully finished tomorrow [Monday];	The Magnolia stellata at Top Pond is also at its best, nicely offset by the orange colour of the Acer palmatum 'Katsura' which is just coming into leaf;
March 24 and the dwarf cherry is now at its best [see right taken 5 days ago];	Phred the pheasant has been visiting all winter; however, to celebrate the equinox, he arrived today with his mistress;	The big cherry is just full of bulging buds, hopefully all flower buds; we are expecting a good show in two weeks time;	Spring Equinox and the dwarf cherry moved from Chelsfield [luckily it was in a planter up there] is coming into flower;
The weeping willow [Salix x sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma'] buds are also breaking open; looking carefully one sees that there are leaves and catkins;	On the banks of Winter Stream the transplanted marsh marigolds [Caltha palustris] are starting to flower;	While on the other side of Black Pond the first Leucojum aestivum flowers are appearing; why it is called summer [Roman : aestivum] leucojum is unfathomable;	Down at Black Pond the Primula denticulata are coming into bloom; those are Camassia shoots coming up behind them;
March 11 and there are signs of spring all over the garden; the red Corydalis solida 'George Baker' looks lovely nestling below the rocks;	The same day, Hermes - a refugee from Chelsfield - was placed on his new home at the end of the path along the orangery to the patio;	March 5 and work is well under way to finish Top Pond, a mere 4½ months since Mike's femur snapped; a dwarf bamboo has been planted on the north where the liner is already trimmed but elsewhere the trimming is not started;	February 25 and the lawn gets its first cut of the year, long before the lawn mowing season normally starts;
A week ago we planted a drift of snowdrops purchased 'in the green'; it seem that should have been 'in the white';	Even some of the dwarf narcissi are coming into bloom; [sold as Tête à Tête but they don't look like that variety?]	These hellebores were transplanted from Chelsfield; the very dark one is particularly attractive;	Only February 11 [2019] and despite the last two weeks of cold weather nature is starting to burst into life;