Catching up

I have a bit of time to catch up on the news tonight. Well, I am putting off making more apricot jam. So it’s just a sit down and size picture evening, rather than a slicing fruit, stirring, cooking and bottling evening.

So back to something I did earlier last week. I tamed the duck pond area.

This area of land doesn’t belong to us; but in true country tradtion, I call it a borrowed landscape.

It sits right beside our swimming pool and lawn area and I love how the land now flows into this more rustic part of the mountain.

It even has a sort of lawn which I resowed and tamed.   And I’m trying to keep it that way. As it’s much easier to mow than have to get out the strimmer.   And the mower picks up the grass cuttings so it’s more of a sward rather than a tussocky lump.

I had to hold off mowing and strimming until the digitalis finished flowering and went over.   We had a fantastic thicket of wild foxgloves in here.

And speaking of flowers, this is my annual surprise.   The rambling rose in the quince tree area of the garden.

I actually made time to investigate this week. And I’ve discovered that it’s not one plant. It is a collection of self seeded roses which follow a snaking line from the top of the terrace down.

But I have enough long tendrils near the top cherry tree to attempt to drape them in the branches.   I natuitrally forgot to bring any staking material with me, but at least I have made a start.

Ine (the previous owner) actually came by today for a visit and I asked her if she planted it. She didn’t know anything about the rose, so I have to think it came there by chance, or was planted a long, long time earlier. It is certainly a survivor. It gets strimmed to the ground every year.   A job I will be avoiding from now on.

 

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One risk we are going to take this year is with the Melrose apple tree at the edge of the main lawn. It has been caged in a deer proof barrier since it was planted back during the Welstead’s first visit.

Has it grown tall enough for the branches to escape their hungry reaching jaws?  I hope so.   It certainly looks more normal and dramatic without the enclosure.

And I have mulched like mad around the base of the tree to try and keep down the weeds.

It also helps that the tree is close to the potager. So it gets more water than the poor orchard trees one terrace below.

This autumn I really must do something about the sorry state of the orchard.   But it is conveniently out of sight right now.