(cont. from Part One… Scroll down if you want to skip the waffle and go straight to the before and after pictures)

That first year was like living in a permanent hurricane. Every day something new emerged in the garden or nursery and every morning brought another quest to identify a mystery plant before a customer asked what it was. We rushed around like mad things weeding, labelling and serving customers. We  made tea and served cakes in the makeshift kitchen in the damp summerhouse.  The BBC came to film me as a follow up to winning Gardener of the Year and the following weekend we were mobbed with wide-eyed visitors. A surprising number of customers came here and bought plants that first year. I was both grateful for the cash and panicky about how to replace the stock for next year.  I learned seven hundred botanic plant names in five months. 
At the end of September we closed for the season. And finally, after that frenetic summer there was a a little time to step back and think properly about the garden. To my eyes it was in dire need of improvement. It’s an good rule of thumb that when you take over a new, established garden you should leave it alone until you know what’s there. It’s a rule I largely obey, except when it comes to lawn. Personally, I think lawns are only any good for: 
  • Resting the eye in order to show off something more exciting 
  • Offering a nice firm surface you can walk across to get straight to the more exciting thing. 
So this achingly dull area was first against the wall. I got bored of mowing it after ten minutes. I don’t know how Peter stood ten years of it. If you know the garden, this is at the top. The yew hedge is on the left and the canal border on the right. We dug it up in February 2008.

And, to cut a long story short, this is what it looked like in May 2009.
And a year later, in late summer… (pic taken facing the other direction)
Emboldened by this first success, I embarked on a quest to reduce the garden lawns to the minimum I felt we needed.  The orchard was next. The trees were set into prim little circles in the lawn, giving us another mowing and edging headache. It also looked a bit stiff and un-orchard like, to me.

We hired a turf cutter and some muscle in the shape of Tim to wield the beast (which had clearly been designed for use by someone a foot taller than me and twice the weight), stripped off the turf and lightly rotovated it.

We underplanted with drifts of Narcissus Hawera and sowed it with a perennial wildflower mix, with some cornfield annuals in to add a bit of something in the first year. And here it is in August of the first year. I was on a roll now – no turf was safe…

This Cedar tree had been surrounded by a ring of weak shrubs, each planted into a small circle cut into the lawn. We took the shrubs out one by one, leaving the poor tree lonely in the corner. It’s not in a great spot to be honest – it’s too close to the yew hedge. But I decided to leave it be. This was taken in Feb 2010
In winter, you can see through to this area from the house. A couple of weeks earlier we had watched a flock of fieldfares, redwings and song thrushes strip the berries from a Sorbus ‘Joseph Rock’ nearby. Enthused by this spectacle we decided on a bird border, to include plants which carry berries and seeds for birds. And here it is in August 2010, six months after planting. 
And we’ve made huge changes back in the nursery too, mostly behind the scenes, but out here on the nursery the plastic trays on the gravel floor have gone in favour of new raised benches – so much better for us, the plants and for visitors too. We grow completely peat free, with organic plant feed. We use no chemical weedkillers and control pests with biological controls where possible.

So yes – I think we can give ourselves a bit of a pat on the back.  We’ve come a very long way in just five years.

Huge thanks go to two invaluable people.

To Peter, who works here with me tirelessly all year round, maintaining the garden beautifully and generally fixing everything that needs fixing from plumbing to rabbit fencing. He knows what needs doing when and just gets on with it. And what he doesn’t know about wildlife isn’t worth knowing. He’s a star…

And to Janet, whose love of plants, top-class potting skills and close attention to detail, her supportive approach to my many madcap notions and general all round thorough niceness to everyone has made her a true ally in getting this place into shape over the five years. Janet – you’re quite priceless.

Thanks due also to Tracy (now emigrated to Harrogate), Sally, Marilyn and Ewan too, for all their sheer hard work potting, weeding, lugging things about and cheerfully turning up in all weathers.  And ‘Tiny’ Alison at weekends. Hope the wrist is fixed for Easter.

And of course, hubby Dave who agreed to all this madness in the first place and Hazel and Holly for chipping in when needed.

There is so much still I want to do. I’ve tackled barely half the garden so far and have plans way beyond our days and means. But it’s OK. I plan to be here for at least another ten years so I should be able to make a start. 

February 23, 2012