Still no hens! My broody and eggs are coming from a local school, and apparently there’s been some rather over-enthusiastic egg collecting, so they’ll have to start from scratch. Well, I suppose it’ll give my plants time to get established before the arrival of beaks and claws.
It has been very dry here, but at last with a bit of rain, plants are beginning to grow, and grow. One gets lulled into a false sense of security and misses pests (that cardoon is annually turned skeletal by slugs), weeds can take over – especially from my compost mulch which starts to germinate, and plants will flop unless staked. I try and spend late afternoons in the garden.
A busy month outside the garden gate: with Chelsea, a friend’s wedding, lots of garden visits, and a new book to start. (Have joined forces with photographer Bill Mason to work for a publisher – the rest is a secret, but you’ll be the first to know). In the meantime, have had jolly days out at Etchingham Station, the Walled Nursery at Hawkhurst, Borough Market in Bankside, and the private gardens in Canterbury Cathedral Close – all with fascinating garden stories – some of which can be read in the articles’ section.
There’s nothing better than a day out visiting a garden: a lot to learn and marvel at, a little light shopping perhaps, and maybe lunch or at least a piece of cake. Sometimes you can also donate to a worthy cause as well. Why not a trip to Benenden in Kent to our Kent Hen Party to see and buy hens, hatching eggs and plants?
