May Garden Update

Kate’s Back!

I took the moon for a walk last night. It followed behind like a still summer kite, though there wasn’t a string or a tail in sight, when I took the moon for a walk.

We tiptoed through the grass where the night crawlers creep, when the rust-bellied robins have all gone to sleep, and the moon called the dew so the grass seemed to weep, when I took the moon for a walk. 

From I Took the Moon for a Walk, by Carolyn Curtis

It’s hard to believe it’s seven months since my last update, but as I set foot on the dewy grass for the first time since September I couldn’t help but be reminded of the above extract, from a book we like to read to our son. During these past months I’ve become very well acquainted with the moon, but - for now at least - the baby sleeps, and I feel the pull of the garden. Not that it needs me - in the time I’ve been away it’s flourished under the care of my colleague Shona, who you’ve heard from on these pages, and who has done an incredible job through a difficult winter. 

Since this is only my fourth day back this will be a very short update, but I wanted to say hi all the same. It’s been tricky to find my feet again after such a long absence, but plans are coagulating and day by day our objectives swim into focus. Over the next few weeks we’ll be planting out the cut flower and vegetable seedlings that have been sheltering in the glasshouse, as well as doing the last of the direct sowing. There are more Dahlia tubers to go out too, as a backup for the ones left in the ground and mulched thickly with straw last year.  We’ll try our best to get the stakes out before a spring gale comes and flattens all the rain-fattened growth of the Delphiniums, Sanguisorbas, Paeonies, and whatever else needs a helping hand. We’ll also plant pots and containers for summer displays now the bulbs are starting to fade. 

It’s a lot, but a deadline always helps and that comes in the form of our summer open days, running from 1st-16th June, when we hope you’ll come and say hello. Until then I will be reacquainting myself with the garden, and look forward to letting you know what we’ve been up to.

Kate