I came very close to cancelling our open garden this year, Covid fatigue and brain fog making the prospect unthinkable for a period; but the fog lifted, tests were no longer positive and there was still a full four weeks till the first opening. That's now down to three weeks, but this week I have been able not only to continue with a long list of tasks in the garden but also make good inroads into my mammoth baking schedule. Physically, I am still having to pace myself to manage the fatigue, but we took the decision not to tackle the repair to the reservoir of the stream till later in the summer, so the remaining tasks are all fairly minor and easily do-able. The partially dismantled reservoir has been screened off for safety purposes, and the rocks stacked randomly around it (below). Most things in the garden, however, have been striding ahead without me, like Rosa 'Strawberry Hill' (above).
Rosa 'Cécile Brunner' has really come into her own in the last couple of years, and is now smothering the shed roof with her petite pale pink blooms, far more spectacularly than the photo suggests, late afternoon sunshine making photos difficult, as demonstrated also in the second photo which looks across the main borders which are positively fizzing and frothing.
Down in the cutting beds I am thrilled that some of the dahlias are now in bud (just about visible on yet another rubbish photo!) and should be flowering by the time we open the garden . The annuals, however, have surprisingly been less keen on the cool spring and sunless April and although looking healthy are in no rush to begin flowering, with calendula currently the only contender ('Sunset Buff' and 'Snow Princess' below). We have been forecast a warm and dry June, but a good dose of rain would be particularly welcome to give the annuals a boost, but of course the whole garden would benefit.
This end of the garden is a prime access point for local cats, and I have been asked how I keep them off the cutting beds. As they jump down from the fences they put all the young plants at risk, and because I net the beds the problem could be exacerbated if they get caught in the netting. To protect the plants (and, with teeth clenched, to protect the cats from the netting), I tried a sonic repeller last year which may or may not have helped, but the unit tended to develop an irksome whine also apparent to human ears, and I was reluctant to continue using it. This year's innovation is a purpose-built fence extension, which so far seems to have been a success; it won't keep cats out of the garden altogether, but it will stop them accessing it from this corner, where plants are more vulnerable.
This is such an exciting time in my garden, and no doubt in those of many of today's Six on Saturday contributors too. Please pop over to Garden Ruminations where Jim kindly hosts the weekly meme, and have a look.
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