PARWICH.ORG

Time is moving a pace and signs of Spring are eveywhere. Our winter visitors have departed and the regular summer residents are becoming more noticable.

When I saw this visitor during the RSPB Garden Birdwatch he was a drab brown bird but now that brown cover is wearing off to reveal the deep black head

The Great East West Divide

Strolling round the village this week I’ve been struck by the apparent differences in plants. Whilst the West End excells as the centre of culture and entertainment (  cinema, theatre, indoor sports arena and gymnasium, live music venues, disco, social club to name just a few) it is a veritable barren wasteland compared to the East End when it comes to the flora. Take a look at these samples from the East End and compare those found here in the grounds of Haughty Towers.

The contrast in the Ornamental Currant (Ribes) is quite striking with our specimen looking several weeks behind.

It shows how position, even in a small area like Parwich can make a huge sifference to how a garden performs.

For Plant of the Month, Project, Any Answers and Garden Jobs 

Plant of the Month

Hellebores!

Crikey no need to swear I thought when Mrs M suggested this plant of the month. However on further investigation I discovered an unassuming plant with surprising hidden beauty. What’s more we have quite a few growing here in the Towers’ grounds.

Hellebores flower in late winter/early spring. They prefer a shady site so sometimes are missed hiding behind bushes and other plants. They look pretty unexciting with the flowers often bent low under the leaves but lift one up and a thing of beauty is there to behold.

They must be quite easy to grow (as we have several thriving) but a word of warning, don’t be tempted to add the leaves to a salad if  your cut and come again isn’t doing too well as all parts of the plant are poisonous!

Although it is possible to divide clumps in spring they take a long time to recover from the disturbance and you are much better popping down to Leatherbritches and buying a few young plants from Bill.

Project of the Month

Mrs Monty set me a task this month after reading Alan Titchmarsh’s How to Garden : Roses book. We’ve always struggled to support roses and clematis growing up the tall dry stone walls around the garden. Alan’s idea of a colonnade consisting of a thick rope strung between fence posts seemed like a good way to provide support for a couple of clematis montana and some climbing roses we have along one wall.

I’ll spare you the details but eventually I’ve managed to transform this-

into this-

Impressive, eh? Should be interesting to see how things grow.

Any Answers?

I’m even more baffled…….

~ Broad Beans. Last month I was all set to grow some early broad beans. The cloche and cold frame were in position. Some purchasing and swopping had me four varieties of seed. Seeds in trays and in the propagator….

Three weeks later and hey presto!…..

Nothing. Not a sausage. Zilch.

The book said 7-14 days. Should I get a new book? What’s gone wrong?

~ Jasmine.

.

Last autumn I bought a winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) which gave us a good display of flowers in December but now all the lovely green stems appear to be dying. Some from the base, others at the ends or even the middle. Is this normal or do I need to get my spade out?

Jobs around the Garden

According to our smart 2017 gardening calendar Mrs Monty these are some of the jobs I should be carrying out in the garden at the moment…..

Sowing more broad beans

Sowing tomatoes and courgettes

Sowing half hardy annuals such as marigold, cornflower and sweet peas

Perennials: planting, tidying beds, cutting any dead growth left from last year and mulching

Refresh compost in pots and containers

Clean the patio!

Any handy tips of other things we should be doing now?

Until the next time….

Monty Gone to Leatherbritches