There is an air of anticipation for the day ahead now, as I step outside the door each morning and spring settles sweetly over the garden. We’ve had to work much harder this spring, to put out garden back on track for the year but at the same time, it has been deeply satisfying to rethink and refresh the garden for the season ahead.
Bird song rings around the garden now high and clear on misty mornings with the dew still glistening on the grass and soft and mellow int he sunshine a herald of the eternal progres of spring never more welcome than this year!
April flows into May for our garden diary
This spring the two months seem to have flowed together as we’ve cleared the Echiums prematurely dead from “The Beast”, which made spaces for replanting and replanning some areas- – the burgeoning bonfire must be a tribute to the Beast from the East this year! The simple traditional garden flowers have brightened up the garden this spring the eternal Forget-me-nots and the elegant primroses, so unassuming yet stoic as the reappear each year no matter what the British weather has thrown at them.
Planting out and spirals
Some of the European Fan Palms that had outgrown their pots in the courtyard garden have found new homes around the lawn not an easy task in a Cornish garden where the first few inches of top soil quickly give way to compacted clay and stone. The most essential tool for this is a long bar of tempered steel used by stone masons, which has earned the name “The wonder bar” over the years. Alas the garden spade was not so wonderful though and eventually snapped under the strain.
Charles working with one of our guests devised a great method of removing the heavy prickly monsters from their Terracotta pots though, by simply rolling them to and fro across the lawn until they loosened their grip and slipped quietly out. Staunch gloves are still needed for handling them though
Charles has mown a spiral into the lawn this spring, to give a textural interest to that end of the garden. Somebody asked on Facebook how the spiral is marked out and the answer is it isn’t. Charles follows a circle, decreasing his turn by the width of the lawn mower with each lap. I think it helps that horses are usually schooled in Twenty metre circle so he has lots of practise!
New garden paths for new journeys
The departing Echiums left a big hole in the planting just beside the grass border and gave the perfect opportunity to reinstate the idea of a path leading directly into the long gravel border. I had originally planned for one to be there but went to Penzance (silly me) when the builder was putting up a sheltering fence many years ago and when I got back he had cemented fence post into what was proposed to be the final part of the path! Still with the passage of the years the fence has passed on (to the bonfire of course) and with the new path temptingly leading towards the waiting palms I hope it to coax our guests to explore a little further.
The spring days have seemed especially precious to us this year to watch the fresh new shoots unfurl in our garden, to watch the birds nest and see the days grow longer, after our roller coaster of weather this winter and the warmest Bank Holiday on record this year couldn’t have come at a better time for us all.
Garden diary album for April
I”ll leave you to enjoy the blossoming of spring as the days slip towards summer with a few impressions from around the garden for our April Garden Diary.
Other spring thoughts!
The countryside is a joy now, with the woods and Cornish banks filled with Bluebells and fresh ferns – do take a look at the snaps I took in the Blue bell woods at National Trust Godolphin Estate this spring too and if your thoughts are turning towards the coast take a look at a walk we took along the cliffs from Ednovean Farm that led us beside the sea almost into summer
Discover more from Ednovean Farm
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