Herb Corner so far… the rusty chickens seem to be enjoying it!
As I sit here in my tiny workroom with the rain and the wind lashing at my west-facing window, I can hardly believe how much I’ve managed in the garden lately. One afternoon I had to strip off my jumper it was so hot, and I actually managed to sort out one section of the garden. I was tackling the raised section of the front garden which is in principle a south-facing area where I have my raised veg beds and a small table and chairs – and a messy weedy patch next to the wall. This is now Herb Corner and it is looking pretty already. I have used wooden planters, and various pots around the edge and will devote some of the raised bed to the coriander, basil and parsley that is germinating in the greenhouse as I write. Our dear old dogs, Charlie and Bumble have their ashes buried under the little water feature and Monty our cockerpoo lies there to sunbathe!
One of my Christmas gifts from our son James was a serious-looking telescopic tree lopper with detachable saw so Bill and I tackled our very old apple tree. You may think we have been a bit harsh but, trust me, the apples we very poor and the wasps enormous – this year we had to tackle it! I collected masses of the air shots as sticks for the sweet peas and other climbers as well as stakes for the dahlias.
Since discovering the joys of growing dahlias after a course with Sarah Raven over three years ago, I do not have a big enough garden! There are flower beds which face due north so have to be planted with shade-loving things and certainly not dahlias. As a result, I have been creating new flower beds in sunny spots ready for the replanting of the dahlias lifted last year. Believe it or not Fairford is in a bit of a frost pocket and the unwary gardener could be caught out. I cannot put my tender annuals in the ground until the last week of May so now I am potting up the tubers in the greenhouse with a view to take a few cuttings later when they show signs of life.
Now when I say tubers you do need to look at the images attached as I am sure some of them must be Triffids. I had to buy six new enormous plastic pots yesterday in the hope that I can squeeze them in. Next year I am going to leave my dahlias in and cover then with a good mulch and see what happens…
Dahlia or Triffid? You decide! 
Progress of a sort with the old apple tree
