Oh to be in England.....

Oh, to be in England
Now that April 's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England—now!


Browning and his 'Home Thoughts from Abroad' has a lot to answer for.  This bit of bucolic meandering hardly describes my particular spot on England's soil but it, and others like it,  colour my thoughts of 'home' for sure. 


The reality is a lot harsher.  I got back to Bury on Friday and before I even went into the house I did a tour of the garden.  My husband thinks this neatly avoids helping with four pieces of luggage.  I was happy to see all the survivors of another British winter but sad to see the things I'd already missed such as the crocus and the snowdrops.  Yes, I realise it is crackpot to plant them when I know I won't be here but the traditionalist in me says they must be in an English garden somewhere.  That said, I have tried and tried to grow snowdrops with no success for years and now they seem to be doing just fine without me.  We have kind friends who pander to me and send me the occasional photo so I have seen them second hand.


Then there was the WEEDS... never seen anything as bad as the amount I've got this year. Serves me right. I smugly sat back last Spring and said I'd do the minimum and let the plants hide the rest...  mmm.. not a good plan as they are now well and truly 'at home' and multiplying like fury.  


I also have a ton of greenfly and rust and a general sort of tiredness that does concern me.  Basically it looks like a neglected garden of some years standing not just six months.  I wonder what I wasn't doing right last summer to let it get so run down?  Maybe needs feeding more?  The other thought is that it is coming into its fifth/sixth year perhaps it needs a really good sorting out.  Phew that's one to put off for another year.   I have massive excuses to do so as we have another 'garden project' which needs our attention almost as fast as the weeds and planting does.


I want to turn the summerhouse (aka shed with glass!) into a workshop for me.  This means we have to get to B & Q and get something ordered to put at the side of the house where the greenhouse is, to take the gardening stuff from the summerhouse.  That will then need building and painting and then the the bigger one will have to be cleaned and painted and shelved and desked and whatever else before I can move in.  I am in a hurry to get in there and crack on with my other passion - miniatures (glorified dolls houses) especially as I have been commissioned to write six articles for a magazine so I am genuinely under a time constraint. Refurbishing the garden will really have to take a back-seat.


That said I have compiled my list of garden chores ready to start.  We have a trip to Summerseat planned for Monday (cheese pie day!) and B & Q on Wednesday (discount day!) so by the end of next week I should be ticking things off - weather permitting.


The general weeding is about five days work in itself; each border length takes a day. I hope I can also squeeze in some time to weed and dig over the vegetable patch and get the potatoes and some other stuff in.  There is a day's work just sorting stuff out and putting things back to rights - the furniture and pots and greenhouse staging areas etc.  So there is at least two weeks non-stop work which in our climate will easily become four (if I am lucky!)


This is the link to what to do and when at Gardeners World but, for me, it always runs at least a couple of weeks ahead of what we can do up here.  The soil should be at least 7 degrees C before planting and warmer than that for some things.  For me, I will be planting my spuds - I hope to get International Kidney but I will settle for any first early I can find.  I will plant peas and beans in the (cold) greenhouse and set them out in a few weeks time rather than plant seed to sit and rot in the probable cold and wet.  I found if you are lucky and the seed does make it outside there is very little difference in the harvesting time between outside and inside sowing.  I just think if I sow under glass their survival rate is better.  I'll also sow some salad leaves in the greenhouse as they will come up quicker and cleaner without the rain splashes we will almost certainly get.  Not sure about tomatoes - may sow some tumblers to grow in pots under glass.


If you haven't done it, this is the last chance to cut back the roses and clematis - you should know your groups and some you cut back to 36 inches and some to 9 inches.  I don't know my serratifolia from my whatever so I just do 9 inches on the spindly straggly things and 36 inches on the big bushy vigorous stuff and it seems to work fine for me.  My climbing roses should go back to flowering shoots of 3 - 4 buds (about 6 inches).  I did all mine at Christmas so they are fine.


The lawn could be scarified and weed and feed put on if it gets warm enough but I honestly probably won't do either - lack of time and money.


Roses need feeding with an all purpose like Growmore or a rose food.  Clematis and star jasmine need a dose of bonemeal and I will probably chicken pellet the veggie patch and then stand well back from the pong for a couple of days.  The rhubarb also needs a feed - chicken again I think, I'll have to look that up.


I am thinking about sowing seeds for the hanging baskets this year to save some money now I have a greenhouse.  I'll let you know how that goes.


So, there you go, that's my list to be cracking on with - I wonder what your's is like?  Feel free to share any thoughts and suggestions to help each other.  


I will keep you posted as to my progress.  I intended to take a photo of the weeds and bugs to go with this post but only remembered about four(ish) it is too dark!!