HIGHER MORWELL GARDEN DIARY 2023
30th January
These pages are a rolling diary of the changes
and events in the garden for the year 2023 in
words and pictures.
September to December
Garden development has been moved to a new level following the loan
of a digger! 10th September and we’re starting on a new bed for
growing exotic plants, being fairly certain that under the grass is rubble
or worse. So it proved, this was a dump for large pieces of concrete and
even corrugated iron and fencing wire now removed.
14th September, just some of the concrete and rubble removed from the
new bed. The biggest pieces were taken down to the stone dump next to
the gates by the digger as they were too heavy to lift by hand.
Three other jobs - at left also on 14th September the first
stage of removing hawthorn is done, digger has clawed
stumps out ready to be removed. Above 8th October the
ground space for the proposed greenhouse has been levelled
and towards the fruit cage a new small bed dug out.
Autumn is setting in,
10th October and the
wildflower bed is now a
deadflower bed. The
terminally sick big
prunus has just two big
branches left and will
probably be cut right
down next year. The tall
silver birch has lost
nearly all its leaves but
the cornus kousa is still
very green. Leaves are
starting to drop
everywhere.
Scaffold poles
should last longer
than the wooden
posts we’ve used
elsewhere, 28th
October the leaf
dump has been
completely cleared
of well-rotted
leaves and a new
enclosure put up.
The poles are not
really at the jaunty
angle in the photo,
it is the wide angle
used to take the
shot.
A new batch of bare-root yew has been purchased to start replacing the
hawthorn hedge on the south border. Progress has been slow as the
unrelenting rain makes the ground heavy to work and pretty unpleasant.
16th November and only a couple of old fence panels have been taken out.
Scaffold poles instead of wooden posts again!
24th November and the start of the next phase. Hawthorn cut down to
stumps then the digger used to drag out the stumps and roots.
Unfortunately the ground has become too wet for the digger and the
caterpillar tracks have made a real mess of the grass.
Spring can’t be far away. Above on 13th December
the new daffodil shoots have appeared in front of
the gunpowder store, right rather strangely the
three new alstroemerias are all flowering on 16th
December, tucked inside the gin palace to avoid
the extremes of rain we’ve had recently.