Retirement: week one. The Summer Garden

I've now been retired just over a week and I don't seem to have had time to sit down.

I know there's lots to do around the house and in the garden... I've had to dead head and prune this rose around the door (Paul's Scarlet) so it will produce another flush of blooms later in the Summer.

It's now officially Summertime - poppy time!

We have a number of varieties because we both enjoy them. our favourite is Patty's Plum but we also have small Californian poppies,

and, of course, the garden's full of roses at the moment.

I've forgotten the name of this white rose but it's one of the best and fragrant too.

Just Juliet

Handel

Just Juliet can always be relied on to look wonderful and Handel is exquisite and beautifully scented.

The bottom of the garden where we redesigned it before having the lawn put in has come on quite well and is beginning to look settled. Paul's Himalayan Musk looks wonderful falling over Cleopatra but the laurel hedge will have to be cut hard back in the Autumn and, with it, some of the rose. It's so vigorous it probably won't even pause.

Pleine de Grace is coming into its own where it grows over the shed. It produces good hips in the Autumen so I'll wait until deep Winter to cut it back after the birds have had their fill.

We have a real love of rambling roses. This is one of the best known, Rambling Rector. It can get out of hand if not watched carefully.

 

 

Of course, one of the great things about being retired is having the opportunity to take Molly for a walk whenever I feel like it. I can choose the best part of the day and go and admire the dog roses and say 'Hi' to the rabbits.

 

Summer, of course is not without its hazards; here are just a couple:

This is where the new lawn is lifting at the edge. I wondered what had caused it until I saw a molehill just off to one side. We've never had moles in the garden but it looks like we've got them now. Under this edge, there's a long tunnel. Plainly the disturbed soil made an easy dig for the mole.

And this, much more difficult to decipher as a picture, is where a birds nest is lodged behind our digital TV dish and disrupting our picture. I don't know whether there are young in there, but we're going to have to get up and have a look.

Spring is on its way (just about)

I've been watching the verge under the hedgerow over the road very carefully in the hope that the daffodils and crocuses we planted last back end would begin to show. However, the weather's not been great - it's been a very damp February...

... and everything's been a bit bleak

not to say soaking wet....

But now, as we move into March, the crocuses are showing and the Daffodils are up and looking strong.

Around the remaining Elm saplings, they're looking good. (The boys who broke at least one of the Elm saplings - cost £250 each - were caught and we're looking for restorative justice. This probably means getting their parents to pay up.)

Under the wall by the care home, where it's a bit more sheltered, the dwarf daffodils are up and open...

... and, gloriously, so are the irises - perhaps my all-time favourite.

Looks like Spring is finally here. Can't wait for my retirement date at the end of May and a Summer of cricket, glass-cutting and the garden. Aaaaaah!