May is upon us, and its closing days – 30 and 31st – will see us open for the NGS – of course – WE ARE NOT READY! My concerns are totally lost on Ghillie, who snores happily at my feet, and a glorious new day is dawning at NGS garden Ferns Lodge.
The bees have not read the memo, and the pink hive has had to be split to prevent a swarm, bringing our hive count to 6. We hope that the other hives will cooperate, make honey, be happy, and not swarm in the warm weather. New homes were positioned strategically in the bottom meadow in case of need, but they ignored them totally! Bees are not as easy as they look! We are hoping for honey for the opening to be sold to the lovely people that we hope will visit, but I am very afraid that the bees haven’t read that memo either.
The new centre section of the big garden is starting to look a bit like a garden… Rain would be very welcome, but the weather forecast promises dry weather for days and days, so early evenings involve many watering cans being wheelbarrowed around to water all the new planting, whose requests for water have become a shout…
The vegetable garden is starting to take shape. There are tomatoes in the greenhouse, the vine has been trained for the season, and we are starting with growing on plants for the plant sale. There is still stacks to do.
Finally, the garden furniture is painted, Boracoled, and out, ready for sunny days and to provide nice places in which to eat cake and drink tea… Talking of cake, or rather scones, the Aga looks on reproachfully as yet another batch of scones are loaded into his capacious innards. Fortunately, proper cooks are also kindly helping to provide the cakes we will need to feed everyone. Importantly, Barbara has made lashings of her amazing marmalade (probably the best on the planet) and chutneys, so hopefully we are set.
There is a stone mound to build, a root mound to clear and plant, the entrance to sort out, and two earth mounds to plant… A wet winter and warm days have encouraged the weeds, and I look forward to many hours on hands and knees trying desperately to outpace them.
Wonderful gardener Simon likes honey but is not keen on bees and draws the line at cutting grass close to the hives, so this job has been delegated to junior mower driver – me… Of course, the bees are also not keen on the noise and vibration, so to be sure, mowing in this meadow is accomplished wearing my bee suit – which looks VERY silly.
With a month of gardening, baking, and a fair amount of panicking to look forward to – I can’t wait!
Contact sue.grant@fernslodge.co.uk
