December 2012 - Wild weather and planting

The infra-structure of the garden came off badly to the wild weather we have been having in December. The Forecourt dry stone wall has crumbled in a couple of places following the excessive wet and windy weather. The wall has been made safe and the area roped off and we have booked for some builders to repair the damage in Jan 2013 - but a few plants and nice ferns have been crushed unfortunately. The wall will be sympathetically reconstructed to retain the correct aesthetic look and feel for the property- but be a lot more stable and strong.

 

On a more cheerful note John Poole and I planted up the apple cordons on the top terrace above the croquet lawns. John and I carefully chose bareroot, heritage varieties from Walcots Organic Fruit Tree Nursery and were very pleased with the results. The border was previously a rather lost, neglected rose border with very weak, old roses - so the new look is an improvement and appropriate for the garden.

Cordons are a great way to grow fruit trees in a small space. We support ours with hazel sticks coppiced from the garden.

 

The latest turf repairs around the garden and re-turfing in the West Garden was finished this month too.

A new year and new projects will start apace at Chastleton Garden in Jan 2013 and I will update you in my first entry of the year in due course.