When preparing for our garden opening, I find I end up doing anything but gardening. Over the last two days I have been painting the front gate, unearthing chairs from the cellar, jet-washing the terrace, scrubbing garden furniture, making beds, stapling leaflets and dashing to the shops for this and that instead of tending to my plants. This is why I try to have everything in place at least a fortnight in advance, but in truth the tweaking and preening never ends. Following a day of lifting and carrying, every part of me aches, but on the bright side I have burnt a healthy number of calories.
I caught up on a couple of episodes of Gardener’s World last night, whist tacking a pile of ironing resembling the north face of the Eiger. Monty Don declared that he likes August because the garden is still burgeoning with bloom, offering the promise of more to come. I concur. Our garden is only just getting into its stride and I expect it to get better and better through September. Warm days and warm nights are needed to get many of my plants going, so although daylight hours are shortening, it’s the temperature that really helps produce bright flowers and lush leaves.
After a run of excellent weather it seems our luck may be about to run out. Today’s predicted rain wasn’t enough to wet a baby’s head, so I resorted to the hose to give everything a thorough soaking. I’m more fearful of the havoc tomorrow’s high winds might wreak; hardly conditions for garden visiting, or enjoying tea and cake, and guaranteed to bring down gazillions of leaves. Sunday may be a little more settled; one never really knows.
Whatever the weather, if you are coming to see us we’ll be very glad to welcome you. And if you are too far away to make the journey I’ll endeavour to make a little video to share at some point over the weekend. We are open 12-4 on both Saturday and Sunday, serving teas in the garden at Polegate Cottage. Click here to visit the National Gardens Scheme website for further details.
