Lavender and Willow Whips

On Thursday we visited one of our favourite nurseries, Rapkyns near Heathfield. Morag who runs the nursery, is such a lovely lady with a wealth of knowledge about the plants. We purchased a dozen Munstead Lavender plants for Freshwinds and a few gems for our own garden. Morag gave us some hints about trimming before planting.

Outside we noticed the car park had been enlarged with a section cordoned off from the field. There we met a very interesting man called Dieter, who was putting in a new gatepost. We got chatting and after a discussion about wood in general, he showed us his phone pictures of the most incredible carvings he has done from wood .... witches, gnomes, toadstools. I now wish I had a contact number. We could have talked to him for much longer.

 The main aim for our garden visit today was to plant up the lavender hedge. And this we did. We had to dig over the area again, removing any traces of couch grass. We used old pea gravel to make the drainage a bit better.

I don`t think rabbits would like lavender but I wasn`t taking any chances. They are covered with a low tunnel of rabbit wire.

As I planted each one I gave it a haircut .... about 2 cm as advised.

I also had half a tray of yet more cornflowers, as well as a few odd statice plants. I just managed to get them in. 

In the big raised bed I have planted up lychnis, grasses, helianthus, golden rod and cornflowers. The latter protected from rabbits with recycled water bottles.

Nearby the new statice plants are also protected.

 

In the polytunnel the bumblebees were going wild with excitement over the broad bean flowers. The beans will soon be ready to eat.

I recently potted up the rooted willow whips. I had just stuck them in buckets of water and they rooted very quickly.

I think they could be used to fill some gaps in the willow circle near the Owl yurt.

I did wonder if we may have gone too far when we cut back the willow at the entrance but lo and behold, the new shoots are springing out. Amazing.

And the willow fairies are back .... they should survive for another year.
 

Just outside the garden are myriads of poppy seedlings. Last year I scattered literally 1000`s of poppy seeds and lots have germinated with the recent rain.

 This is going to create quite a spectacle later on.