We’re having a short break in Wales where the ground looks pretty bare now that the snow has all but melted away, but I can imagine how this will look by July – we certainly won’t be able to see the river from this point as there will be iris, leucanthemum, globe thistles and crocosmia ‘lucifer’ providing a completely different vista.

We’ve spent some time preparing the ground with a compost mulch, and pulling up early weeds – the volume and variety amazes me each year, for we have them more or less under control at Scott Road. This garden is a different entity as we are surrounded by fields and of course the river banks – there isn’t a hope of eradicating the creeping buttercup (our worst problem), enchanters nightshade, herb bennett, cleavers and nettles. We don’t have much bindweed, thankfully, and we do tolerate several plants kept under a degree of control – I particularly like herb robert and its easy to pull up if it gets too prolific.

There are also plants in this garden that are invasive. I learned some years ago that some fast spreading plants quickly become a nuisance – I don’t like gaps and when I first started gardening, found that a space quickly filled if I used certain specimens such as perennial helianthus, euphorbia ‘robbiae’, houttuynia, water mint and lysimachia ciliata ‘firecracker’ to name but a few. I now only have the robbiae at Scott Road as keeping them all under control was difficult, but here in Wales the robbiae and the lysimachia have taken far more than their fair share of the ground and we will be taking control this year (that’s the plan anyway).

Over on the river bank and in the grass there are a few daffodils are in full flower, albeit looking a bit scruffy after the bashing they’ve endured over the last week or so. We’ve seen dippers ducking and diving along the river this weekend, they have nested in the wall of the bridge in previous years, it’d be nice to see them there again this Spring

Chris spent some time refurbishing the garden furniture – job well done, the rusting table and chairs look great with a good sanding and a coat of hammerite – just hope it drys well and doesn’t come off on our clothes!