Priory Maze, Beeston Regis, Norfolk

Priory Maze, Beeston Regis, Norfolk

Yesterday we decided on a nice afternoon out to cheer ourselves up, and we ended up at Priory Maze gardens at Beeston Regis. It was a lovely sunny day and we had a gorgeous lunch in the Foxglove Tearooms there - lobster salad no less. I adore the food there and the service is friendly, we will try to support them throughout the winter too.

The gardens are looking lovely. It's a fascinating place, as some of it is still looking pretty wild, fabulous for the wildlife, but then you come out into a clearing and see a wonderful naturalistic garden, full of colour and life. There were moths (in the bright sunlight) or were they dull butterflies? all over the flowers. We saw many dragonflies and demoiselles on the water of their lovely natural ponds.

One particular plant that stood out for us was Achillea. We'll certainly be planting some of that for next year. Many other plants were looking good, but some we couldn't identify. It has to be said that a large garden like this does suffer from the current hot dry weather and some of the plants were looking a little unhappy.

They are a lovely couple who own this place and it is quite amazing what they have done with it in the last couple of years. They must have a lot of energy! In parts it is still looking a little sparse and "gappy" as new gardens do, but it is so interesting to watch it evolve. I hope I am around long enough to study this garden's progress year on year.

They do tend to specialise in exotic plants and tender specimens, but rely on a microclimate right there on their part of the North Norfolk Coast. I hope they are successful in keeping all of their lovely specimens year on year. This winter was quite a cold one for Norfolk and it looks like they got most of their plants through that. If you fancy a look, go to Priory Maze Gardens.com

Killing Moles

Killing Moles

We have a quite serious mole problem here. We have tried the sonic solar molers, and I am no longer convinced that they are doing anything. Mind you, you never know if they would have been an awful lot worse if we had not put them in!

We snapped yesterday and went and bought four mole traps. We have temporarily put them in the leafmould pile to make them smell more earthy.

Today I inspected the plot and found a couple more sizeable molehills wrecking the front lawn. Not only is it unsightly, they are totally unseating plants, particularly the Vinca etc we planted on the banks, and they make dangerous holes that the dog might break a foot or leg in.

I was wandering towards the back of the back garden when I saw - a mole, running along the surface! I had the presence of mind to hit it on the head and it died instantly. This will have done nothing to solve our existing mole problem but it will have stopped it getting much worse. It was a young one (heartbreakingly cute, yes I know, Bill Oddie) looking for a new territory, when you do see them on the surface. We buried it - in a mole run to discourage the others!

The bad news is that it might have another three litter mates looking for homes too. I can't stand vigil over the lawn all day and night. It had scratched up quite a bit of the lawn and made holes already.

OK it's me one, moles nil - but not really moles nil as the problem is still there and the traps will still have to be employed. It's all very fine for Bill Oddie (who I think is wonderful by the way) on Springwatch, showing us a pretty mole and tugging our heartstrings, but when you see the damage they do to all your hard work, and the danger they make for you and your pets, you have to think differently. I hate to kill things but I am so pleased I had the courage to do it on this occasion.

It is inhumane to try to trap them and take them somewhere else - if they have to dig a whole new run from scratch they are likely to die of starvation before they do it, and if they are put where there are other moles they are likely to be picked on and killed, as moles are very territorial. So on this occasion I know I have done the right thing in killing it instantly and outright.

Saving Hedgehogs

Saving Hedgehogs

Yesterday we went to the hedgehog rescue open day, where they were selling lots of things to raise money for the hedgehogs.

We were thrilled to see our little rescued babies, Melissa and Monty, doing well. I am amazed that little Monty is OK, he was so unbelievably tiny when we took him in. He just presented himself to us as if to say "please save me, I can't do it on my own". The people who do this rescue thing are so dedicated and such sweet people. I didn't realise it costs £5 per week on average to keep a sick hedgehog, but I suppose that includes investment in equipment, and power and such, the costs of which are constantly going up.

Any others from that litter have probably died by now, unless they found food. We did all we could.

Baby Hedgehogs in the Garden

Baby Hedgehogs in the Garden

We have been on a mercy mission in the last couple of days, rescuing baby hedgehogs from our garden. Did you know that if you see a hedgehog out in the daytime then something is wrong with it? Fortunately we did, and swept the two little ones we found off to the local hedgehog rescue centre pronto.

The first one, who was a little girl that we named "Melissa" must have been about four weeks old. She barely had any teeth and the lady said she would have to give her milk to eat.

The second, Monty, (a boy) was much smaller at only 75g. He was very cold and unwilling to take the milk, so I really hope he has lasted the night. She said one night more outside and he would have been dead.

As we drove back into our plot, horror of horrors, we saw a dead hedgehog lying on its side in the driveway. It was well dead, and it was upsetting because poor Monty could have been that hedgehog, and if we had gotten that one earlier it might have had a chance. I am still frantically looking round for more of them as there must be more, they have litters of anything up to nine. It's not looking good for them as I thnk time is running out. I bet a lot of them are in the very rough grass in the neglected plot next door, but it is so hard to walk round there and so huge I just have to hope that they bumble onto our plot at a time that I can see them.

Pruning my Weigela

Pruning my Weigela

Well, I had a go at it, but it is so difficult to find out where exactly to make the cut. The accepted wisdom has it that you cut off the shoots that have flowered, and they are easy to see, but where they stop and a new shoot may form is the hard part to find, especially when you are drowning in foliage and the insects are loving the idea of a new meal turning up on their patch (that's me, in case you haven't guessed).

The late Christopher Lloyd said that it is not necessary to do this pruning immediately after flowering, but it can be left until the winter when it is much easier to see the ex-flowered shoots. I did about half of the shrub but I think I will leave the other half to winter and then see which half flowers best next year!

Pruning at the exact right time is a difficult thing to get right as is so rightly put in the article I read on this page on a website: gardening-world.com Let's see if the accepted wisdom or that of that wise old sage, Christopher Lloyd, is best.

Speed Gardening

Speed Gardening
Well, today I managed to do two episodes of speed gardening. One was first thing this morning when I rushed around like a maniac making sure stakes and supports were secure, and adding new ones, especially to the Malva (Magic Hollyhocks), because I woke up to a pretty awful wind in the garden. The lesson is that every potentially tall plant should be staked as soon as it is planted in this garden, because as soon as the wind gets up (and it will) as we have an elevated garden, the plants will feel it. Do we live perhaps on the only hill in Norfolk?

The second incidence was in the short hour after the Wimbledon Final finished and before the World Cup Final coverage began, when I ran out to water what needed it, then we discovered more molehills. Our strategy of putting lots of water, then dog poo, down the holes, was employed. Then I had to water the tomatoes and brugmansias in the greenhouse, and then back indoors for the match. We are not avid sports fans but enjoy a good final. This way you don't give your life up to watching sport but see the best bits.

Earwig Traps in the Garden

I have just found a colony of earwigs inside the Catwatch electronic cat scarer. Well, actually I found a load of them in there last time I brought it indoors to change the battery,which is a bit annoying because they jumped out and clustered behind my conservatory cupboard.

And there are just a couple of holes forming in one of my Dahlia Bishop of Landaff. Therefore I have decided to put some traps out for them. The idea is that you put some small terracotta pots out filled with straw and suspended on sticks. The earwigs are supposed to congregate inside them and you just take them somewhere else where they won't be able to bother your Dahlias. If this fails then I'll have to spray, but I like to think of that as a last resort.

It's hot in the garden

It's hot in the garden

And it's hot in the house and everywhere else. The only respite is outside in the evening being bombarded by what we call 747's (please tell me they're not Maybugs as it is now July!) and watching the bats emerge from our roof.

Once you go back indoors you wish you hadn't bothered because it is so hot and stuffy. This morning I almost fainted with it, but it doesn't help when you take soluble aspirin on an empty stomach for the bad back.

So I'm not doing very much due to the bad back, but as it happens the best thing we can do at the moment is water. We are fortunate enough not to be subject to a hosepipe ban, which must be a total nightmare - my heart goes out to those gardeners who are suffering because our water boards can't get their act together. We've been watering the lawn, which is anathema to me usually, but now we are paying this lawn doctor guy to come and weed and feed it and all, it seems pointless to let the grass stay all scorched and patchy looking just for lack of water. I wouldn't normally bother but parts of it look really rather dead and we want to give the job a chance. Sprinklers at the ready!