Wharf House Gardener

Suddenly we’re almost at the end of April and the first May bank holiday is coming fast into view. This is the time of year when we start to divide the number of jobs that still need doing, with the number of weekends until our garden opening (nine incidentally) and then try to suppress the mounting panic. We take the responsibility of opening the garden for visitors very seriously. After all, people are paying money, albeit in support of an excellent charity, to visit our garden and we don’t want to disappoint them. That means that, on top of the ‘usual’ gardening jobs, weeding, pruning, sowing and pricking out seeds etc., there’s also an awful lot of sweeping, tidying and repairing. We also are pleased to welcome groups for private visits to the garden and the first of these this year is booked for the first week of June, further shortening the time available for all that prep.

We know though, that in the midst of making lists of jobs and crossing them off, it’s important not to lose sight of why we do this: because we love gardening and we love our garden. Every now and again therefore, glass in hand, we just wander, invariably followed by both cats and both dogs and enjoy the garden that we’re creating.

Suddenly we’re almost at the end of April and the first May bank holiday is coming fast into view. This is the time of year when we start to divide the number of jobs that still need doing, with the number of weekends until our garden opening (nine incidentally) and then try to suppress the mounting panic. We take the responsibility of opening the garden for visitors very seriously. After all, people are paying money, albeit in support of an excellent charity, to visit our garden and we don’t want to disappoint them. That means that, on top of the ‘usual’ gardening jobs, weeding, pruning, sowing and pricking out seeds etc., there’s also an awful lot of sweeping, tidying and repairing. We also are pleased to welcome groups for private visits to the garden and the first of these this year is booked for the first week of June, further shortening the time available for all that prep.

We know though, that in the midst of making lists of jobs and crossing them off, it’s important not to lose sight of why we do this: because we love gardening and we love our garden. Every now and again therefore, glass in hand, we just wander, invariably followed by both cats and both dogs and enjoy the garden that we’re creating.