Jobbing gardeners....

It's  fun to go off to someone else's garden for a change and to do a bit of work, especially if they are terribly grateful and feed us well. Add to that extremely comfortable accommodation, an idyllic setting and  good company. 
You could hardly call it work, more of a gentle potter.

The garden is very different to ours...well there is  grass for one thing, (enough to need a sit-on lawn mower) a large pond with frogs and newts and  a hilly bit of woodland which supports foxes badgers, deer and a host of bird life.

It's great fun to watch the camera in the morning to see what animals were about.

This is the main part of the garden and slopes gently away from the house. The landscaping of the pond and the mound behind were done by a previous owner. The height was achieved by building up a mound with rubbish. This has caused real problems as it's now full of vinca and other weeds such as Rosebay willow herb and couch grass. Added to this is the horrible lumpy clay soil and planting becomes  difficult.

On the other side of the path the bank Mare's tail is much in evidence. It does look good in the edges of the water  and makes a great place for aquatic wildlife.

Our friends C and P have made trojan efforts to parts of the mound  and cut back some of the shrubs. They then made pockets of better soil for planting new hardy perennials in. If it had been me I think I would have cleared the mound away altogether! bring on the digger....

Anyway back to the pottering...

There were raised beds to fill with vegetables, pots and boxes to fill with herbs and annuals. Some of the perenials had been in their pots for a while and needed divided or re-potted as well as a bit of weeding here and there. These are some of the collection of plants to be dealt with...

With the glorious weather it was a joy to get up early in the morning to watch the mist disappear as the sun broke through. It is a wonderfully tranquil spot - a real retreat!

Fortified by cup of coffee, I got planting. P joined me later to do the hanging baskets. This is not my forte at all but having seen some wonderful examples in the latest "Gardens Illustrated" I may be tempted to give it a go...

In the end we this is what we achieved...planters full of herbs (apart from French tarragon which C doesn't like)

 A raised border planted with broad beans, peas and salad crops.

With a bit of luck we might be invited back for another potter and the best tiramisu in the North East of Scotland.