Garden Journal – 6-21st of January

We’ve just had the most glorious weekend weather ! It’s been a dark and gloomy month of December so a bit of sun was so very much appreciated ! And we’ve made the most of it and been as much as we possibly could in the garden.

NB Have discovered a new psychological bias of mine (but other garden owners might understand) : how odd is it that going out the front door to go grocery shopping means covering one self from head to toe to hold the freezing cold at bay while on the other hand ON THE SAME DAY a mere jumper will suffice when going through the back door to do some gardening… Coincidence ? I think not ! (Though being sheltered from the wind does help physically of course.)

First things first : got the shredder out and got to shredding. We got rid of another fig tree, there were initially 3, only one left now. We took out an uninteresting fir tree that seemed to have been planted by a blind person in an improbable spot, and a Japanese Aucuba.

Inventory of what we are keeping :

• 1 Olive Tree
• 1 Fig Tree
• 3 Laurel Trees
• 1 Camelia already flowering in pink
• 1 Rhododendron (was growing behind the Japanese Aucuba we took down)
• 1 Japanese Quince Tree already flowering too

We got the ladder out and cut away at the tangled mess at the top of the wall separating our garden from that of our left hand side neighbor so the wall now looks nice and neat. The honeysuckle part of the mess is on our side and looks ancient so a lot of dead growth on there but hopefully it’ll explode again in the spring.

The lawn is coming along. At ground level it looks ok. Up top it’s still a baldy patch of brown but with a bit of a green hue… Spring will tell.

Have added a cherry tree on the list of trees we’ll plant in autumn 2024. Haven’t decided on getting a fruit tree or a flower tree…

We made two wigwams out of chestnut branches from a previous pruning session. It’s going to host life on the inside and serve as a tutor for climbers. Have rescued an ivy branch for the north facing side and a branch of honeysuckle for the south facing side. You never know, they might take even in the middle of winter… 

Future climbers for the wigwams :

• Belle de jour / Ipomée
• Capucine
• Sweet peas

Have contacted one of my bestest friends J, who happens to be a horticulturalist, for seed merchants and she says :  Seedaholic and Baumaux are her go-to. I’ve gone a bit crazy and ordered waaaaaayyyyy too many seeds from Seedaholic but that’s ok, I don’t have to plant everything this spring. I’ll probably concentrate on perennials this first year.

The next big step in the garden is ordering bricks to pave a definitive path and a small terrace and then we’ll be all set for the fun part : PLANTING !