pumpkinstrokemarrow

I last reported on the new daffodil bed on 22nd September. Since then, the snowdrops and winter aconites have turned up, they were planted, over seeded with the balance of the meadow mixture and, lastly, the netting was reinstalled, using for this last a whole lot of thin bamboo in an attempt to hold the net more or less in place. Plus lots of mild steel wire and sisal twine. Grass came up fairly well, although for some reason the left hand end was much thinner than the right hand end (viewed from the same side as the illustration), despite getting more sun. And for the avoidance of doubt, the rather brown stuff in the foreground is the rather shady back of our back lawn. Just looks like that from this angle.

Regular water meant that the worms came back, making a fair amount of mess with their worm casts, but that is supposed to be good for the soil. Modest amount of digging by squirrels, rather less by larger animals, possibly cats. FIL says there is something in daffodil bulbs, the smell of which puts them off. And there is a track running across the stretch illustrated, with whatever it is, probably a fox, getting through the (split chestnut) fence just in front of the right hand post. Lately we have had the leaves to pick off, which I have been doing by hand, rather than take the damage involved in using a rake. We don't have one of those blowing things.

The last step was some kind of edging, the idea being that we don't mow the daffodil bed along with the lawn, rather we cut it once after the bulbs have died down and once in the autumn. Natural grass in the meantime. The idea is that two cuts a year will suffice to keep the grass (and the meadow plant organic grass improvers) free from woody weeds and not so strong as to smother the bulbs.

But what kind of edging? First thought was to have a border of bricks set into the ground. Rather a lot of bother. Or perhaps some kind of ornamental garden stone. Rather expensive. Or perhaps some kind of low wooden rail. This might look a bit big on this rather narrow - around a metre - bed. Then we thought of the low iron rails they have at Hampton Court and this seemed like quite a good idea. So off to the blacksmith at Walton, a place which had a forge, all sorts of interesting & mostly old equipment and a large supply of horse shoes. That sort of area. Yes sir, three bags full sir. I can knock you some of that up. But, despite the good start and several phone calls, the rails never turned up. Next stop, Sparrowhawks of Epsom Lane North, a lot nearer and more convenient than Walton. Not quite so twee but he bent up some rebar for us and it was ready a couple of days later when he said it would be. Job done and installed. I shall go to him first next time.