No time off for good behaviour!

 Day 2

Turves cleared and surface stones raked ready for the start of digging/clearing.

In the meantime, the Head Gardener decided to smarten up the front of the house by 'pruning' the roses!

Day 3

The digging begins ...

... and meets with approval !

The weather continues to be dry and good for working in the garden and Sue is plodding through the beds clearing out the dead and dying vegetation.

I don't think she is going to get it all done before the band of rain/sleet comes in the middle of next week.

Alert ! Danger !

 DO NOT WATCH GARDENING VIDEOS !

They contain too many ideas.  And here, ideas lead to projects ... and projects lead to work for the under gardener !

We were idly watching a video, sponsored by 'The English Gardener' magazine of the nation's best gardens of 2021, as voted for by their readers.  Sue fell in love with an idea in the Eastern Area winning garden ... a formal circular bed in a courtyard. Foolishly I said "oh, we could have that in the grass area in front of the barn".  SILLY

That was Wednesday.  And this is today, Friday,

So that was day 1.  However, I anticipate that progress will be slower once I've removed the topsoil as it is then just rocks ... ie hard labour !

Needless to say life indoors is quiet as the Head Gardener has her head deep into piles of gardening books (in the salon, in the bedroom ...) looking for the 'right' plants for her vision.

Henri Martin's Garden

 So who was Henri Martin you ask!

Henri Martin was a post-impressionist painter, born in Toulouse, who bought a summer house in the small village of Labastide du Vert in the Lot and who eventually lived there full-time until his death in 1943.  His work is on display locally in Toulouse and also the 'Henri Martin' museum in Cahors.  His work is well known in France and the USA.

The house, the Domaine de Marquayrol, seems to have stood empty since his death but has recently been bought with a view to turning it in to an exhibition/concert venue/tourist attraction.

We came to learn of this through the garden club we are members of.  One of our members has been charged with clearing and re-designing the garden which had become totally overgrown!  A first attempt at clearing has been carried out, so we were able to see the bare bones of the garden, what remains of the original garden from some 80 years ago, and what potentially could be done with it.

We were shown the garden by Cameron, the poor man who has the uneviable task of trying to satisfy a number of different views on what the garden should become.  He made the mistake of asking for any ideas and, needless to say we (and others) were not backwards in coming forward!!!

An interesting afternoon looking at a project which will take a number of years to accomplish.

Over Ambitious

 I discovered, belatedly, that a friend of a friend was a garden designer in a previous life. I say belatedly because if I had known that she was a former professional garden designer there is no way I would have invited her here. Suddenly my amateur garden, which I am normally proud of, lost it's sparkle and I felt very inadequate.

Eventually I came to my senses and thought I was missing a trick if I didn't take advantage of an opportunity to get some expert advice for free. So in exchange for a cup of tea and a piece of cake Allison gave us her thoughts. She was very kind (although I said she could be as critical as she liked) and came up with the overall view that the front garden didn't flow very well from one area to another. Why was the area by the bank planted with bulbs in a straight line?  Of course the answer is historical and dates from the time that this area was to be an alley of Cherry trees which never materialised. She suggested that we moved the bulbs to create a more naturalistic look and leave this area of the grass a bit longer in the Summer. 

We both thought it was a great idea so we ordered more Muscari (grape hyacinths) and Thallia (white narcissus). We had no idea how many we would need so in the end we opted for a 1000 muscari, after all for an extra 10 euros you got another 500 bulbs!! As we were planting them today the bargain suddenly didn't seem so attractive, despite hours of planting the bulbs in the bag didn't seem to get any less.

A lot of people are going to have tubs of grape hyacinths for Christmas!!