The clumps of Veronica pallida Gentianoides are looking splendid at the moment, their 18 inch tall spikes of pale blue flowers are just so lovely and they do prefer damp conditions. Geranium ‘Bill Wallis’ is flowering very prettily having seeded itself all over the garden, its such a good doer and rarely puts itself in the wrong place. Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ is just beginning to open and promises to look stunning for the next few weeks, there are still afew left for sale. I’m very keen on the rock roses and one in particular called Helianthemum ‘Henfield Brilliant is starting to flower now. It is an unusual burnt orange colour and looks especially good with either the geranium mentioned above or with Euphorbia rubra. We have lots of this rock rose for sale.

Cowslips have grown particularly well this year and they are now getting established in many parts of the garden. I aim to transplant some to the bank at the top of the field where I think they will grow quite happily.

One lovely family  came in today and bought a large quantity of plants but  not many people are prepared to choose and buy plants in the rain and I don’t blame them.

It’s Sunday and we are two thirds the way through the Bank Holiday weekend. Had a good day yesterday, we were really quite busy in the afternoon. Today wasn’t quite so lucrative but we had some lovely customers in including a new volunteer for the NGS who is helping with the publicity. I even had 10 minutes in the garden at the end of the day pulling up very vigorous hairy bitter cress. Got a bucket full without trying. Must try to do some more tomorrow.

Luckily we didn’t get the frost last night that was forecast. That was really fortunate because we have now got some bedding plants in for sale and, of course, they are not at all frost hardy.

The NGS is a wonderful organisation which raises money for various cancer care and other charities. This year it is celebrating 85 years of existance. Its a win, win concept. Visitors have the chance to see a wide variety of gardens including many small private ones which only open perhaps one day a year. The garden owners have a chance to show off their all their hard work and, at the same time raise money for charity.

At the moment our garden is at the splishy, sploshy stage. This usually is the norm over winter but after two dry winters we’d forgotten just how wet our site can be. There are ‘moats’ around the borders, the pond has at last reached hte overflow pipe and us two garden openers are feeling pretty despondant with the excess of water. I know we need it but it is small consolation when we get too much at the ‘wrong’ time. So, in the unlikely event of you coming to look round the garden in the next few days we would strongly suggest bringing wellies to wear.

I’m continually potting and taking cuttings at the moment. Quite a few of the seeds that Lisa sowed when she was here have now germinated and will need transplanting soon. Not a job I like, its too fiddly for my liking. The frosts we had earlier in the week have damaged some plants including Bergenia which now has brown flowers rather than the delicate pink which were looking so good. The two pepper plants I bought last week have similarly been hammered by frost. I was a bit surprised to see that the Persicaria Red Dragon (in the polytunnel) has also now got brown rather than red leaves.

While driving around it seems that, as often happens, many Magnolias have been frosted, such a shame because they are so beautiful when in their full glory.

I sometimes wander who in their right minds would run such a business. We started in 1998 and over the years we’ve had foot and mouth disease in the area which made everything go very quiet, the road was closed for repairs for a few weeks, there have been floods and excessive heat, and there has also been a fuel tanker drivers strike. Now we are faced with a recession, a drought, another tanker drivers strike and last but not least destruction by rabbits.

As a long time self employed person I know that basically I’m very lucky and also probably unemployable, I just wish that sometimes I had more control over things like the weather and other difficulties.

Today, amongst other things, I dug up some Potentilla alba to split up and pot up. It is one of the loveliest small plants and very useful for the front of borders or rockeries. The leaves are more or less evergreen and there are some white flowers blooming almost all year round. Its not showy and is quite slow growing but it is very attractive in an understated kind of way.

There were no customers today unsurprisingly but there have been quite a few sales over the last week or so. George is always pleased to see new people although they are not always pleased to receive his attentions. Claire got quite annoyed with him brushing up against her black trousers……

Everything seems to be growing in the garden in a satisfyingly promising fashion. Bulbs are popping up all over the place, some leaves are beginning to show and some plants are looking their best right now such as Viburnum farreri ‘Nanum’. We planted a new tree the other day. It’s a Crataegus x lavalleei ‘Carrierei’. Although the root system wasn’t brilliant it needed a very large hole to be prepared for it. Lots of compost was added to the hole then we slowly back-filled with all the clods of clay. Fingers crossed that it will grow, I really should have bought a smaller tree but I am too impatient. Do come and check on its progress later in the year.