Gardens visit: Bateman's

The National Trust property at Bateman's will soon be saying goodbye to its head gardener who is retiring this year after more than two decades tending and restoring the grounds of Rudyard Kipling's Sussex hideaway.

This year's weather has not been kind to any gardener in England but the gardens at Bateman's are still looking resplendent.

The apple orchard is faring 100% better than the battered trees in my own garden which, this year, have produced absolutely no fruit whatsoever.
The boughs at Bateman's are already heavy with young fruit, the vegetable gardens are stocked with lettuces, courgettes and soft fruit and the borders are filled with with the colour and smell of Sweet Williams, roses, lavender and honeysuckle.

As ever, I took some photos on my visit.

What a terrible year

Well, I'm now in my third year of growing vegetables and, after thinking I'd cracked it, I'm now feeling pretty despondent.
I'm certainly not alone - even experienced growers I talk to have suffered record failures this year.
I have lost count of how many times I've reseeded various parts of my plot... The salad all failed completely, despite three separate attempts at improving drainage, adding compost, reseeding and offering gentle words of encouragement.
I have two, yes two, carrots growing.
I'm expecting about a dozen sugar snap peas from the four stunted plants that survived the deluge.
The apple blossom was battered off the tree before the bees had a chance to pollinate it.
And out of 12 cucumber plants, the slugs have left me just one.
I can't imagine how I would feel if there was no supermarket to fall back on... Pretty hungry, I guess.
Buoyed by the bumper harvest of my first two years, I mistakenly thought this veg growing lark was a doddle.
Now I've learned some harsh lessons, not least of all to raise some spare, replacement plants in the greenhouse in case it all goes belly up in the garden.
I am now pinning my hopes on my parsnips, which seem to be coming along, and the remaining brassicas which haven't been snapped off in the gales.
I just need to keep those pesky rabbits away.

Garden visit: Tilgate Park

Council-owned Tilgate Park in Crawley is an amazing place and it's free. It has a zoo, lakes, walled garden and so much wildlife.
Now is the best time to visit, however, with all the rhododendrons and azaleas out.
I went for a late evening stroll earlier and took these few snaps on my phone before the light faded.

Garden visit: High Beeches

The azaleas are blooming like crazy at High Beeches Gardens in Handcross. These snaps were taken on my phone.

Sparrowhawk versus woodpecker versus magpie

I've seen a few sparrowhawk predations in my garden, especially during the winter months. They've usually been things like blue tits, but today's events took me by surprise and made me wish I could spend more time at home.
My evening phone conversation with hubby was suddenly interrupted when he saw a sparrowhawk drag a greater spotted woodpecker from our peanut feeder.
Describing it in real time as he watched events unfold, my other half described how the bird of prey was hanging on to the woodpecker, which was clinging in vain to the feeder.
The birds fell to the ground with the sparrowhawk creating a cloak with its wings over the would-be prey, but the woodpecker quickly escaped to the shelter of our last year's Christmas tree, which is planted next to the feeder.
The woodpecker was now out of sight but was squeaking and the sparrowhawk made two attempts to approach it but eventually gave up and moved to the shed roof, presumably to wait it out, away from the woodpecker's sharp beak.
But the commotion also attracted the attention of a curious magpie, which began tentatively approaching the injured bird.
Faced with further opposition, the sparrowhawk flew off, followed shortly by the disinterested magpie.
At this point my hubby hung up, expecting that he'd have to put the woodpecker out of its misery, but instead he got the fright of his life.
He called me back a few minutes later to say he'd pulled back the Christmas tree and the startled bird flew straight past him, first into the chicken wire veg patch fence and then up into the tree.
Here's hoping it recovers.

Rhododendron, Magnolia and Camellia show

The two-day Rhododendron, Magnolia and Camellia show opens at Tilgate Park in Crawley this morning.
The show started out in 2002 at Borde Hill but did not take place at all last year.
Major visitor gardens, including Exbury, are represented and experts will be available to offer advice.
Among the things to see is an amazing floral display made up of the seasonal flowers currently on show at nearby High Beeches gardens.
http://www.crawley.gov.uk/pw/News_and_Events/Events_Directory/EVENT1332923520854

High Beeches in the snow

I was lucky enough to get a sneaky peak around High Beeches gardens during the snow.
Many of the evergreen trees were groaning under the weight and rhododendrons that had bloomed after the balmy January weather were also buried.
Here are some of the photos I took this afternoon...