Pruning roses and dogwoods
Crocuses and snowdrops in the spring beds have put on a lovely show with hellebores and now the first daffodils coming into flower. On warm, sunny days it’s good to see some of our honey bees out and visiting these blooms. Earlier in the year we radically pruned the rambling roses that were trying to take over adjacent trees and shrubs. We tied as many stems as possible into the pergola, while simultaneously trying to pull them down to a more horizontal position to encourage flowering These roses are still very overgrown and will need a major overhaul once they’ve flowered. A similar approach has been taken with a couple of old-fashioned shrub roses with metal supports round them. We’ve bent down the more flexible stems and tied them to the supports. One of the shrubs rescued from the clutches of the rambling roses is a Cornus mas, which is now bearing pretty yellow flowers. In the orchard I’ve pruned the dogwood, Cornus alba ‘Westonbirt’. It seems a shame to cut down the brilliant red stems but I know they’ll grow back even stronger over the next few months. I now have a large bundle of stems that I’ll use around the garden as plant supports. A couple of low-growing branches have rooted themselves so I’ll pot them up and grow them on until they’re big enough to be planted out elsewhere. The first of our new vegetable beds has been cleared, rotavated and covered with black plastic to warm the soil and stop the weeds growing back before we’re able to sow. I’ve also been busy weeding the asparagus beds that were planted with one-year-old crowns about 18 months ago. This year we’ll have to be patient and continue keeping the beds weed free until we can look forward to harvesting our first crop next year.
Tales from a Country Garden 