This page reports the events of 2015. The reports for previous years are appended to "Barum's History".
Thumbnail pictures on this page are for the use of speed-readers, anyone who wants to examine any image in greater detail has only to click on the thumbnail.
2015 was a quiet year with no outstanding events to report. The family are all well, Luca is growing up fast, and Alice is progressing well, and now being very mobile can get into a lot of trouble.
The Head- and Under-gardeners are facing their increasing decrepidation by just ignoring it
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Jacqui and Andrew have almost finished renovating their house in London. Their enjoyment of this type of "hobby" has led them into looking for a new house to start renovating.
The parents will probably be called in to "assist".
| Our Teddy has grown in size, and there are now signs that he may become a well-behaved dog − at least that is what he is training us to believe. As shown in the photos, he knows the Yew is his, and makes good use of it as a scratching bush − and made a scoop to help with this task. |
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We are showing our age, and being reminded what it is to have a young dog around. Teddy is trying his best to train us with his new tricks.
As the year progressed Teddy tended to go into a digging frenzy less often. Any new planting had a surround of wire netting which has been a successful ploy. In the veg patch I used lidless cold frames as barriers, and left them in place for the whole year. Interestingly, the carrots showed no sign of carrot fly damage, I will use this scheme again.
We had planned to re-open in 2015, got as far as registering, but chickened out just in time owing to hassle with extra time needed to refine the pruning and digging techniques of our new apprentice. Maybe we're too cautious.
This is covered in the "Introduction to the Veg Patch", so, in the interest of idleness (and to emphasise Veg's importance), I will not repeat it here.
However, it was another mild, fairly dry but cloudy Winter. The Spring was very dry, but germination was good. Summer was a disappointment with only a very brief spell of hot weather.Autumn was average with a very dry spell in October.
Only maintenance carried out here − couldn't leave the pup.
| Only maintenance carried out here. The first thumbnail gives a view of the top part of the garden in September. The other on shows the "Fern Bed" in August. |
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| The Aloe striatula has had some side-shoots hacked off, in fact if these are pushed into soft soil, they seem to root themselves without any help. |  |
Meanwhile, the Aeonium collection was planted out, but continues to consider itself too important for this page, but the author has refused to update that page since there is no point in trying to improve on the Headgardener's perfect display!
The Undergardener continued with his task of extracting this beast − with great help from puppy. The result is that we now have a 30cm diameter black Bamboo planted in the location previously occupied by the Pittisporum.
This is considered, by the author of this drivel, to have been a great success for the Undergardener. Furthermore, 6 clumps were made available (free) to the son − each one normally sells at more than £30. not surprisingly, these have now all been transferred to his back garden in Hertfordshire.
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This continues to thrive, but the loss of the branch has provided an interesting view across this section of the garden. Our Nandina domestica is on the left, the Musa ventricosum is in the mid-distance and the bright leaves behind the Musa are the Acer negundo 'Flamingo'. The red flowers spotted through the Acer are from Clematis viticella 'Royal Velours'. Better pictures of the individual plants are available in the Plant List. |
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Details of our successes in the realms of food production are reported on the veg pages.
Owing to higher priorities − pup wasting time, little was done in this area, we eventually got it weeded, but it gave a wonderful show of cow parsley in early Summer. The Dahlias have spread, and gave a wonderful show in the Autumn.
No significant changes to the design, only the normal updates. Is this an indication of perfection or author's indolence?
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