The long gap in the blog reflects a setback which has among other things been caused by my catching Covid. Fortunately, it wasn’t very serious, but I ended up spending ten days self-isolating. This has resulted in us missing the planting season so the beds may have to wait until the autumn.

In our work session yesterday we started clearing the area around the sheds and weeded several areas including the front garden.
​
On a happier note, the summer baskets are now out and the pots on the wall in the back garden have been planted – the latter in red, white and blue for the Queen’s anniversary. Hopefully they do as well as previous years.

We have now weeded the bed against the Pound Steet wall near the belfry. The big bed against the north wall was done during the last garden session so they are now ready for planting. The type of plants is more or less decided, and The Friends of Honeywood have agreed to pay for them as part of their major contribution as a partner in the project. I am hopeful that actual planting will take place in the next few weeks. I think that will feel like a real breakthrough after so long working on clearance.

​There is much more of that to do but a key point will be passed and it will begin to feel more garden like.

The raised bed at the back of the garden has a lot of elm suckers in it which are coming into leaf – a bright clean green that will darken as the spring wears on. Elm is not really a garden shrub but it seems a pity to eliminate it. Perhaps we can find some middle way with it.

The weeds have also set themselves up in business, so we cleared the bed under the wall which is now ready for planting,
​
We also cleared the turf off the stone sleeper blocks between the house and Pound Street. These came from the Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Railway which was built in the early 19th century. It ran from Croydon, south the quarries at Merstham, but never got to Godstone.

​The blocks were originally displayed with iron rails on them, but these were moved to the museum store some years ago when there was a wave of metal thefts, and the staff were concerned for their safety. The stone blocks are now visible in the grass. They remind me of hunting for the remains of early railways in the 1960s.

We finished clearing the box hedge a couple of days ago. The last section was by the corner of the house and was badly affected by box blight. We want to keep some sort of break at this point to visually separate the area around the belfry from the main part of the garden. This was not part of the Edwardian design but the erection of the belfry – it was salvaged from the Victorian school in Cotswold Road, Belmont – has changed the character of the area. The steel fire escape is also rather intrusive but also necessary. The site of the box is now a muddy patch and thought needs to be given to its replacement.

The garden has got through the gales without any significant damage – a lot of fallen twigs which have been cleared in the work session yesterday.
 
The bulbs that we planted last autumn are well above the ground and look like they are growing fast. They have been beaten by snowdrops which have popped their heads out of the lawn and flowered along with a crocus and a small daffodil. A few of the daisies in the grass have also flowered. The winter planting in the pots are also looking more cheerful.
 
We continued work on the clearance of the box hedge by the wall of the sheds area. The box has got blight and the site is sunny and would make a flower bed. We should be able to finish this next session.