Matron is on the Move!

So here is my new plot!  Haven't moved in yet, waiting for the lawyers to do their little dance and give me a moving date.  Hopefully in the first couple of weeks of April.   The left side of the garden is Northeast facing, and the back of the house is South South West facing.  You can see where the shadows are that even in early January the back of the house still gets the sunshine!

Two beautiful eating apple trees in the garden and otherwise a blank canvas!  I am thinking a compost heap will be built in the far North corner, and raised beds on the sunny side?  As you know, "Matron doesn't do flowers"  so I would be interested to hear your design suggestions?

I'm Still Here!

 Don't worry readers - I'm still here but have been very quiet of late.  Matron is on the move again, this time to an amazing house and garden in the New Forest.   So I am beginning to pack up some of my faithful friends in the garden.  Actually January and February are quite a good time to lift and divide plants, especially this rhubarb.  I've managed to lift a few rhubarb crowns into pots ready to plant out in my new garden.

 This blackcurrant bush was a single stem that I planted in the ground just 2 years ago. You can see the main stem in the centre has two lovely side shoots.  I pruned this down to just 3 lovely stems and it came up nicely into a pot.  I can trace the ancestry of this plant to my last allotment garden, where it was a gift from my Sisters garden about 15 years ago.  Isn't it lovely that you can keep memories going through plants and their progeny?

 I have a wonderful Tayberry planted in my garden too.  Last Summer I layered one of the long shoots down into some soil, and last week I was pleased to find that it had rooted well and a new shoot is appearing.  This will go into my new garden as well.

 and my lovely Raspberry canes too.  January and February are just perfect for gently lifting these canes and their roots into a pot for transplanting. I don't expect any fruit the first year.  For any of these plants I will allow them at least a year to settle and grow new leaves and roots before allowing any fruit.

And finally here are some of my strawberries.  This is a variety I found a few years ago called Buddy!  Regular readers will remember that my lovely black dog Buddy was my faithful garden companion for many years.  Now his great great great Grandchildren will be coming with me to my new home.