We are no Hyde Hall, but we can now boast a voluntary gardening team of two, who are willing to give occasional assistance in the garden. They require no more than a little bit of feeding and watering and small divisions of choice Hostas.

Both Denis and Karen are knowledgeable gardeners who have only small gardens of their own.

Today, Denis and I set up water pots with Waterlilies and Irises etc.

Meanwhile Karen was weeding Hosta pots and potting them on where necessary, and taking modest divisions from them for herself and Denis. She fed the refreshed and cleaned pots with a slow release fertiliser and then spread a thin layer of sheep’s’ wool pellets on top. She has found in her garden, this is effective at dissuading slugs and snails from going onto the compost and attacking the foliage. Time will tell how effective this will be here.