Welcome Tua Pek Kong, the Mitcheldean Garden 2018
Sorry about the Oranges

This page is part of a series of garden blogs from 2018. Click here for the index.

As soon as we had installed Tua Pek Kong, we attempted to appease him for any discomfort during his long journey with some traditional oranges. Unfortunately, they were 'entry level' size and while he showed no emotion, he had obviously had a word with the weather gods because we were treated to a miserable 4 weeks with just one bright day. Finally, more by luck than judgement, the small oranges were replaced by large ones and suddenly we were treated to a ten degree rise in temperature and the garden rapidly entered catch up mode.

It was probably too late to save this year's tadpoles but only a few frogs had to be fished out of the pond. As I write, there are plenty of older ones hopping around the garden and the patio in particular. We have quite a few slow worms which like to hibernate in our moss, they do a great job on our myriad small slugs. I found this young one outside the kitchen door and carefully relocated it to a bank full of primroses.

The sun also brought out Yuehong on to the patio. We have to buy in our early season annual's colour, apart from free tomatoes, that's a job lot of dianthus to be potted on and behind, courtesy of Mr. Lidl, are several strips of scarlet salvia - they are roughly at the stage our home grown ones would be in 2-3 months time. I've emptied the greenhouse of nearly all the tender fuchsias that survived the house sitter's inattention, but the geraniums are being given every chance to bulk up, for the most part they will replace the tulips when they finish before yielding in turn to the dahlias. Behind Yuehong you can see some of our many primroses and the forsythia which so far is surviving the gall attack it suffered last year.

I think we had complete success in over-wintering our gold fish, 17 standard Red Comet, a strange small goldfish and a grey-black 'goldfish' which is probably the oldest surviving resident. In the rockery, to balance the invading primroses, I have put in quite a few grape hyacinths, looking around other gardens they are likely to multiply. 

At the top of the garden, the four camellias which we introduced some years ago are a good size and will soon need pruning, there are a couple next door in 35 which are over two metres tall and nearly as wide and we can't afford that in our garden! I'll be doing some pruning once they finish flowering, especially the precocious pink ones as they put up tall shoots which tend to fall over from the weight of the flowers. In front of the house the hyacinths have had a shorter than average season but as always they have ploughed a lonely furrow for colour variety. The picket fences have come out of storage to once again protect the plants from unthinking white van delivery men and women.

The tulips have turned out to be predominantly red for reasons I cannot fathom. At the moment they are at their most striking in the upper garden.

There are more more down by the road at a safe distance from any souvenir hunters. The bank behind the bungalow is covered in primroses, few people who see them realise that they didn't get there by accident...

We continue our daily walks mainly to Cinderford. It will never win a Gloucestershire in bloom contest or any other except one which includes the word 'worst'. However, it allows us to do a cheap shop and then catch the bus home. On Saturday, there is no bus and so we tend to walk round Wigpool which is where the oddball couples who want a quiet life hang out. That means walking back through the village and I would love to include shots of our nearest rivals but, truth to tell, there aren't any. Instead here are the daffodils next to the recreation ground. Behind the fence on the right is the communal dog crappery where the more socially responsible dog owners exercise their pets. Of course, the bottom end dog owners let them decorate the pavements instead.

As the early season colours fade, so they will be replaced by the next phase. The azaleas are starting, the rhododendron buds are swelling and the three upstarts, the wisteria, lilac and even magnolia are on their way. Click here for the next part.