Derek Jarman's garden

We've been galavanting, a couple of nights away exploring a different part of the country. The first garden that we saw involved driving through some desolate countryside. The road went beside Camber Sands where the film, "The Monuments Men" was filmed with the actor George Clooney, amongst others. (Whenever Himself goes for a haircut he asks if they will make him look like George Clooney. Ha ha. They usually indulge him with a smile but on the last visit he had a new young hairdresser. "Not a chance," she replied.)
It was bleak - the landscape, not the haircut.

We were looking for the garden of the artist and film director Derek Jarman who died in 1994. He created his garden in Dungeness within sight of the nuclear power station. "Paradise haunts gardens" he said, "and some gardens are paradises. Mine is one of them...."
Then we saw it, 'Prospect Cottage'

"Stop the car!"

It's a small timber building with a tin roof, and it could be described as a shed.

But, oh, those windows with the black - I'm a sucker for a bit of colour!

The planting is simple but effective, linking the building to the ground, the plants needing to survive the salt air and winds and possibly also the effects of being so near to a nuclear plant! (You can see the power station in the distance in the left hand corner of the photo above. You wouldn't get me living there.)
Clumps of sea holly growing in the thick layer of pebbles looked quite sculptural

and old beach groynes set into the ground were like standing stones.

The house was not occupied but is privately owned so I walked respectfully around the perimeter and didn't intrude.

On this wall wooden letter forms had been attached,

from John Donne's poem, 'The Rising Sun.'
"Busy old fool, unruly Sun'
Why dost thou thus
Through windows and through curtains, call on us?"

What a special place, it was a wonderful experience to see such a personal and well-loved creation.

My plot

There seems to have been a little confusion and some people think that the large and well-organised vegetable garden with two full-time gardeners belongs to me! Well, it's a lovely thought, but in actual fact it is part of the local hotel and restaurant where we ate last weekend. My veg. plot is small and has one unskilled gardener - me. Enthusiastic, yes. Knowledgable, no. It's cottage garden style, a jumble of food and flowers - and I love it!

Of course, with a surname like ours we have to grow spuds.

Along the eastern border there are a few gooseberry bushes

and the patch of bare earth where we have bonfires.

But it's not always good news in the garden. The pear midge has devastated the crop for another season. Both pear trees produce a mass of blossom every year without fail. But then, equally without fail, the developing fruit blackens and rots away. (Arrowed in red.) We shall enjoy the few fruit that survive, come the autumn.

And the prunus that has given privacy from the house next door has upped sticks and died.

Now that's a bit of a disaster. In the autumn we shall reposition a replacement. What to buy? It's the south side so I don't want too much light taken and yet we do want privacy. I'm thinking about a bay tree because I could keep it clipped to a height that will not interfere with the solar panels. . Any suggestions? The new position will be more to the right.

We've put the citrus trees into the garden for the summer.

Their place in the greenhouse has been taken by tomatoes and cucumbers.

The tomatoes are shaping up well

and the cucumbers reaching for the ceiling!

June is the best month in my garden for flowers, the borders change each day. I come out of the door every morning and have a wander around before breakfast to what is new.

'Paul's Himalayan Musk' gives a glorious display each June. When the flowering is over he will get a  a crewcut.

 'Rosa Mundi' in the border

with lots of other reds, purples and pinks.

This was the part of the border that I worked on in September 2012 when I cut the background shrubs hard back because they had invaded the bed. They are sprouting back well,

September 2012.

but there's just enough space to add a new plant!

It promises to be wonderful - once it's grown a bit!

I can't blog the perfume or the birdsong,

 but perhaps you can imagine it.

Pigging out

Family were coming home for the weekend and Saturday morning started cold, wet and windy. Oh, dear. At least we have a small conservatory/greenhouse leading off the house where we can shelter from the weather. We've just repainted an old Lloyd loom chair. The previous colour was a blue to match the flowers on the cushion cover - move over Vanilla, so that we can see!

The colour was too strong and I never liked it. Flwrjane is wondering what colour to paint her outdoor furniture. I'm much happier with our latest choice, which is a soft pale green that sits happily with the foliage. I've suggested something similar for Jane but she doesn't live in rainy old England so can get away with plenty of zing.
Can you see how atrocious the weather looks outside!

But by lunchtime the sun had come out. We opened all the doors and windows in the greenhouse, donned sun hats, boiled in the unaccustomed heat and finally took ourselves outside to sprawl in the garden. I hadn't got round to putting out the summer chairs and tables in the front garden.

In the evening we went to 'The Pig' for dinner. We arrived early so that we could have a good look around the walled vegetable garden. Oh, bliss! All the crops are far in advance of mine. This had been a place of sad neglect before the present owners took over. There are two full-time gardeners for this area of the garden and it is immaculate with its rows of neatly-labeled plants.

I like the way that the peas have been staked and I'm going to copy this in my own garden next season.

Then we went inside for the serious business of eating our meal. It was interesting to look on our plates and see what had come from the garden.

Sunday was another lovely day, given over to yet more chatting and eating and lolling in the garden. We ate fish with the first picking of our new season potatoes. Sadly the rest of our vegetables were shop bought as I've yet to learn continuity in growing things.
Not all the fish was fish!

It's now minus a tail and fins.

Any excuse to eat chocolate!