I started doing this blog last year on June 19th. As well as the normal gardening related material I started to record each week the number of hours that we had spent working on the garden. This was partly out of interest but also because whenever we open the garden the number one question is “How long to you spend doing this? or other variations such as “This must be a full time job!” or “How many gardeners do you have?”.
To be honest I had very little idea apart from knowing we worked very hard in the run up to an opening day. So lets see what we did:
The chart shows hours by week with the red line a three week centered moving average to smooth out some of the peaks and troughs. The zero weeks reflect when we were away and no gardening was done.
Note that the hours are gardening hours not the many hours we spend enjoying the garden or indeed writing the blog!
I had always assumed that we spent long hours prior to an opening. This year it was on 14th June and this is reflected in the peak on the right of the chart. I had always assumed that after the opening the garden more or less looked after itself. Last year it was on June 20th and, apart from a holiday straight after, the hours continued around 20 hours a week up until the middle of November. So I have revised my assumptions.
December and January are relatively low at around 10 hours a week but given that the lawn does not need cutting then, typically 2 to 3 hours a week in summer, they remain quite high.
So, in summary we have:
| Gardening Hours | ||
| Week beginning June 10th | Total since June 19th 2016 | Average per week |
| 48 | 1011 | 19 |
an average of 19 hours a week.
The total size of our land is about 0.9 acres. 
The garden consist mainly of flower beds with a small vegetable area and a soft fruit cage. Over the years we have tried to make our garden relatively efficient. For example the lawns have long sweeping edges and have metal edging which makes cutting the grass easier etc. However, we do try to achieve succession planting which must increase the work load. I would be interested to hear from anyone else who has recorded their hours.
And last but not least the hours for this week are:
| 2017 Gardening Hours | ||
| Week beginning June 17th | Total 2017 to-date | Average per week |
| 30 | 558 | 22 |
From now on I shall report on a calendar year.
Towards the garden wall Rosa Blush Noisette on the pergola in the corner.
Across the large pond a multitude of blooms of delphiniums, geraniums etc.
And looking back towards the pleached lime hedge the underplanting of Rosa Alfred de Dalmas and Lavandula augustifolia ‘Hidcote’ is all coming together.
Rosa Joseph’s Coat produces these interesting multi coloured blooms.
Clematis Rhapsody always puts on a good display.
Recently I talked about the 
Potentilla atrosanguinea var. argyrophylla Scarlet Starlit providing bright red stars in the border.
Near the Delphinium Black Knight a Rosa Iceberg in flower.
Knautia macedonica probably a self set but the colour combination works well.
Hosta Sun & Substance together with Clematis Boulevard Angelique in a lead planter. This planter is on automatic watering. Last year the drain holes blocked and the planter was flooded for some time. Everything was removed and new drain holes made. The original clematis died but the hosta has come back and shows great promise with the new clematis.
Rosa Bonica as a standard rose, newly planted last year.
Clematis Madame Julia Correvon another reliable clematis.
The large pink flowered plant is Geranium palmatum which has a habit of self seeding everywhere but how can you fault it when it looks like this.
The first dahlia in flower this year, Dahlia David Howard.
Salvia nemorosa Ostfriesland (East Friesland)
Rosa Felicite Perpetue along the bottom of the garden.
Sambucus nigra Lace Lady
Lysimachia atropurpurea Beaujolais. The problem with plant nurseries is that you always see something that you have not got but feel you have a place for it. This was one such purchase last week!
The largest Crambe Cordifolia we have ever grown.
The magic of some clematis does not die when the flowers are over. Gold seed heads remain.
More Allium Christophii
Tradescantia Innocence, what more is there to like!
We are very fortunate in having a beautiful borrowed landscape. Our garden actually ends where you can see the fence but there is part of an ha-ha (built when it was all part of the rectory next door) at the end of our garden and our garden appears to go on for ever. The immediate field is only used for sheep but the fields beyond have a variety of crops on them. Sometimes wheat when the colours go from green through to gold at harvest time, sometimes rape seed when we are surrounded by a sulfurous yellow when it flowers in May/June.
This year all the fields turned blue.
This is a crop of Flax (also known as common flax or linseed), Linum usitatissimum, is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is a food and fiber crop cultivated in cooler regions of the world. The textiles made from flax are known in the Western countries as linen, and traditionally used for bed sheets, underclothes, and table linen. 
The fields are a stunning crop of small blue flax flowers. 
Through the day the flowers open up and close in the evening resulting in the field going between blue and green. When the wind blows it can look like a huge lake.
At least once a year the local Hoby Art Group spends the morning capturing the different aspects of the garden. This year we were very lucky to have a sunny and warm day.
This is my classic end of the month view across the garden. You can see that everything is growing at a great speed and most of the climbing roses are in full bloom.
The bed on the left which is mainly roses are just coming into flower.
In front of these roses is a Tradescantia, Tradescantia ‘Innocence’
The bed in the left corner is having some major changes. the tall herbaceous at the back is being extended round to the left with the addition of Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Fascination’, Cimicifuga ramosa ‘Atropurpurea’ and Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’.
The Crambe Cordifolia has gone completely mad with the most enormous flower head. Some time ago I said we might move this as, although the flower head can be stunning, the leaves are not very interesting and take up a lot of space. It must have heard me and is demonstrating that it should stay!
Small beds in front of the pond have for some reason always been difficult. We have changed the rose to Rosa Pink Gruss an Aachen with Clematis ‘Chelsea’ a ground cover clematis. Early days but so far so good.
The bed to the right of the pond has not yet had the early summer tidy up. I anticipate some dahlias will go in here. However, the Allium Christophii are looking great and on the wall Rosa ‘Alister Stella Grey’ and Rosa ‘Crown Princess Margareta’ are blooming away.
The bed on the right already looks full but as you can see there are some Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’ waiting to go in. On the wall Rosa ‘Mutabilis’ and another Rosa ‘Alister Stella Grey’ are in bloom. The very large cat mint is Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’.
Again you cannot beat the Allium Christophii.
A new clematis growing up the pergola, Clematis ‘Monte Cassino’. 
Just to the right of the end of the month view is the urn bed. Here Rosa Alchemist always puts on a great show at this time of year.
Glebe House Garden 