In May we finally had the sunshine we craved but it meant that the growth that had been held back at the garden suddenly burst onto the scene with a vengeance.  We were able to spend a lot of time at Carmel and it was needed!

Our most time consuming job of the month was weeding around the pond.  In the gallery, you will see lots of ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos as we worked our way around the weed infested borders.  The weeds absolutely smothered and overtook even the largest of plants.  In the space of a month, the far border of the pond was unrecognisable.

The sunshine meant that Al now has to constantly keep the grass down and will be cutting every week.  We also have help from Evans Agri Services who have helped with the larger swathes.  Once again, we are leaving the majority of the grass long and cutting through paths for walking.

Reet has tackled all sorts of jobs from strimming to edging and weeding all the borders.  Nancy has also been assiduously weeding and adding new plants as she goes.

Our female duck disappeared and we hope this means that she is sitting on a nest somewhere, as the male has remained visible on the pond.  We would love some ducklings!

In the space of a week we had two swarms of bees (that we saw), one very small one that was already in situ when we arrived.  Then a second one which happened while we worked and settled in the hedge.  Our wonderful beekeepers dealt with both swarms very professionally and moved the swarms into new hives so they can carry on producing their lovely honey.

Maisie continues to keep us company and greets us on arrival by appearing at our car doors if we don’t get out quickly enough!  One of the pictures on the gallery this month shows her taking refuge under the trailer during a particularly heavy rainstorm.