I knew I’d be gardening at a distance for two years, before we moved back from Paris to make this our permanent home, so I intended to start slowly.  I drew up outline plans for the garden, worked out where the orchard would go and prepared to plant the first row of trees.

 

The idea was to get the apple trees growing straight away to establish the bones of the garden but to leave lawns and flower beds for later when we were settled in our new home.

 

and hardy annuals in our Northumberland garden to be

That sounded a sensible plan but not much fun.  Maybe I couldn’t give the garden regular attention just yet but with the aid of a few packets of seed I could get some easy care flowers growing quickly.  The soil is very fertile and annual flowers have grown fast.

 

Parts of the garden are going to remain wild at heart with some editing and wild-type additions.

 

As the garden entered its second season I was dividing and replanting perennial flowers while sowing annuals to fill the gaps in between.  The poppies, dill and daisies, marigolds and foxgloves have been sowing their own seed with generosity ever since.

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