Busy, busy, busy. I am divided into three these days. Gardening as usual at the main house. Planting and designing as I go at a new garden at one of the newly restored timber framed farmhouses on the estate and any spare time spent at the lodge keeping this old, new garden  up to scratch. If nothing else, time flies and there are not enough working hours in the day.

The garden at the farmhouse is completely new. Every original plant, tree and wall was removed (all very derelict) and are being replaced anew. The walls are natural stone and the new trees are apple and pear. A stone cider mill and various stone troughs, some massive, have been gathered together from various parts of the estate. Some are on the terrace and others are set in the newly sown lawns. The ground was levelled and a new stone ha ha wall was built to give the best views of the surrounding woods and panorama of misty hills in the distance.

A large fig is now growing against a sunny wall of the house and I have boxed the roots in to stop them spreading and to encourage better fruiting. The very hot dry sunny part of the paved area outside the sitting room window is planted with silver plants including a good deal of lavender. Borders are informal and loop round the base of the walls, I am busy now planting them up. All the autumn bulbs I planted up, tulip, eremurus and alliums are filling in the spaces between several varieties of tree peony, shrub roses and michaelmas daisies. It will be a couple of months before this project is completed. There will have to be a lull in the proceedings whilst the new lawn gets established and has it's first cut. Eventually I hope it will look like a farmhouse garden. Nothing too pretentious, wonky bits here and smart bits there and above all, easy for me to maintain.

I was so behind with my greenhouse work. It was weeks before I found time to prick out all my pansy, nicotiana and perilla seedlings. The trouble was that the long dry sunny spell in March and April which made me so reluctant to spend any time in the potting shed. I wanted to be out and about doing good works in the garden(s). As usual I cannot move in the greenhouse and so I am turfing out anything which is remotely tough into the sleeper beds. We never get late frosts up here. Another reason to spend as much time as possible outside is the beautiful song of the lark. There has been a remarkable increase in their numbers this year and when the builders are quiet the music is astonishing.

Daisy the jack russell is on heat again. Too soon for further puppies so I am just keeping an eye on her to prevent accidents. She vanished last week and spent a happy hour gambolling with a young spaniel brought on to the estate by a chap erecting fencing. Luckily the dog was too young and soppy to realise how interesting she was. I have had to place round her neck every morning along with her bell a large white plastic plant label saying 'Do not feed'. Everyone was raising their hands and saying how matronly she looked, I couldn't see it myself and I am not convinced that the builders working on the house can see this label themselves for at ten and one oclock I can hear them calling her, like sirens, into their portacabin with honeyed words (and sandwiches). What am I supposed to do, tie her up?