Endings and new beginnings

Well, hello. It has been almost 2 years to the day that the world stopped. I left my job at Heale gardens just before Christmas 2019 and in March 2020, the Covid 19 pandemic hit and boy did we not have a CLUE!

The following two years were filled with sitting still indoors (a lot) and home schooling my sons, with occasional gardening here and there, as Covid permitted... They went into the pandemic 14 and 11 and have come out the other side 16 and 13, have changed greatly and will never be the same. Yet we all went through it didn't we? We have all changed.

I joke that the boys wanted me ideally to be sitting in the downstairs cupboard during this time. Always on hand if the printer didn't work, a zoom call was frozen, hunger prevailed or they needed to do their PE outside the back door. And yet I remained still whilst they were learning this new life. My eldest Louis did his GCSE's without actually sitting an exam and my youngest Sammy negotiated endless zooms of 15 subjects as he began his journey at Grammar school. I managed some work, my Tuesday garden remained and I could get to the flower field at times. Mainly though, I didn't earn money, I didn't get outside and I felt like I had lost myself somewhere along the way.

The boys were emotionally intelligent enough to know that I was going to be the one to find this situation the hardest. I'm best outdoors in all weathers these days and this was going to be a long haul.

Here I am in March 2022 and I am privileged to remain working in my Tuesday garden and still at the flower field with Susie at Littleford farm. I am also now a Gardener at Reddish house in Broadchalke. A gem of a garden with connections to fashion and art via Cecil Beaton, who lived there for several years. In a strange connection to my own world, my old boss Chris Moore (fashion photographer and a great inspiration to me) was once Cecil's assistant as he began his career.

Of course, this connection isn't a coincidence on its own. My HG, Michael Maltby, left Heale Gardens and began working at Reddish just last Autumn. A big move for him after 20 odd years at Heale but he intended to cut his hours and spend more time working gently, using his great knowledge to consult on the gardens and take them in a new direction.

I was incredibly privileged to be championed by Michael and be invited to commit to 2 days working alongside him. The plan to assist him in the running of the kitchen garden and wider areas. I began in January 2022. We clicked again immediately and set about planning seeds for cut flowers and veg. It was a pure joy to be alongside him again; we don't need many words, we just know each other. In fact we made some plant supports hardly saying a word, with Michael holding out his palm ready for me to give him string, like a surgeon's assistant.

Unexpectedly, Michael became seriously ill just last month in early February and is now being cared for in our local hospice. I haven't worked with him now since the 10th of February and now know he will never return to the garden. It is an unbelievably heart breaking situation for Michael and his family. I am so saddened and am still processing it all. The gardens at Reddish have Michael's touch everywhere, in just 6 short months he worked all over the garden. Every rose he pruned... I can see it was him that tied the string. His writing on labels. His border fork with blue handle that we shared for 5 years. I still use his bar to make holes for the willow supports, and see how worn it is from years of his loving use. 

I am spurred on by the fact that Michael wanted me in this garden. Michael brought me here, to this place and time, he nurtured me (as he did so many others). He is my dear friend, he is my Head Gardener, he is my teacher and my mentor. Not many Michael Maltbys come along in a lifetime and I am determined to carry on his skilled work. He will always be with me, every cut I make, it is Michael who taught me.

I have managed to sow seed for veg and cut flower, mulch borders, prune, weed, sweep, water, care and nurture and I am ready to continue with Michael in my heart and in my mind.

September

I cannot believe I haven't written on here since MAY!

SO much has happened in the gardens I work in and time just flies during the Summer months. I have also handed in my notice at Heale gardens. Not an easy decision to make, after all Heale was where it all began. My allotment alongside my WRAGS and RHS training and this is where I am today.

I will continue to get my gardening fix in my Tuesday garden (soon to become Tues and Fri) and also in a new venture for me; a cut flower garden which happily requires some of my input to help it on its way. What a way to spend your days? Growing cut flowers and making folks happy in the process!

I am excited about the future but sad to leave my amazing, creative, inspiring, HG Michael Maltby, who will continue to care for Heale garden as he has done since circa 2002. Michael has implemented so much of the garden as we see it today and has dedicated his time to making sure it is tip top to visitors who can not only enjoy what they see today but be informed as to what the gardens were like in the past.

Today, Michael and I had an outing to another special private garden in Hampshire; Malverleys. We were lucky enough to be allowed access to explore the gardens which are new (past 9 years work) and have been developed by Mat Reese. We were a little overwhelmed with the plant variety and work that is ongoing in the gardens. Of course, my favourite part was the veg garden, set within walls complete with a beautiful greenhouse. My kinda heaven!

It is always good to get out and see other gardens. A vital part of learning. Not forgetting a time to meet fellow Gardeners and learn about their job and how they do it. Important stuff!

Malverleys has plans for the future. Perhaps you can grab your own piece of it from a proposed  nursery or maybe one day it will open for all? Watch this space......

Month of May

It's all getting a bit like a jungle out there at the moment. The month of May. Sunshine and warmth suddenly kicks off growing in earnest and EVERYTHING needs doing right now!

This week I have been doing extra hours and it has been hot work. Much planting to do. In my Tuesday garden, my client likes to plant Dahlias in her borders and mix and match it up with Verbena, ornamental grasses and Crocosmia. There is really no point in rushing this part of the year. Months have been spent nurturing, over wintering, sowing, hardening off. Now is the time to give enough space to the plant, depth, a good watering and settling in. The plant will after all give you months of joy.

At Heale the veg garden is calling on all of me as I only work two days and it must all get done. I have been planting plants we have sown from seed months earlier. Ornamental Gourds mixed up with Ipomoea. Dill and Gladioli. Module sown Beetroot (colours vary), Rocket and Agretti.

Now Agretti is a new one on me. Apparently difficult to germinate successfully and requiring full sun once you have got that far. I sowed the seed in March and have only a handful of 10cm high seedlings to show for it. So surely it cannot wait any longer and requires planting out? I have gone for it! Watch this space.

Many tasks to finish in the veg garden and sprinkling is an ongoing one. It does all get done. Like Magic!

Around the garden it is all kicking off. Long meadow grasses full of our bulbs, which we planted on our freezing cold knees in the Autumn. Magnolias in bud and/or flowering their socks off. The Laburnum has a constant hum of bees about it, mixed in with Wisteria along the Pergola in the veg garden.

Many visitors are reporting that the gardens look good. They love the relaxed feel (which we tell them is a result of not enough time but happily it sits well with the river setting!) and the variety of plants on offer.

Onwards into the season. A gorgeous time of year to really get out and stretch your wings.

New season

Heale garden is once more open to the public and we are seeing visitors drifting through the garden, enjoying the early blossom of Magnolia and bulbs such as Scilla and Fritileria (on their way!).

For me, I am always energised by the moving forward of the veg garden. I have sown most veg that I can for March. We are preparing supports for sweet peas and have been collecting pea sticks for the Broadies and Peas to cling to. Radishes will soon go out and Parsnips have been direct sown, Gladiator F1. Gladiator are reportedly less likely to develop canker which can ruin a crop. Seeing as you wait months for a Parsnip to mature, I like the sound of one that will be good after that long wait free of disease! Growing is not for the impatient! What better than homemade Parsnip soup topped with almonds in the Winter?

Mixed salad leaves are coming up in modules, looking tantalisingly fresh and tasty already in their micro form. This is a good time to sow annual cut flowers too. We collect seed as we can such as Tithonia, Daucus Carota and Antirhhinum. The Sweet Peas are in the cold frames, one set sown in January, the next in February and I just hope we will have enough and avoid rodents or slugs which can dessimate seedlings.

I am very happy with this time of year, so much hope is held amongst the leaves unfurling and the buds about to burst.

The new year

I realise I haven't been on here for a while. Today was a snow day which made me realise how much I just love being out doors whatever the weather. I grew up in the country but left for London at 18. When I came back to the country in my thirties and began gardening, I really began to NEED the outdoors. Today was just perfect, silent falling snow, empty garden, beauty all around.

So, you might ask, what does a Gardener DO in the snow? Well, HG leads the way and shows me exactly what you can do. Leaf blowing plants to remove snow is great fun. The snow makes the plant heavy and could potentially break limbs or stems so it is a worthwhile task. You could of course just use a rake but when you can pretend you are exploding things in the air why wouldn't you go for the machine?!

We have also been sowing in the warm greenhouse, with snow coming down outside, could it get any better for a lover of plants on a Winters day? This week we have started sowing Sweet peas for the single cordons and some other annuals too. I love the process.

The veg garden still has Kale and Leeks but they must soon go to make way for preparing the ground for 2019 plantings. Digging is well underway and we are now almost half no dig so simply composting and covering takes less time. I will however miss digging if we go all out, no dig! It is a lovely job to do and cyclical so you feel where you are in the season.

In my Tuesday garden it has been weeks of Rose pruning which I really love to do. I love the challenge of taming the beast. As I do quite I lot, I have also gained in confidence and reckon I could tackle most roses now except one on a roof 20 feet up! Not my most comfortable thing to do, heights.

Soon the pruning will be complete and we will be well under way for the new season.

Snowdrop week begins at Heale in one weeks time so if this is your thing and you are itching to get out and about you can check the Heale website for dates and times. We have a lovely Nursery run by Ian who will be on hand to buy from too. Ian is knowledgable and very approachable so do say Hi!

Low light, shorter days, garden love

I have been loving the low light of late Autumn recently and the quiet it brings as we slow down the gardening year. The onset of Winter allows time to reflect.

I worked largely alone one day this week and was only distracted by the beating of Swans overhead or the moment when I would occasionally tune in to the babbling river beyond the vegetable garden. When you have the time to be quiet it is amazing how heightened your senses become, particularly when in nature. The Robin chirping somewhere nearby, the rustle of a leaf as a Pheasant flaps away, Frogs squirming as you move the soil around them.

I have been in both my working gardens this week and have mirrored jobs in each. Lifting Dahlias is a ritual I enjoy very much (although it doesn't seem enough time in-between lifting and planting again!). Time to look at each name, remember their look and smell, how tall they grew, whether they were good cut flowers or grew prolifically on a very short stem. We store the tubers (carefully labelled) in trays, initially upside down to drain any water from the stems and then as they dry return them upright for the Winter.

Now is the time to be pruning many plants in the gardens too. Of course Wisteria which can be done any time from now until March really, a Winter prune to 1 or 2 buds. A tight shape and time to consider the structure of the plant, saving and training new stems, or removing leggy or old wood. Pruning roses begins now, removing old wood, tying in new if a climber or rambler. Preventing wind rock if a shrub. I absolutely LOVE to prune and so I find this kind of work a joy (I should point out if it is not chucking in down with a Northerly freezing cold wind in my face).

Now is the perfect time also to plant bulbs, we managed over a 1300 on Thursday this week. Rippling ribbons of bulbs through long grass and borders.

The ebb and flow of the gardening year. It changes each time yet remains constant in many ways. You can rely on nature to need your input but only when SHE tells you she is ready, like my Sedums (sorry something else now Hylotelephium) who last week were dying gracefully with yellowing leaves and strong purple heads only to today look slushy and weak with new rosettes forming at the base. Hurry up and cut us back they say! We are ready for the new.

Autumnal change

We have been very busy at Heale with a variety of projects on the go, aswell as keeping on top of the apple pruning and preening the Veg Garden.

We have had an old Poplar tree and stump removed which, at a guess, deposited a couple of tonnes of sawdust in the Japanese garden. This tree had been pollarded years ago but it was time for it to go. It was one of the original planting from the late 1800's/ early 1900's so it was sad to see it go. The noise made by the surgeons dropping huge chunks down was quite intense! It took over a day of solid work to bring it down.

We lost an old Medlar too and whilst they were at it they took old dead wood out of our 100 or so year old Cercidophylum which has improved the tree no end. Visually it is better but of course hopefully the tree will fare better now it has had a cut. Fingers crossed. It is trying.

The Veg garden continues to provide all manner of Veg we have grown from seed including Beets and Carrots of different colour, Spinach, Chard, Salads, Courgette, Beans, Cucamelons......time to crop the Gourds and Squashes this week before the frosts come. Important to crop these with a good stalk attached so as the fruit can harden off and store for a while as and when you want to use them. We have an unusual stripy looking Squash in a Butternut shape: Honeyboat.

HG noticed the Quince trees were hanging a bit too low for the tree to be happy this week so we cropped a couple of trays to help the tree out. Branches lifted, weight off! What a pretty fruit Quince can be. I like the furry exterior and the way a leaf generally comes with the fruit as you crop it making it extremely photogenic!

We have been busy pruning out the flowering stalks of our Blackberries which we train onto the exterior and interior of our fruit cage. I love this job, it is very satisfying seeing a mess turn to beauty again. Rubus fruticosus 'Oregon Thornless' which bears large black juicy berries (even afte a heatwave but we seemed to have cropped and pruned in super speedy early time this year as a result).

Much to do. All the while nature is moving around us. We have started to see Mole hills again. We have Solitary Bees all over the lawn near the VG pond doing their thing. White fly all over some of my crops ( aaaaggghhh!) and birds of prey, Peacocks, Sheep, Frogs and Toads.

Great time to be in the garden. Cooler mornings, warm blue sky days. Much easier to work in and beautiful to boot. It has been a gloriously hot Summer season but too hot to work in. Wonderful when swimming in the sea! but the garden has struggled and we have been on watering duty three times a week (household pots) and everyday we can and have time for in the VG with sprinklers being moved around. Never enough time and a constant thought especially when planting out new crops with a weekend in view.

We made it though and now onto Autumn.

How did you all get on?

Horti thoughts

I have been quiet on the blog of late. I have been busy with my gardens and my boys and as we have had a heatwave, have been spending my spare time watering my garden and trying to keep a float.

I have also felt of late, a little bit stuck in my gardening ways. I sometimes wonder what it is all about. I work and work (and sometimes eat some of my rewards) and what comes of it? Well, I get tired and know the weeds will be back the next week and the dead heading will need doing and the veg plan will need some input again very soon (even though I feel like this years rotation is only just coming to fruition). I hear news that my veg have been eaten by Voles and should have a solution to hand and asked again if I have dead headed the Sweet peas (yes I have I do it instinctively every time I pass the pots which is several times a day but they grow and die at an alarming rate so look like I haven't. Same with Cosmos).

I recently found a book on my shelf from back in 2014, when I was just starting my Horticultural adventure. How to Grow a Gardener features input from a group of us Horti's about our journeys in gardening. I sat down and read mine avidly. How far I have come! I hardly think I have moved on at all. Reading my entry, I realize all of the work has made me so much more confident and knowledgeable without even noticing. I worked on my own, without instruction in the veg garden this week in two gardens. I didn't need any advice. I didn't cut anything back that wanted to be left alone instead. I produced veg from my earlier sowings. I managed to succession sow to avoid a huge food gap. I primped, preened, cropped where needed, left behind to grow, tied in and answered a slew of questions that came at me from excitable visitors which ranged from History of the house, which airport is nearby, how do you grow a gourd from seed, what supports do you buy for the Brassicas and what boots do you wear and do you work here or are you 'just' a Volunteer? (I'll have you know there is never a 'just' with Volunteers, their work is hugely valued and appreciated. Who else would weed in the rain for free getting muddy but those amazing Volunteers?).

We sometimes need to stop and take stock. We are coming to the end of what seems like a very long season and I am very happy with where we are. Four years in as a professional Gardener and I feel happy with what I have achieved. Sure, some crops don't perform, some are awesome and some miss the boat to be perfect (a week too early to crop, miss it by a week and they are over).

That is NATURE and I love it. I think we all need to slow down a bit, lower our expectations of PERFECT and ENJOY Horticulture a bit more. Who wants a perfectly straight Cucumber or identikit Potatoes. There are plenty of well known Supermarkets for that.

I know which I prefer.

The ever evolving herbaceous border

I wanted to write about the herbaceous border seeing as I have been immersed in them for a few weeks now. All sorts of textures, colours, heights and flowering going on. They can look so good and so beautiful in full flow.

It looks easy doesn't it? Stuff it all in and as long as there are no big gaps all should be well. Ha! How the hard work can be lost in the eye of the viewer.

As we all become more knowledgable through more information (overload some would say) from social media sites, from radio, non stop TV etc. we are always looking to get better with our planting, for the new and fresh, for unusual plants. But you know me I like to hark back to the past and keep things simple. I am interested in how we have got to this point in our planting and the origins of the evolving plant choices.

In one of my gardens, the owner has been gardening for about 50 years and she really has the herbaceous border down to a fine art. I have learnt so much from working in her space and with her (when she works alongside me). She has a great eye for the flow of the border, using repeats to bring the border together, planting in groups, changing up annuals with perennials.

She likes to begin a border with permanent shrubs such as Deutzia or Philadelphus. Then builds into the gaps with Nepeta, Geraniums, Alchemilla, Scabious, Hostas, the list goes on depending on site, permanence, size of border. But that isn't it for the season. From Tulips in early Spring, we move into Alliums and Digitalis. When Alliums are done but still hold their form in dried seed head, she moves onto Salvias and annuals such as Cosmos or Lily. As these go over, we fill with Sedums (I know I know but I always forget the new name) or the later flowering Verbena Bonariensis.

I also like the silver leaves used in a border; Stachys, Lychnis, Perovskia. I love how they contrast with many greens. I also quite like the way my client uses individual borders to show off one specimen. Rose border, Hot border, Iris border etc.

So much work is involved, all year around. We must remember as we breeze past a border in the height of Summer and it looks 'nice' what has gone on to get it there!

Little things

This week has been full of showers and sunshine. Perfect for May when growth goes crazy and everything grows like mad. As I write this, I am looking out at my tiny front garden. It must be only 6 by 7 feet. I inherited it as two Rose bushes in a rectangle of soil. When I had the time and as I began to enjoy horticulture more, I started from scratch and made a border either side of a gravel path.

The path began life enclosed in edging but as the edging rotted over the years, I just allowed the gravel to sprawl into the soil. A la Dungeness! The garden faces South so can get incredibly, unbearably hot and rather suits the gravel.

It represents me. A garden packed with plants I either bought, scavenged, raised from seed, took from cuttings. Plants from places of interest, plants from holidays, nurseries far away. A mish mash that has come together and makes me smile every time I see it. My poor Daphne that now curves over like a bent old spine, was damaged after some building works a few years ago. I didn't want to get rid of it so have come to love the way it curves and shoots new growth at each section.

Some Digitalis my youngest son chose are starting to flower, they make me think of him every time I come home.

Nectaroscordum planted as a bulb, the long wait over, as they tower over everything else and hang daintily from their stem.

The Trachelospermum bought by my Aunt, climbing our brick wall. The tiny flowers look and smell divine.

Rosemary, planted for my husband and of course for the Bees.

A happy place, on a fairly busy residential road. My oasis of lush greens and buzzing Bees. It is possible with a little effort!

Dahlia

Today was all about the Dahlia for me and planting out our tubers. Amazing things, we dig them up in Winter, once the leaves have turned black from cold and we store them indoors. We label carefully and spray them with green sulphur to help curb disease.

The day comes after the last frosts in May and we think about Dahlias again. Have any rotted throughout the Winter, have they still got a neck ? (without the stem attached to the tubers the Dahlia will fail).

Shrivelled, dry and ugly, how is it possible that such beautiful flowers will eventually come shooting from the ground?

Today I planted around 28 different Dahlias in our special Dahlia bed. We cane them, plant them up with bonemeal, label and water, water, water. Time to wake up the tuber and breathe life into it once more.

I cannot wait! Inspired, I shall dot some amongst my herbaceous borders at home and dream of the day I can cut the flowers for my house. ❤️

Easter energy

I have been away for a trip to Venice which has given me some renewed energy following a very long and cold Winter. Although my trip was to a place with hardly any space to really grow on a large scale, it was interesting to see how the Venetians get around this and the choice of plants they go for.

On my travels up and down the Campos and many many window boxes later, it seems that mainly succulents and Cacti thrive. The walls of the Calle (narrow lanes) are so high they sometimes block light and for much of the year there is little rain to keep them watered. Ideal for such plants.

The Venetians have to be a little bit experimental too to adorn their property with the green stuff. I loved some Ivy which, although only in a pot, had been trained to climb a wrought iron window covering. Art in a pot.

We made it to the biggest public garden at the Arsenale end of town but we are so spoilt in the UK with our gardens that it was a little underwhelming. Having said that, any green space in a city is good and what can top looking through trees to a glistening lagoon of blue? What Venice may lack in plants, it most certainly makes up for in beauty, architecture, atmosphere and water, water everywhere. Just stunning. The Rialto market provides many fresh fruit and vegetables, all grown on a separate island within the lagoon and imported by boat. The Asparagus and Artichokes were so fresh and I did cook a Courgette which tasted DIVINE!

Back to reality and today at work it was such a beautifully sunny day. The joys of Spring! We achieved a lot. We planted Broad beans, Radishes (grown and hardened off in modules), Peas (netted and protected from the dreaded pigeons with pea sticks). We released the Japanese tea house from its Winter shutters and planted out Wall flowers to nestle amongst Tulips in pots. It all felt pretty good today, progressive, moving forward once again.

New Season

And we are pretty much up and ready for the next Season which is upon us. Heale opened properly this week and we have had the odd visitor float past.

I am very happy with the way the veg garden looks right now. We have prepared all of the beds and are finishing some of the finer details now such as using cloches to pre warm the soil and cutting Willow supports for the wig wams so as to allow any new plants to cling onto something.

Tulips are popping up in the terracotta pots and bulbs are rearing their heads in the cutting rows such as Narcissus and Allium.

Varied work this week. My other garden is a smaller scale and so I managed to get ahead with planting our Broad Beans and Beets under cloches. I also pricked out quite a few flowers. I pruned and tied in a large Actinidia kolomikta, which has stunning variation on its leaves in white and pink blending with green. A beautiful foliage plant from the Kiwi family.

At Heale we started on a new project in an area of the garden under renovation. We marked up a design using canes and string. A learning curve for me as I have never formally studied Garden Design (as much as I enjoy designing for myself).

I really feel ready for growing now and am excited for all of the seeds we have sown which are waiting to come on.

Hurry up Spring!

Snow and the garden

Did I say in my last post about a brief dusting of snow? What snow we have had today!

Like everyone else, HG and I have had to decide what to do in this weather. Today we decided there was work to do and we battled on through until the snow became too much. Very cold conditions, but plenty to be done in the Greenhouses.

Once we thawed the compost (the outside temperature went to -4!), we sowed more Sweet Pea seeds and nurtured our seedlings and cuttings. Two Robins came to see us, starving and pecking at the bait on our mouse traps!

We checked on heaters, temperatures and the slipped glass in the windows of the Greenhouse which might let in the snow.

There is always something to do in the garden, even in the snow. Time to plan and reflect as the garden freezes, stood still, temporarily on hold before the season begins. We opened to the Public for the season today. The quietest opening day ever!

Border work

Today was a day in the borders at Heale. Big old borders too, in the Kitchen Garden, against an old cob wall. The border we were in needed cutting back, weeding and cultivating. We worked with Aster, Melianthus, Euphorbia, Digitalis, Echinops, Brunnera (agh! It keeps coming back!) and many more. A very satisfying job despite, in the process, destroying habitat for a big old Toad, which moved along the border away from us every time we moved out mats along! I think he finally pottered off into some Grasses.

Yesterday I continued digging the veg plots in the Kitchen Garden ready for the season ahead. The soil had a crust of frost on top. Very satisfying to dig into. I raked on a mulch of manure and began to trench dig back to the end of the plot. That is one way to keep warm for sure!

February has come with colder temperatures and today, fleetingly, it brought snow! What a joy to look up and see the garden with gentle snow coming down.

Happy weekend.

The Kitchen Garden

I have been pre-occupied with the Kitchen garden and food growing since the beginning of my journey in Horticulture. I am always drawn to the veg and productive part of a garden. Normally over and above the shrubs and borders on offer. I love seeing the way the veg have been ordered (or not if you go for the Higgeldy approach of stuff it all in) and what is on offer and how could I do it differently?

Our Heale volunteer @rachelwillis555 has lent me a wonderful book, which I have dipped in and out of, called The Country House Kitchen Garden 1600-1950 published with the National Trust. It recalls all sorts of fascinating facts about the role of a Head Gardener through the years and it is amazing how things have changed. Through some of the records kept by the Gardeners at the time, we seem to have moved on but only just!  And I can certainly see where the modern Gardeners role has come from by reading such historical accounts. One thing I have noticed is how we haven't always moved on for the better. In times gone by the HG would not only be growing more variety of plants for the garden and to sell but would have more time, more helpers and invest time in (and be expected to have the skills to be able to work with) Bee keeping. "Bee houses may always be rendered agreeable, and often ornamental objects: they are particularly suitable for flower gardens and enliven a kitchen garden, communicating a particular impression of industry and usefulness". There would be teams working in glass houses producing the finest and exotic fruits; Grapes, Figs, Pineapples. Work was hugely labour intensive but also productive.

We have certainly lost productivity in many ways. Both of my clients have my help to grow fruit and veg and still buy to fill the gap. Of course now we have more choice and there is less need to produce because we can just pop to the supermarket.

I am interested in the rise of the Restaurant which aims to have the Kitchen Garden at the heart of its operation in the modern day. These are the Restaurants I prefer to visit. The Ethicurean in Bristol will always be my favourite. A huge, beautifully situated Walled garden with a fantastic and experimental restaurant attached to it in the old glasshouse. The food is almost entirely sourced from the garden or locally.

Another is Pythouse, near Tisbury, again a beautiful Walled garden, maintained to serve the restaurant  with veg, herbs and flowers.

I visited The Pig, Brockenhurst, this week. A Hotel which claims "it all starts in the Kitchen Garden". Upon arrival you can meander along a brick path to view the Walled garden and take a look in the greenhouses, where I found lots of micro greens ready for service. Just outside by the pond, there were the Bee hives! And Chickens and many beautifully tended raised beds filled with spinach, Beets, Leaves, Turnip, Swede, Lettuce. Managed very well.

Inside my lunch was from Carrots raised just outside (a bright orange Carrot Rissotto), salads grown in the greenhouse, herbs too.

This type of veg growing is fantastic to see but ultimately is for those of us who can afford such luxury (Yes I am lucky to be able to sometimes, I am aware!) and not for the masses. The masses have to find a spot big enough to grow their own or maintain an allotment for themselves.

So, have we moved on with our a Kitchen Gardens, have we lost them in many ways and are we creating them anew because it is a trendy way of selling the idea to a new generation? I am not sure. I do find it fascinating though and I will continue to love every detail of the way we used to grow veg whilst all the time trying to move onwards and upwards!

New beginnings

So, I am guessing I am not the only one feeling a lack of motivation in the garden today! I always find it hard to get going again after the Christmas/New Year lull but I know it will come.

I have been reading about the Norwegian term for the gap inbetween Christmas and New Year called Romjul. I love this idea. In the UK we tend to think we must always be working, tired and pushing on no matter what. The Norwegians (amongst many cultures I am sure) embrace the down time and slow down to a meditative pace and take healthy walks. Well, sounds lovely if you can. I think we could all try and do that from time to time. But the Christmas period is so special because it is cold and wet and what else REALLY matters during this time other than friends and family. I feel very lucky indeed.

Despite feeling sluggish, in addition, I always feel excited about the gardening year ahead. The seeds need sowing and something will always thrive even if some fail. Nature working its magic.

I leave you with a photo from the Summer. Heale veg garden in full flow. Ammi majus, Lathyrus, Nicotiana, Plectranthus. A beautiful reminder that it will all come again, the dark days will disappear and the sunshine will be here before we know it.

November

This week in the gardens we have begun tidying and putting to bed. I love the task of cutting down the Gunnera and giving them little tent houses for the Winter. By using the leaves as protection against the weather, you feed the plant too. HG and I did look a little sinister walking across the gardens brandishing machetes as the sun went down! 

Dahlias have been cut down and labelled, ready to be lifted for over Winter. Dahlia tubers are susceptible to rotting if you leave them in the soil. We have got away with it before but sometimes it is not worth the risk. Once you have cut the Dahlia down (usually after the first frosts once the leaves have turned blackish), you dig it up and turn it upside down to dry. An amazing amount of water is retained in the hollow stems. It literally pours out sometimes. I have loved the Dahlias. All sorts of colours and shapes.

We have composted Rhubarb and are now forcing it. Time also to prune. We worked on Blackcurrant and Blackberry which is trained onto a fruit cage. Removing old wood which has flowered and tying in new shoots for next year. A rewarding job. I do love tidying!!


The gardens are opening up once more. As we remove plants and foliage, views are expanded. The Veg garden becoming part of the bigger picture again. 

Soon be time for the new plan of the veg garden and where to dig/not dig. The cycle continues.....

Farewell Plot 18b

It is with much sadness mixed with a big sigh of 'phew' that I have finally given up my allotment at Plot 18b. Six years and it has been a delight. It is where my boys ate worms, had stick battles, went fishing with canes, laughed, fought and wondered. Where I began to garden for my family, experiment with veg and where I began to learn alongside my RHS course to retrain as a Gardener.

So for me, Bugs and my Robot Top ( as it was known by my boys) holds a lot of memories. Happily, I wrote a blog which is an amazing record of photos and feelings experienced by the four of us over those years.

Now I work in the Horticulture industry and my boys are growing, needing me in different ways, I find time has been squeezed. I can still grow in our small garden which is enough for now. I manage Beets, Carrots, Salad, Edible flowers, Kale, even Turnips! One day I envisage a new request for a plot, where I will spend my days happily watching the insects and birds and quietly working the soil.

This week at my work gardens, I have been loving the warm Autumn weather, just glorious. A time to pull down crops and re-consider the crops for the hungry gap. At Heale we have lots still on the go: Leeks, Cabbage, two types of Kale, Salads and Rocket and Chicory. The Nasturtiums are such a flash of colour, clambering over the wigwams in the ornamental squares of Box. So too are the Ipomoea and the Gourd flowers hanging over the arches.

In my other work garden, Dahlias and Verbena fill a 'hot border' alongside Fiery Crocosmia and bright Rudbeckia.

Much more to come as Autumn continues, I love the leaves of the Liquidamber that are just on the turn now and the Gunnera will show it's red soon enough.

Lucky for me I can now get my fix at work. I find tremendous peace and calm from the garden, which was once found at my special 5 rod plot. I can leave my little patch of allotment and find new ways in which to grow, hoping that someone else will find as much happiness from the same soil as I did.

Hello September

Moving into September, how the heck did that happen?! Things are feeling on the turn in the garden. Chillier mornings but hot days. Leaves turning orange already or dying back. We have already begun the task of removing Single Cordon Sweet Peas and their canes. They started in the ground as plug plants in April and so 5 months ain't bad at all.

Once the ground has been cleared, HG is already on the move with the next crop.  A dig over of the ground, rake and now we await Beetroot and Rocket as a new crop in a month or so. knowing the sowing/harvesting of crops is such a skill. making sure the ground is used successionally, with no wastage. If a crop fails, HG knows exactly what to do to fill in. What a huge knowledge he has! He has suggested Giant Winter Spinach, so I will get onto that for next week!

Flowers that are still very much going, are Nasturtium 'Chameleon', Ipomoea, Tithonia, Zinnia, Daucus and Sunflower. So much still thriving and in the haze of the low sun, it all looks rather dreamy.

This morning and 7.45 am, the Veg garden was a delight. Birds flitting between crops, sitting on the Apple tunnels chatting away. As I cropped Beans today, amongst the Beans, looking to the sky, I heard the familiar flapping of Swan wings as two Swans flew over my head......special indeed.

This week I have enjoyed cropping Beets, Chioggia (beautiful pink and white stripes inside), Golden and Boltardy (standard purple globe). I also strangely love cropping Raspberries as they are plucked from the plant. What a thing.

I snuck out with the family over the Bank Hol to London town and took my boys up 35 floors to the Sky Garden on top of the Walkie Talkie building. What a view! a real treat. Always good to remember just how much I will always love London, my home for a long time, yet it cannot compare to the space and countryside Heale affords. Two very different beasts.