Birthday and Sweetpeas

Well what a time to start at Heale, Spring and sunshine and growth. It was my birthday this week and I got to spend it planting my favourite flower, Sweet Pea against canes, single cordon. I have never done this before and as I am still between amateur and professional I am used to planting them willy nilly and enjoying the chaotic result. This is Heale and I am now learning to plant strictly to a line, even spacing, the same number of each cultivar, with fab names like "Purple Pimpernel".

Each plant is very carefully tied to the cane with a wire, careful not to crush the stem. Every week during growing, twice a week we will be pinching out and removing tendrils and creating huge long stems and big flowers, which are used in the house.

I spent most of my time in the Kitchen Garden for two days, tidying, weeding, turning soil, and harvesting crops. We had Leek, Cavalo Nero, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Beets and Celeriac. We also planted out Salads and Broad Beans, different varieties again to lines using a string. The Broad Beans are grown in double lines to allow a string either side of the plant to hold it up as it grows. We have sown Radishes too.

We cut down the Santalina within the Buxus edging, to promote new growth and it looks much better.

A great week again, it is so peaceful. The garden is in the Valley so the mornings are misty and full of cobwebs and the sun slowly burns through leaving vivid colours and a very warm garden - I got burnt in April! - the Prunus Shirotae, Mount Fuji is stunning right now, buzzing with Bees, heavy white blossom filling the tree branches. It is all I can do to stop looking at it and taking photographs but must get on, must get on!

I ended my week with the boys coming to see me with Birthday cake! Lucky me. They then played hide and seek across the little bridges of the Japanese garden, rushing past Bamboo and Spring Bulbs. Magical.

Blossom

Another week has zipped by at Heale, this week I mainly remember blossom. The Cherry trees are so beautiful and they are all emerging right now, whenever I look up to the noise of a plane, I am reminded.

This week we trimmed the Lavender hedging which looks much neater. I had a go with the Hedge Trimmer, it takes a while to get into the swing but it is very creative really, kind of sculpting the plant with the blade. Noisy too but the ear defenders put you in your own world. The hedge will always be Vera to me now I know which type she is so I shall talk to her on the way past.

We also needed to do some work in the Japanese Garden, a big walnut tree came down over winter and lots of debris and mess from the floods. I pruned some Wisteria and tidied and raked. The sound of the water is lovely over in that part of the garden, it feels very different to the rest. The Petasites I saw in my first week have grown a lot and the Magnolias are starting to emerge. A huge one, Apollo, is really pretty.

 I got to meet and feed the Pigs and Sheep too this week, they live over a little bridge across the river, very three Billy Goats Gruff. The Lambs are on their way....

This week I also helped to get the canes ready to support the Sweet peas in the kitchen garden, we used a garden line and made sure the canes were a distance from the Buxus hedging. That many Sweet peas will smell amazing when fully going.

I weeded some borders in the kitchen garden with a hand fork, lots of Shepherd's Purse really going for it. A lot of Bees, as the main flowering plant at the moment is Pulmonaria, great plant.

The kitchen garden is getting ready now as the new Gardener, another Michael, started this week and he will be doing a lot of work in that area. Really great time to see Heale coming to life.

Sunshine and Dawn

This week at Heale the sun shone and made everything come alive. I spent my two days with Gardener, Dawn, who gave me lots of advice and crucially allowed me to follow her around all day! In addition, she too was once a WRAG and so she was very aware of what I should be learning and also what experience she could give me. Sadly, Dawn is leaving to pastures new but it was a pleasure to meet her and discuss her role for the past year.

We started with weeding the terrace borders at the back which took a while and leaf blowing to make it all very tidy. Main weeds are the usual suspects, Shepherd's Purse (seems to be everywhere and going mad), Chickweed, Dandelion... Hoeing the soil, you realise how compacted it has become over the Winter and you pretty much take the top layer with you when you weed.

We continued in the Veg plots, again much to do and very satisfying once you get to look back a the soil. As strange as it sounds, I do love a good weed!

We sowed some seed one day and Dawn took me through her process of preparing the compost mix, John Innes 2, with Vermiculite and General Purpose all sieved and ready to go, we managed Nicotiana, Fennel, Dill. We spent some time caring for the Greenhouse plants and planted out some herbs within the cut flower patch, Mint, Parsley, Coriander, Oregano, Rocket and Sorrel, looking good.

We also watered and cared for whole a Greenhouse full of Pelargoniums, lots in flower, gorgeous things and very happy ticking along.

It is amazing how much you can learn in a couple of days but so much knowledge is taken for granted when you are immersed in the garden every day and I am soaking it up.

Wishing Dawn all the best, it is a shame our paths crossed for such a short time!

Windswept and veg

A glorious second day at Heale, windy and quite moody weather brewing up in between shining sun. Really perfect for gardening.

We worked mainly in the Vegetable garden today, tidying soil and raking down a huge mound which has been in a big Willow planter. We were careful not to destroy the Peonies, just coming up next to the Box edging whilst we worked.

We also did some weeding in one of the borders and edged the grass, it looks so much neater. I used a nifty small hand rake which was great at getting up moss from the soil. Lots of different plants to come up, lots of Irises, Geraniums, Euphorbias.

The Apple tunnels look superb running through the centre of the veg plot, looking forward to seeing them in their full glory.

Heale is so pretty everywhere you look, I think I'm going to find it hard to put my camera down!

First day at Heale Gardens

Heale Gardens in the Woodford Valley is my new placement and boy is it a lovely spot. I have certainly missed being in a large garden and it has been 7 weeks to the day since I left Houghton. I was very happy to be back, learning and I have the HG Michael Maltby with a wealth of knowledge to give. I also met one of the volunteers, another lovely Michael who comes once a week and the resident Peacock, Papadum, I believe, oh and the dogs and the Moles and the Pheasants and Ducks, a lot going on.

The garden has the river running through it and a Japanese garden with tea house to boot. A Veg garden and borders galore and a croquet lawn and ponds and it goes on. It will take me time to absorb it all and get to grips with each space.

Today we transplanted 2 Buxus from one place to another and pruned a Wisteria Sinensis which is very old and just about hanging in there, ready to flower and burst into life.

I found the wonderful Skunk Cabbage radiating yellow along the rivers edge and also the pretty flower head of Golden Palm.

It is such a beautiful place to spend time let alone learn as well, I am really looking forward to it. Another day tomorrow.

Over and Out Houghton Lodge

This week saw the unexpected end to my time at Houghton Lodge and I shall miss it. I have loved the garden and getting to know it's every corner. The sweeping lawn to the river early in the morning and the quiet of the walled garden listening to birds swooping past.

My last walk around the garden in blustery rainy wind saw Tom the Alpaca sitting up looking at me as if to say "what is all the fuss about?" as he overlooked a fallen tree and swollen river.

The river actually had a ripple of a tide on it on my last day. I am so used to the calm flat of the water. I shall have to return to the gardens in Spring to witness my bulb planting and see if my patterns really did work!

 I managed to record a little bit of Rodney's (the Carpenter's) workshop, which is a gem that will disappear from history when Rodney leaves it be. Full of his tools and wood dust covering every surface. It is a fascinating space which has seen a lot of work over the years.

Goodbye Houghton, I have enjoyed visiting you and have learnt a lot from you.