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.....