Exotic Cornwall

I have just returned from a week away in Cornwall. It seems a world away from Wiltshire. The plants are so different to those I am used to working with and take you away to a far away magical land of ship wrecks and salty air.

We stopped by the Minack Theatre right down on the bottom of the country at Porthcurno. Atop a cliff, the bay below, turquoise sea and the most incredible cliff-carved theatre looking over the sea. Mind blowing that someone (Rowena Cade) would have the idea and patience to create such a space, where it seems impossible, the edge of a cliff open to the elements. The gardens, terraced as the theatre seats move down towards the sea, are a treat full of succulents; Aeonium, Agave, Bilbergia, Yucca, Sempervivum........

To think that we are at the end of October is quite unreal. In Cornwall, life continues as if it were the height of Summer. Flowers abound, Surfers in the water, divers, boats, ice creams on the beach, despite the trees turning to oranges and reds.

Beach gardens are full of flowering Cannas and Pampas (Cortaderia or Nannies Hair Plant as my 8 YO renamed it). Nanny would be proud. Gunnera in the beach public gardens. Hotel gardens with Brugmansia in full flower.

In Falmouth there are pubic gardens full of Ferns, Geraniums, Aeoniums, Erigeron, Yucca, Tree Ferns over your head, Agapanthus. A feast for the eyes.

My absolute favourite is driving the coast and seeing the trees swept to one side, growing away from the sea, leaning, almost falling. Quite the fairy tale.

I know gardening by the sea doesn't come without its challenges but the warmer weather and fantastic choice of plants, I wouldn't half mind trying.

Harvest

This week the weather has turned and the sunlight is lower in the sky. It is my favourite month of the year (along with April).

I have been lucky enough to be outdoors all day every day and it has been an assault on the senses. Butterflies whirling around in the breeze, Buzzards mewing, Cormorants overhead this morning, Sycamore seeds flying down like little helicopters.

There is so much to see and most of it bathed in Autumn sunshine.

I am in love with the Squashes, pumpkins, gourds on offer and we have all sorts at Heale, grown from seed this year.

We have the most amazing Turks Turbans this year at Heale  (and I grew them with my 8 YO son at Plot 18b too), along with Uchiki Kuri which as you can see from the photo below, is the most incredible colour! It is Japanese and is supposed to taste of chestnut. I must grow them myself and find out.......

Although the Kitchen Garden is nearing it's year end of production, there is so much to do. I almost feel like it is getting busier at the moment. I have been transplanting, lifting, dividing plants in my Tuesday garden (which became a Wednesday garden too this week and for a couple more!). Potting up tender Salvias and getting the greenhouse ready for the colder weather.

I began pruning one of the many rambling Roses at Heale today -  a task I love to complete, so satisfying - and have left it all ready to roll next season. It just takes so much time and I think that fact gets forgotten. Such a rewarding job and on such old roses too. Rosa 'Crimson Shower' below :)

Many projects ahead at Heale and I am looking forward to the change.

Me time

Me time is slowly being restored. School is back! I cannot believe I have neglected my blog for almost a month.

I have been trucking on. Three days a week in Hort and I think maybe my favourite time in the veg growing year. Vegetables all over the place, so many I had an excuse to try and make my first ever Piccalilli. All organic veg mainly grown at Plot 18b or going spare at Heale. My recipe included Chilli, Patty Pan, Onion, Cauliflower, Courgette and lots of Cucamelons! Hoping it will be rather delicious. Whatever the outcome I loved making it.

Cooking is so easy with a glut of veg, a real pleasure comes from the reward of all that work.

I managed to sneak a garden visit last weekend, an NGS open fairly near me called The Buildings. Recommended by some visitors to Heale, HG went earlier in the Summer and said I had to go. Boy was he right. A gorgeous setting in Hampshire fields, remote through the fields, some woods, and a barn attached to a gorgeous house. The main part of the garden is walled and creates a real sense of enclosed secret space. A blue worn wooden gate, slightly ajar peeking into the rolling fields beyond. The owner has created a central bed with wonderful mixes of textures and colour, with lots of movement. Grasses, Sedums, Achillea heads 'floating', Erigeron (I love the common name Fleabane), many others I didn't know and many Salvias, all sorts of colours and hardy to tender. I love the use of different colored Sedums, some gorgeous dark reds. Right up my street for planting, movement and texture and a hidden space in amongst it all. You could walk into the centre of the circle and not know where you were. Heaven!

At Heale, we have been continuing with Summer pruning of fruit, so much to do. We have Apple tunnels which are 50 years old and require a LOT of pruning, up through the wires on a ladder. Move along, prune, move along, prune, repeat. We have Pears, Nectarines, Plums, Blackberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Figs, Mulberrys..........delicious!


We have lots of Box which needs pruning, all over the garden, hedges, in borders, topiary.

HG is so experienced that he can calmly enter a border and work his magic without planning. The fruit above a border gets pruned before the border underneath gets attention. That way you only clear the border once. The Border with topiary in it gets weeded and edged and the Box will also get a trim the Akebia gets a prune along the way with the Chaenomeles. I am very lucky to learn every day from a pro and HG has earned his stripes, working at Heale since 2002 (?) coming across all manner of tasks thrown his way! There aren't many jobs that may phase him!

Amongst all other Hort, I continue to try and keep an allotment, although of late, I am wondering why and find it harder and harder to find the time. BUT I did find this amazing Turks Turban under the weeds the other day. A seed my youngest Sammy chose to grow way back on a cold February day. That made me smile!

Front garden sanctuary

Well it is the height of the Summer holidays and that means chaos in my house, with two monkey boys, footballs in the veg plot, fighting with canes up the allotment and working in between.

The only gardening space that I can truly call my own is my tiny front garden. It is my space, no one else really thinks about it.  I only go in it to move the bin out every week. I made a gravel bendy path with two borders and have stuffed it with Euphorbia, Dahlia, Stachys, Heuchera, Daphne, Verbena, Nasturtium, Kniphofia and Pennisetums. It is so lovely and no one enters. My little haven. And it brings me joy from the inside and out. I see it from my lounge and I see the purple heads of the Verbena swaying about as I approach from the end of the road!

Work at the moment is pretty much just maintenance and I really enjoy this aspect of Horticulture. I do love weeding and tidying and keeping everything tip top. Some people can be so snobby within Horticulture but it's not all about grand designs and speaking Latin in company. I had someone ask me recently, the name of a plant. When I told him, he reeled off some other plants just so I understood that he knows plant names in full! It doesn't impress me. I would rather someone tell me how they felt about a garden or plant or which plant was their favourite and why.

Watering correctly is so important, as is edging well in straight lines, weeding well (removing the root and not damaging the plant), as is mowing well (collecting grass and not leaving great lumps of it). The list goes on. I love being a Practical Gardener, I find a real sense of achievement every day when I have taken an area and turned into something beautiful again.

I have been cropping a lot today (again there is a skill to such a simple task, be gentle and do not damage the mother plant!). We have a huge variety of crops sown from seed. Cucamelons taking my interest the most and 'Black' Runners ( sort of purple black amidst green, very pretty).

What a job, getting paid to be in beautiful surroundings cropping delicious veg!

Front garden sanctuary

Well it is the height of the Summer holidays and that means chaos in my house, with two monkey boys, footballs in the veg plot, fighting with canes up the allotment and working in between.

The only gardening space that I can truly call my own is my tiny front garden. It is my space, no one else really thinks about it.  I only go in it to move the bin out every week. I made a gravel bendy path with two borders and have stuffed it with Euphorbia, Dahlia, Stachys, Heuchera, Daphne, Verbena, Nasturtium, Kniphofia and Penesetums. It is so lovely and no one enters. My little haven. And it brings me joy from the inside and out. I see it from my lounge and I see the purple heads of the Verbena swaying about as I approach from the end of the road!

Work at the moment is pretty much just maintenance and I really enjoy this aspect of Horticulture. I do love weeding and tidying and keeping everything tip top. Some people can be so snobby within Horticulture but it's not all about grand designs and speaking Latin in company. I had someone ask me recently, the name of a plant. When I told him, he reeled off some other plants just so I understood that he knows plant names in full! It doesn't impress me. I would rather someone tell me how they felt about a garden or plant or which plant was their favourite and why.

Watering correctly is so important, as is edging well in straight lines, weeding well (removing the root and not damaging the plant), as is mowing well (collecting grass and not leaving great lumps of it). The list goes on. I love being a Practical Gardener, I find a real sense of achievement every day when I have taken an area and turned into something beautiful again.

I have been cropping a lot today (again there is a skill to such a simple task, be gentle and do not damage the mother plant!). We have a huge variety of crops sown from seed. Cucamelons taking my interest the most and 'Black' Runners ( sort of purple black amidst green, very pretty).

What a job, getting paid to be in beautiful surroundings cropping delicious veg!

Top of the mountain

I feel like we have been climbing, climbing, climbing then just as every bit of soil in the veg garden at Heale has been filled, we begin our descent and start to remove the first of this years crops. The year begins with such promise of whats to come, we plan, we sow, we sow some more, we sneak in some more just incase, we plant and plant and then we reach the peak.

At Heale we have begun to remove some early sown Broad beans and Peas which have stopped producing and we have started to fill the soil with Leeks. We have planted out the last of our crops - the Squashes and Cucamelons - filling any gaps. Last week we began the mammoth task of laying down the Single Cordon Sweet Peas which attracts much visitor interest, as HG and I begin to lie the 6 foot stems down. It does look a little strange. Most visitors are astounded that we can gain all of that growth from a single Lathyrus seed. Well nature is a marvel and not only do we gain that growth but the plant continues to give us another 6 foot more!

A very meditative task, focus on the moment.

We continue to maintain growth in all areas of the garden. HG strimming, mowing, cutting, pruning. Fruit pruning is quite a task at Heale, we have 50 year old Apple and Pear tunnels to Summer prune amongst others.

We began trimming some Hornbeam hedging this week, keeping it in check. HG likes to lift the canopy of the Betula trees amongst the Miscanthus grass borders and we continued with this yesterday. The beautiful whitish papery bark is revealed as you remove each limb and the grass can extend upwards towards the sky. A lovely job.

It was very hot this week and on one of my days I was working in a clients 'Hot' border. You're not kidding. Baking hot position for hot colours of Dahlia, Verbena, Crocosmia and Iris. Just as I was about to pass out in the heat, we finished and moved onto a shady, breezy bed. I fell to my knees!

A hat is a must, along with suncream, Piriton tablets and my latest addition to the Gardening paraphernalia; insect repellent. It doesn't smell too good but I have avoided the Horse flies these last few weeks so that's good enough for me!

At last

At last we have produce at Heale, a vast variety and all the long wait has been worth it! It seems like eternity since I last picked a Courgette from it's mother plant but yesterday I did just that. Gorgeous lush Courgettes, all shapes and sizes. Along with Broadies, Peas, Salad leaves, edible flowers, Beets and Strawberries.

Along with the Sweet peas, what a haul!

This year has been different to last, as it seems with gardening, never the same twice. We have had lots of rain and mild weather which seems to have caused plants to take ages to get going and then when they do, they are slugged or go mouldy. Yet I am heartened by the Beets that I pulled up. Our two ferral cats Bo and Fennel, seem to be helping with the demise of the Heale Bank Vole population. Each Beet was a perfect cylinder, untouched, no nibble holes, no damage. A joy!

The wider garden is in a state of flux, some of the wild meadow has been cut, the Roses are going over, the Apple tunnels have new growth reaching for the sky (almost ready, dare I say for their Summer Prune). Already? Again???!!). The weeds still keep coming, planters stuffed with Salvia, Sweet pea and Nicotiana are settling in to their own.

This week I was lucky enough to get to Hampton Court Show (a gift from my Tuesday client). It is always good to get out. I enjoyed having more space to get around than at Chelsea. However, I am afraid to say I found it extremely commercial and elitist. I liked some of the ideas, especially the Rocket made from, yes, Rocket and many succulents. Imaginative and out of the ordinary. An interesting display. But the rows and rows of 'stuff' (if you put 'Garden' in front of it you can sell anything) didn't float my boat. Hardy's Cottage Plants did though, every time. Well done Rosy and Rob for another fine display of gorgeous plants.

I am a practical girl and I rather enjoyed the plethora of sheds on display. And then there were the plant supports from Plant Belles. Attractive AND practical. We are currently using one of their tunnel systems to support the net on our Brassicas at Heale and it looks lovely. So much better than a hand made rectangular construction. Well done to them.

My week ended with Strawberry picking at the local farm. NOT my own but really good and when you only have a patch, sometimes you need to collect from someone elses. Far superior to shop bought and supporting local enterprise.