Recent jobs in the garden
The team recently put their waders on to get in the pond and remove our ornamental boat for winter storage. Whilst out of the water, it will have a good wash before being sanded and varnished ready for spring.
Tender agaves were lifted from the Gravel Garden and placed ina frost free location in the polytunnels. When the risk of frost has passed next year, they will once again be planted out among the other drought tolerant, sun loving plants.
As the mild weather reamined for much of the month, planting continued in the Water Garden. The team have been working to rejuvenate a large bed, removing dead or dying shrubs and trees, and reducing spreading ground covers which had started to take over. We are very excited to see how this area develops.
The team are constantly trying to consider how best to work with the nature around us whilst they care for the garden. Time spent recently with naturalist Dr Chris Gibson helped them to think about how best to encourage biodiversity. They are already doing positive things such as providing food and nectar sources by growing plants that flower and fruit throughout the year, leaving fallen leaves on borders for hibernating insects and food for birds. There were a few suggestions of things they could try such as leaving dead wood to create more habitats and maybe adding some bee posts and stems with holes for insects.
Recent jobs in propagation
Miya, Sean and Hannah have been working to prepare the stockbeds for winter. One of the jobs included using the 'chop and drop' method which involves leaving cut stems and foliage directly on the ground around the plants. This rudamentary approach creates a mulch which not only helps to suppress weeds and conserve moisture, but with relatively low maintenance, we are able to improve the quality of our soil as well as bolstering biodiversity.
Emily and Debs have been creating some beautiful dried flower arrangements using flowers and seedheads collected from Beth's garden. These are now available to buy through our website HERE.
Emily and Debs have also been working hard to process dried seeds collected earlier this year. This involves removing them from their seedheads and sieving to seperate them from the chaff. Once cleaned, they are stored in labelled, dated paper envelopes ready to be sown next year.
Our irrigation and stand off areas have also recieved some TLC this month. Rotten pipe supports have been replaced by Rob and the mypex has been jetwashed and cleared ready for next years sale plants.
Comments (2)