This is the last week we will be working in the garden before we all go on a well deserved Christmas break. Instead of showing you what we’ve done this week, we thought we’d show you some highlights from this year.
In January and February we concentrated on cutting back perennials to make way for emerging bulbs, mulching beds to suppress weeds and conserve moisture, and also pruning many dormant shrubs and roses.
After a dry February (we recorded only 1.5mm of rain for the whole month), March started off very wet, recording 45mm in just one week! We carried on pruning and also preparing the bed below Beth’s patio and one of the shade beds for planting later in the year.
In April, we were able to get in the ponds for the first time of the year to cut back last year's growth of Thalia dealbata. We also revisited shade bed two in the Water Garden, re-digging to remove any remaining bulbs of Arum italicum.
With the weather improving, the ornamental rowing boat went back into the water in May. With all the arum bulbs finally removed, we concentrated on planting up shade bed two and the bed below Beth's house. As the risk of frost had passed, we also created a new summer pot display on Beth’s patio.
On the 27th June, Beth would have been 100, so we celebrated her birthday with a party at the Garden Museum in London.
In the garden, we concentrated on weeding and pulling blanket weed from the ponds- a task which has to be repeated almost weekly at this time of year.
In July, we helped out planting and volunteering on Carol Klein's Iconic Horticultural Hero garden at the Hampton Court Flower Show. The seaside element of Carol's garden was planted up with drought tolerant plants grown by our propagation team.
Back at the garden, we pulled out annual poppies in the Reservoir Garden and sowed phacelia in the spaces left behind in an attempt to keep the ground covered over summer. We also reviewed our composting procedures and implemented a new way of working to make more and better compost.
We were visited by the Hydrometry team from the Environment Agency in August, who came to replace Beth's original rain gauge in the Scree Garden. This new installation now means that we are one of their private rainfall observers. After a lot of growth over the wet summer, the paths were in need of clearing and widening across the garden which we carried on doing throughout the month.
In September, we went on a couple of garden trips. The first was to Cambridge Botanical Garden followed by a couple of days at the Garden Masterclass conference at Chatsworth House. Hannah, our new apprentice, joined the team and had a good time digging out diseased box in the garden.
October was mostly spent in the Reservoir Garden, pulling out phacelia sown in July (it had done it's job perfectly covering the soil over the summer) and assessing the existing plants. We spent a lot of time dividing, moving and planting new additions from both stock beds and nursery.
In November, the leaves started falling from trees and shrubs and we had the first frost of autumn. We cleared a lot of leaves from the paths and ponds (we left most of the leaf fall on the beds) and tucked away less hardy plants for winter in the greenhouse and growing tunnels. We invited all of the interns back for a lovely reunion in the garden to say thank you for their hard work this year. It was the perfect opportunity for them to get to know each other as many of them had never met. We look forward to seeing some of them again next year!
In December we started cutting back spent grasses and other herbaceous perennials in the Water Garden where we’re expecting a lot of early spring bulbs to start emerging soon.
All and all we’ve had a great year in the garden with lots of jobs accomplished and new friendships made. Now we’re putting our feet up and resting for a couple of weeks ready to return with lots of energy and new ideas for the new year.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the garden team!
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