A Winter Update from the Garden
This winter has been a busy time for the Garden Team. With Spring in our sights, our Head Gardener, Andrew Humphris, provides an update on the progress of what’s been happening and what you can expect from the Gardens this year. Andrew writes:
Blue Border Preparation and Planting
We have just completed digging up the Blue Border in preparation for planting, which will be taking place in March. The plants will be varied to include hues of blues, greens and then some silver and green from foliage plants. There will also be drought-resistant varieties as we prepare for potentially longer, hotter summers. We will only tackle half of the border this year, (the half closest to the crossroads), leaving the other half to be done next winter.
General Clearance throughout the Garden
We will be clearing the old perennial cut flower bed and the area of the Memory Walls. This area will then be turfed.
In a good window of dry weather, we will be clearing the plants on the right-hand side of the Entrance Border.
The team have also been out in the Park, coppicing hazel to make plant supports.
General Maintenance
The mulching of cut flower beds and Vegetable Garden will be completed by the end of April. This is done to maintain weeds and retain moisture in the soil.
Every winter, the apple trees are pruned to make them productive, and we are currently completing this task.
During the frost, we have been out in the Pleasure Grounds clearing brambles and removing some of the shrubs. Clearing the brambles alone has taken us two weeks!
A New Fruit Cage
Our fruit cage was finished in the Autumn and planted in November. We have planted the new fruit cage with a selection of raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, and red & green gooseberries. We don’t expect to have a large harvest from it this year.
