Summer Update from the Gardens
By Andrew Humphris, Head Gardener
It has been an interesting spring / summer in terms of weather. Apart from a brief dry spell at the end of June it has been cloudy, cool and wet. This has inhibited growth of some things in particular the ripening of tomatoes, cucumbers and many other vegetables.
On the plus side it has been beneficial for the potatoes and for helping all of our new plantings through the garden. The newly planted rose garden has established really quickly and is going into its second phase of flowering.
Half of the Blue border was only planted in late April and already is looking well established and complementing the half that was planted the previous year. There will be some more bulbs to add to the planting in the Autumn including Tulips and Alliums to complete the whole border.
The very heavy rain recently has damaged some plants throughout the garden causing them to flop with the weight. We have spent some time shoring these plants back up and also in some cases reviewing the planting to make some changes this winter to ensure we are better prepared for a similar event next year.
The earlier flowering plants like Geraniums, Nepeta and Salvia which are going over have been cut back hard recently, this is to encourage a nice new second flush of growth and in some case a re-flowering later in the year. The rain has been helpful in boosting that new growth.
Despite the rain the sweet peas and Alstoemerias have been abundant this year and the cut flowers are plentiful and full of variety, and we continue to plant new varieties to enhance the cut flowers for the house.
There is still a lot to come in the borders with the Salvias, Grasses and late summer perennials like Rudbeckias and Asters to take us right through to the middle of October.
Looking forward we have another busy winter programme ahead of us. The right hand side of the Entrance border has now been empty for 2 years and is now clean enough to dig through and plant this winter. This will really enhance the walled garden as you arrive and leave.
We have now decided to completely empty the Gold border this winter as this is now the worst area we have for bindweed in the garden. This area will be fallow for the next 2 years. This is a shame but our process is working and all of the beds that we have done this to so far have proved to be really clean of Bindweed.
The garden team have worked really hard to bring the garden back and we will continue to push on and try to get the garden as clean as we possibly can whilst continuing to improve and enhance the borders.
