30 April 2014 - Glebe Farm - Re-designing ...

By Dave Hilliard

Apart from the standard maintenance of grass cutting and digging of borders, I have been potting on seedlings in the greenhouse (sunflowers and cosmos). I started to sow broad beans and runner beans in pots, while planting on leeks, onion sets and sweet corn.

 

My main project for this year has been to re-design two perennial boarders using plants from the garden however, I have added some plants purchased from two NGS - National Garden Scheme – gardens:

 

Jan Saunt at Plovers Hill, Buckenham Road, Strumpshaw, Norfolk NR13 4NL and

Sally Ward & Richard Hobbs at 16 Witton Lane, Little Plumstead, Norfolk NR13 5DL

 

Saliva - Sclarea Var Turkestanica

Scopolia – Carniolica

Brampton Stock - Matthiola Incana

Penstemon - Marjory Fish

Linaria - Dartmoor Sunset

Iris - Sommer Revels

Iris - Xiphioides (Latifolia)

I will be starting a new seating area over the early May Bank Holiday weekend.

26 April 2014 - 9 Brookside & Little Thatch - Lots to do ...

By Jane Scott

This week we have been digging through the flower beds and trying to get rid of the Celandines which are trying to take over. All the beds are being mulched with lovely rich black horse manure compost which helps to suppress the weeds and feeds everything else, although care has to be taken with young seedlings and tender new shoots. We have sixty or more bags to spread over the garden which we do every year.

The vegetable raised beds are all dug over with manure mixed in. Potatoes are planted in barrels and as the green leaves come through they are covered with compost and protected with covers overnight. The carrot bed has been planted and a frame made with fleece all around it to protect from cold, cats and carrot fly - the three Cs!

Runner beans have been planted in the ground and also more seeds in pots in the greenhouse. Also, tomato and cucumber plants are coming along in the greenhouse which only has a little Parasene heater going at night. However, the lower leaves of the cucumber plants are turning yellow and two of the plants have died with some stem rot or disease. More have been planted and maybe the same fate awaits them.

The tulips are looking terrific with more blooms than I have ever seen. Amazing considering they were planted in the ground seven years ago and have had to contend with two of the coldest and wettest years since records began. It really shows there is no need to lift them. They initially came from Waddesdon Manor where they were dug up after flowering to clear the borders and donations given to charity. I put them straight back in the ground and they have been a joy ever since. I wonder if this happens at Waddesdon every year as they were a real bargain. 

The owl tree sculpture has been treated with Danish Oil, just before the rain came, and it is now gleaming in the evening sun.

Hazelborough and Bucknell Woods at Silverstone are a carpet of bluebells. So, a walk in the woods is an absolute must.

22 April 2014 - The Old Post Cottage - Many hands ...

By Jennifer Metcalfe

All hands on deck today.

Most of the morning was spent assembling the beds and we laid out what looked like six very large coffins on the lawn and then man-handled them into position.  We then dug out the paths around the beds and threw the extra soil into the boxes. The beds were then made secure by the stakes. We then spent the next 4 hours – yes, you might have guessed - shovelling sh*t (the horse muck and more compost) and not forgetting the topsoil.  Time for a well-deserved long soak in the bathtub!

(The photo is of me on a much better day)

18 April 2014 - The Old Post Cottage - Builder's yard ...

By Jennifer Metcalfe

The outside of my house is beginning to look like a builder’s yard. There is a stack of timber, a large bag of golden gravel and a large bag of topsoil plus lots of small bags of manure.  I have spent the last few days filling sacks with horse manure.

My back hurts, my boots stink, my car needs a wash but I’m sure it will all be worth it in the end. Tomorrow I am hoping a friend or two will arrive with lots of muscle power to get the ‘show’ in the garden.

13 April 2014 - The Old Post Cottage - Planning ...

By Jennifer Metcalfe

The golden rule when creating raised beds – make sure you can easily reach all your plants from the paths next to the beds.  Decision made - beds all around 3m wide and paths a min of 500cm so easy to walk up and down. Plan drawn out carefully and then wood 5cm x 30cm high ordered to length from the local timber yard, not forgetting the wooden stakes to support the corners and the extra-long screws.

12 April 2014 - The Old Post Cottage - Where to start ...

By Jennifer Metcalfe

Where do I start?

At Christmas my brother gave me the book, “Organic Gardening - the natural no-dig way” by Charles Dowding. What a thought - lots of lovely vegetables with no digging.

I have always grown vegetables but here at Lillingstone Lovell it is really hard work due to the clay soil – not to mention a body which is not getting younger! So first I am planning my raised vegetable garden and making it a no dig zone. Today I have spent several hours in the garden with a tape measure and sticks trying to plan it out. This was followed by more hours on the internet looking at tips on, ‘How to make raised vegetable beds’ and admiring everyone else’s work.  The problem is the more your read the more ideas you get and then you don’t know what to do. 

Tomorrow I will decide.

10 April 2014 - The Old Post Cottage - Reclaiming the garden ...

By Jennifer Metcalfe

Today we said goodbye to childhood as the local farmer with his forklift removed the Tree house at the top of the garden. What was once a pretty cottage garden with secret rooms, an abundance of flowers and fruit bushes, with seedlings and tomatoes packed into a greenhouse, had become a playground, initially for my young son and in later years for the new arrival, “Rufus” the dog. Now that they are both teenagers it is time for a change.

Yes it is time for me to reclaim my garden!

Setting up our BLOG

In the past, many visitors have shown great interest in the year-round work put into all of the gardens, effecting the changes that one sees from one year to the next. So in this 17th year of our Open Gardens Weekend we asked some of the gardeners to share their "happenings" in the final run up to the weekend on Saturday 31 May and Sunday 1 June.

The word BLOG is formed from BL and OG; the OG coming from Open Gardens, but what about the BL? Someone suggested, "Blooming Lovelly Open Gardens" (as in Lillingstone Lovell). What do you think - any suggestions?

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