The Canadian returns...

One of the best things that happened here at Spetchley this month was the 2 week visit by Isabelle Roberts. Those of you who have been visiting for at least 5 years will remember Canadian Isabelle who, with her husband Bill, welcomed the visitors at the gate every day. This was before the green van, before we had plant sales tables, infact it was just Isabelle, an old wooden table and an even older green Renault 5 that was pushed into position in March and pushed back into the garage in October.

Isabelle had lived at Gardeners Cottage in Spetchley for over 20 years, and returned to Canada 2 years ago. She was really keen to come back and visit all her old friends so she stayed with us in the cottage again (see Pic) and was the perfect guest. Infact we didn’t see much of her during the day as she went out visiting across the county! We shall miss her, as she insisted on always doing the washing up, and we look forward to her next holiday with us.

The gardens have been struggling, first with the heat, then with the rain, then with the 80oc or more temperatures again. We are having to keep an eye on the carp in the lake as we don’t want a repeat of two or three years ago when the heat took the oxygen from the water and more than 20 large carp died. We had to call in the fire brigade to aerate the water.

The irrigation system has been installed in the kitchen garden and makes a world of difference when watering. There are standpipes on each bed that can be linked to sprinklers so there are no trailing hoses. There is also a leaky hose type system in the main 4 ornamental beds.

I had a call last week from Mike George, a gardening show presenter on BBC Hereford and Worcester who wanted to walk and chat around and about the gardens. This was duly arranged. At the end of the interview he said that he was amazed at scale of the gardens, and how lovely they are. He said that although he had visited two or three times previously there were still areas of the gardens that he had never seen before. Very gratifying.

see you soon
Kate

July Tasks

Start cutting the grass where daffodils have been left to die down.
Tidy the dead tops of daffodils from borders when weeding
Feed roses etc with a general fertiliser such as phostrogen, and continue to deadhead spent flowers.
Trim back geraniums and aubretia in the borders after flowering
Prune wisteria tendrils back to 5 buds.
Top up fishponds etc as water evaporates. Keep pumps in good condition.
Start collecting seed when the weather is dry.
It will soon be time to take softwood cuttings of plants such as hebes, fuchsia, salvia and penstemon.
Hot weather is a great opportunity for getting out that hoe.

Bees and Cows

May must have been the most eventful month I have ever experienced here at Spetchley. We’ve had a herd of cows in the garden, 4 swarms of bees, a loose cockatiel, a robin nesting in the potting shed and a large tree branch blown down. And Debbie has been away for a week and missed all the excitement, all just before the Bank Holiday weekend.

After breaking into the gardens for the second time in 5 months, the cows, and their calves decided to wander up the New Lawn, across the main lawn and into the car park field. The stockman, Ron was away on holiday so Steve, Richard and myself managed to round them up and encourage them back through the gap in the fence. Then Chris, the Forester, spent the next couple of days fixing the fence, whilst I pruned damaged trees, filled in hoof marks and did general repairs. After which the cows decided to go travelling again. Thankfully, this time they didn’t manage to get into the gardens.

Towards the end of May the bees in the hollow wall in the kitchen garden became very busy. We noticed a swarm on the Thursday, so called Miss Berkeley’s gardener Maurice to take them away. He had lost 6 colonies over the winter. On the Friday he arrived all suited up, with a straw basket, and proceeded to brush the swarm off the wall and into the basket, which he then covered with a cloth. On Saturday morning I went to check the bees and there was a second swarm. (See Pic) Another call to Maurice ensured that they were also taken to a good home. The third swarm found a home back in the wall, and the fourth moved to a tree near the lake where it was collected by another local bee keeper.

A lovely little cockatiel took up residence for about a week in our yard. Miss Berkeley took to feeding it birdseed, which it really enjoyed. However, cockatiels can’t cope with cold or wet, and as the weather was nasty at the time John the Gamekeeper set up a Larsen trap, and caught the bird. It has now gone to a good home with other cockatiels.

The gardens are looking lovely, with paeonies out, the promise of beautiful borders, the late flowering tulipa sprengeri in stunning red drifts, and the veg garden coming on a treat.


Best wishes until next month

Kate

June Tasks

It should now be safe to plant out remaining bedding, including those cannas and dahlias.
Ensure net cages over soft fruit, peas and any other vulnerable veg are secure, without access holes for mice or pigeons.
Remove suckers (growth from the roots) from roses, lilac and other suckering shrubs.
Remove spring bulb foliage when it will pull away easily.
Remove alge and blanket weed from ponds etc before it becomes a problem
Start dead heading flowers.
Make sure that tall border plants are adequately supported: pea sticks or canes and string are usually sufficient.

Snakes and Ducklings

The last couple of weeks have been really busy as the Plant Fair and May Bank Holiday have been on consecutive weekends. Both are important events at Spetchley and we have been running around trying to get the gardens as tidy as possible.
The Plant Fair went well again, although I was unable to attend, having previously booked a weekend retreat with my church. I was told that people were very keen to buy vegetable plants to grow on, and cut rhubarb went so well that we are unable to keep up with demand.

My husband has just gone to Hong Kong for 3 weeks to do some voluntary work, so we are missing his help in the garden. He has been doing all the main cylinder mowing and saving us a lot of time. For three weeks we will have to do it ourselves. We really miss him!! He also took our camera with him so this month’s picture is an trusted old favourite of ducks and geese on the lake, both with their offspring.

That reminds me of a tale Richard told me last week of finding a ducking on the drive and having to throw it into the Horse Pool to return it to its mother. Unfortunately, although he managed to save one of the ducklings there were two more in the water that had sadly not survived the torrential rain of the previous evening.

Talking of wildlife, I did a tour at the beginning of last month and the highlight of the trip for the group of visitors was spotting a couple of large grass snakes swimming around the Heron Pool in the Kitchen Garden! I must admit it was amazing to see.

The gardens have been lovely, some of the paeonies are looking fantastic. As soon as I get the camera back I will be out taking photos of them for the blog....

Best wishes

Kate

May Tasks

Prune winter flowering heathers before the end of May
Earth up early and maincrop potatoes as necessary
Plant out pot grown runner beans. We are mixing ours with sweet peas.
prune spring flowering clematis after flowering
Keep hoeing and weeding
Pinch out the growing tips of bush fuchsias
Check shading and ventilation of greenhouses
Continuously picking rhubarb and removing any flowering stems will ensure a longer crop.
Protect vulnerable plants such as young seedlings, or hostas from slugs. We use crushed egg shells as a barrier where necessary
Bedding plants can be planted out towards the end of the month, after the last frosts have passed. Ensure they are gently acclimatised to the change in temperature outside the greenhouse or cold frame.
Trim back spreading alpines such as aubrietia and arabis after flowering.

Beautiful Spring.

The gardens have been looking amazing for the last few weeks as the sunshine has encouraged the cherry blossom. Daffodils and magnolia are reaching their best, the helleboures are still putting on a show and even the common primroses look pretty. A lot of people have been asking about the small blue flowers that seem to be growing everywhere, in borders and in the grass down the New Lawn. They are scillas, (or some have said they are x chinoscillas, that is a cross between a chinodoxa and a scilla). Whatever they are they are very pretty.(see pic).

It has been a very sunny, productive month for us at Spetchley:

The vinery is complete and looking splendid. Husband and I put new supporting wires in for the vines, with wire turnbuckles to improve the tension, and then tied all the vines back up. The vines have been under bubble wrap all winter as the glass was removed from the vinery during the restoration. I think that the cold weather was a bit of a shock for the poor plant as it has only just started into growth

The new rose garden is finally finished; we finished planting the roses, although we were about 10 short and are waiting to take delivery of the final few. Box hedging has been planted round each rose bed, and the company who installed all the paving etc came back last week to sow the grass seed in the middle. We are looking forward seeing the garden in a few months, when the grass has grown and the roses are flowering.

Last week I finally managed to outwit the rabbit in the kitchen garden, and made it a rabbit free zone again. Unfortunately, just yesterday one of the gates was left open overnight by mistake and now we have another furry guest. There are so many places to hide in the kitchen garden that it makes finding the rabbits really difficult. I carry on trying.

On a more exciting note, we have been installing an irrigation system in the kitchen garden, which will allow us to water sections of the kitchen garden without standing with a hose after the gardens have shut every night!

We have all been working hard to get ready for the Easter bank holiday weekend, and hope to see you soon.

Best Wishes

Kate