Power cuts.... cows... roses... busy, busy, busy...

The sunshine has been really lovely over the last few weeks but is now beginning to outstay its welcome. Everything is really dry, the borders are starting to suffer and the irrigation system is on the the Kitchen Garden most evenings.

We are still interviewing for the replacement gardener to take Richard’s place in the team. We had a good response, and at least 2 ideal candidates so the decision will be difficult.

The martagon lilies at their best (see pic) and are really looking well, helped in part by the dry weather; it is the rain splashes that spread the lily disease infection.

We had a very important visitor last week when the ex president of the Rose Society came to the gardens to have a look at our roses. Debbie had chatted to a speaker at the local garden club and expressed an interest in someone coming to identify some of our large rose collection. Little did we realise we would be welcoming someone so important. The visit took up all the morning and only covered one of the borders. The lady was really enthusiastic and said she would write a piece on the gardens. She was staggered that we have so few visitors, as the gardens are such a beautiful place to visit.


On Saturday morning, a frantic phone call at 7am from Miss Berkeley, ended with myself, my husband, Debbie’s husband and John the gamekeeper all coming to help remove cows from the gardens again. It seems that some unhelpful person has been leaving gates open and cows do like to take any opportunity for a wander....

And finally... I had a power cut sometime on Saturday night; calls to neighbours indicated that it was just Gardeners Cottage. The electricity company came out promptly and were really efficient in finding the problem: when the electricity had been installed in the cottage it had been taken from the substation through the car park, under the cart shed, under our potting shed and down to the cottage all in a straight line. The section of cable right underneath the wall between our potting shed and the cart shed had broken. This meant it took until 10pm Sunday night to restore the power by putting an extra loop in to go round the buildings. Today they were back, digging a trench to install the cable properly. I am using this as an excuse as to why this month’s diary is a few days late... no laptop...

July Tasks

Trim back geraniums and aubretia in the borders after flowering
Cut grass where daffodils have been left to die down.
Tidy the dead tops of daffodils from borders when weeding.
continue harvesting peas, lettuce, early tomatoes etc in the kitchen garden.
Prune wisteria tendrils back to 5 buds.
Start collecting seed in paper envelopes when the weather is dry.
It will soon be time to take softwood cuttings of plants such as hebes, fuchsia, salvia and penstemon.
Thoroughly water vunerable plants, then mulch to keep moisture at the roots.
Feed roses etc with a general fertiliser such as phostrogen, and continue to deadhead spent flowers.
Top up pools as water evaporates. Keep pumps in good condition.
Work with the hot weather and hoe regularly.

Comings and Goings

It has been another interesting month. Not anything like as dramatic as last month but still facinating.

The biggest news has been that gardener Richard has decided to start up gardening self employed. He is now working for himself doing the gardens of the local Worcester populus. We wish him all the best in his new venture. We also expect him to pop in from time to time, to let us know how he is getting along.

The other news is that coincidentally, we have had several people come forward as volunteers, offering a half day a week. This has made a huge diference as we will now be rather short staffed for a few weeks until we employ Richard’s replacement.

In the gardens the plants are beginning to catch up with the season after being about 4 weeks behind. The wisteria have been stunning and the iris border is very colourful. The Fountain Beds have a stunning show of aquilegia and tulipa sprengeri and the borders are looking lovely. (The picture this month is of a seedling astrantia major). However, we are having a terrible problem with ground elder, bind weed and especially cleavers. Husband, who works at Worcester University, told me that these specific weeds are rampant there too. It must be the weather, but it is driving me to distraction.

June Tasks

It should now be safe to plant out remaining bedding, including those cannas and dahlias.
Water hanging baskets every day
Shade and ventilate greenhouses
Feed plants in borders, and start dead heading flowers.
Thin out hardy annuals and veg sown in the garden.
Ensure net cages over soft fruit, peas and any other vulnerable veg are secure, without access holes for mice or pigeons.
Removed reverted branches of variegated shrubs.
Remove suckers (growth from the roots) from roses, lilac and other suckering shrubs.
Remove spring bulb foliage when it can be lifted easily.
Remove alge and blanket weed from ponds etc before it becomes a problem.

Debbie and The Furtive Man....

This must be the latest I have written the monthly diary for quite a while. I went to Devon to attend a baptism for the Bank Holiday and have yet to catch up with all the work.

We had an incident in the middle of last week: I had just finished lunch and was about to return to the yard when I received a strange phonecall from Debbie. She sounded very quiet, but was furious and indignant, whispering that she had just spotted someone stealing plants from ‘her’ Fountain Beds. I couldn’t believe her; I didn’t think people really did that sort of thing. Debbie was insistent and said she’d seen a man with a satchel, looking suspicious. Then she said she’d seen him walking back to his car with paeony leaves sticking out of the satchel. Then she rang to tell me to go and look in the footwell of his car, which I promptly did. Sure enough there were a couple of bare rooted plants in plastic bags. I was still not sure, they could have been there before he arrived at Spetchley.

Debbie continued to ring me with updates, the man repeatedly returned to particular places in the garden, and was constantly watching the other visitors around him. Finally he realised that we were watching him and started to make his way back to his car.

I phoned the gamekeeper for moral support, and when he arrived Debbie confronted the man. After a little waffling he was very embarrassed and admitted everything. His satchel contained a digging tool and plastic bags; he had come equipped! We recovered the plants and cuttings and felt very pleased with ourselves.

Taking plants, cuttings or seeds is theft.

A few days later I received a hand written apology,a promise never to return and an amount of money for buying more plants.

On a more upbeat note, the paeonies are showing their buds, the daffs are almost over but the rhododendrons are just beginning. There is always something new to see at Spetchley.

We have just planted up a new bed in Smokey Hollow called imaginatively ‘Bed 9 copse’, under the wispering pines. It is now full of rhododendrons, lilies and hydrangeas. Rhododendrons particularly like it as they like the needle fall from the pines which turns the soil acidic. The picture is Rhododendron Percy Wiseman.

Best wishes

Kate

May Tasks

Plant extra rows of veg for continuous cropping in the Kitchen Garden.
Remove the faded flower heads from daffodils but do not cut down or tie the leaves.
Water greenhouse plants and install shade netting if necessary.
Bedding plants 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.
Prune winter flowering heathers before the end of May
Earth up early and maincrop potatoes
prune spring flowering clematis after flowering
Keep hoeing and weeding
Pinch out the growing tips of bush fuchsias
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.
Trim back spreading alpines such as aubrietia and arabis after flowering.

Why Me?

Why is it that my life seems to revolve around animals and birds? I had a couple of really challenging experiences on the same day last month which turned me all of a dither! Firstly, I went round to the back of the lake to check mole traps and re set them. I have been singularly unsuccessful at this venture. Now I know why... the moles are watching. I had dug out a large, deep sod of turf to reveal both ends of a tunnel. As I stood looking into the hole, one of the tunnel ends started to fill with soil. The soil fell out into the hole closely followed by a long, snuffly pink nose. I was rather taken aback and could only watch in wonder as the mole turned round and stuck its tail out, then pushed the remaining soil out before scarpering back down its newly cleaned tunnel. I then felt really mean and had to admit defeat.

I decided to try elsewhere and went into the peacock pen where there was more mole activity. After realising this was a battle I was not going to win, I turned back to the cage door... only to see the white peahen taking advantage of a loose latch and making a bid for freedom, closely watched by her 2 remaining chicks. Panicking, I managed to manoeuvre between the chicks and the door whilst the white mum walked round the outside of the cage. I then rang Debbie, who must have thought I was having a turn, but did arrive very swiftly, and slowly walked round the cage encouraging the mum back to the door where, thankfully, the call of her chicks was just too strong for her to ignore. She had been a free bird for all of 6 minutes!

Now, less of my adventures and more of the gardens. It has been a difficult month: lovely weather to start the month and terrible weather to end. We managed to mulch most of the main borders and the gardens looked really lovely for opening, although it had been so cold that all the daffodils and crocus have been very late. This is the first year that I can remember us having such a spectacular show of crocus when the gardens have been open. (see pic). Although the rain has been a bit of a nuisance we have done our best to make sure that the gardens are at their best for the Easter Bank Holiday weekend....

Best Wishes

Kate