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.

Sickness and Snow....

This again has been a rather trying month. The snowy weather (see pic) really hasn’t helped and we are getting behind with the preparatory work for opening. Our main truck decided to have gearbox trouble and is still away being mended, Gardener Steve was off for 2 weeks with a bad attack of swine flu, Gardener Richard went down with a stomach bug and Assistant Head Gardener Debbie had a very painful knee that was interfering with the jobs she was able to do. Thankfully all 3 seem fully recovered now. ( We are still waiting for news on the Bonser truck).

However we can also be thankful that all the main leaf raking has been completed, only borders left to do now. And we will soon be returning all last year's lovely rotted leafmould back onto the newly weeded beds.

Richard has been busy cutting circles in the grass round newly planted trees, and backfilling with woodchip.Every time he thinks he has finished, Mr Berkeley says that as he is working to such a good standard there is this area or that area to complete as well. It will take until March for him to finish! This task not only mulches and protects the young tree, but removes the competition for nutrients from surrounding grass and weeds.

The conservatory boiler is now complete with its new flue and concrete pad. It looks very smart, and has been put to good use over the last few days. The little niggles have been sorted out and It works a treat, staying warm for over 18 hours, (which is better that when I first tried to work it and had to fill it up at 10pm, in the dark, to ensure that it was still warm in the morning.)

Last week saw the last family shoot of the season, and on Saturday ‘Keepers Shoot’ took place. This is when the gamekeeper can invite his own guests for a final shoot. As usual I helped the gamekeeper’s wife to prepare and host the lunch; chilli, baked potatoes and apple pie to follow. Catering for so many can be a challenging experience, but we have done it now for several years and it is always appreciated.

In the gardens we havve completed lots of formative pruning, and opened up new vistas. The spring flowers are just beginning to show, the early snowdrops are peeping through on the banks and in the borders. It’s the promise of things to come. I love snowdrops.

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