Surprises and challenges

I have finally met someone who reads my blog. I was weeding in the gardens one day last month when a gentleman asked who it was who writes the blog. I owned up, as I haven’t met anyone who reads it before. The gentleman said that he had been following my writings for a few months, and was going to encourage others to read it too.
Hello Sir!

It is now almost the end of the season and the gardens are only open at weekends. We have been very busy for the last couple of days, removing dead trees, trimming overhanging branches and reordering some of the more untidy areas. A lot of work has been taking place on the South Border, near the portico. A large shrub has been pruned and tidied, a sickly pear has been removed and a conifer that had greatly outgrown its space has also gone. This last operation was very tricky, as the roots of the conifer were close to both the small ha ha wall, and a mains water pipe; but the JCB driver is very talented!

JCBs are very handy in a garden as large as ours. The digger driver turns our leaf heaps every year, and also removes large trees, bamboo or shrubs where necessary. This week he has also dug over the locations of 2 new beds that Mr Berkeley marked out in the copse. He saves us a lot of time!

Debbie had quite a suprise one early morning when she went to water the conservatory. To set the scene: the weather has been very warm for September and we haven’t yet put the windows back in the front of the conservatory. Debbie went in to water, and was moving about the pots, checking and watering when suddenly from only a few feet away a small muntjac jumped up from its hiding place between the pots, leapt through one of the open window spaces over the low wall, and dashed away across the new rose lawn! Debbie was suitably suprised.

Then one Saturday Debbie and I had the challenge of dealing with over 130 Hardy Plant Society members decending on the gardens, and being taken round on 6 guided tours. The group included Roy Lancaster, a well known and very knowledgable plantsman, who was so involved with the plants he saw that he very quickly dropped off one of my tours, taking about 8 people with him!

The borders are looking bright with asters at their flowering best and colchicum are lookng good (see pic, Colchicum Waterlily). However there is a little worry about how good the autumn colour is going to be. It appears that some leaves are drying out and going crisp before they turn a bright colour. We hope for the best.

Best Wishes

Kate

October Tasks

Order new spring bulbs for next year.
Start sowings of hardy annuals and sweet peas under glass.
Feed roses with sulphate of potash to ripen the wood and make the plants more disease resistant.
place netting over ponds to catch leaves.
Change the plantings in hanging baskets for winter interest.
Check tender plants for infestations of insects, and treat before returning them to their winter quarters.
Put frost protection round any plants that will be staying out for the winter.
Store undamaged apples and pears in a cool, dark well ventilated room such as a garage or garden shed.

Always take the greatest of care.

After the wet summer that proved very beneficial for the hydrangea, the gardens are beginning to show their autumn glory, albeit a little early. Asters and phlox are looking great in the main borders whilst sunflowers and dahlias are brightening up the kitchen garden.

Talking of dahlias, I set myself a bit of a challenge this month, trying to sort out and name all the dahlias that had become muddled over the past three or four years. I planted all the varieties in large blocks to make it easier to identify the odd rogue. It was an interesting and absorbing task, involving a lot of internet research as I had lists of names but no really good descriptions. All the dahlia are now labelled and almost all have been identified; including 3 varieties that I thought had been lost. I am very pleased.

The peahen and her 4 chicks are doing fine, and growing swiftly (see pic). They have the cutest hairstyles...
We will soon have the difficult problem of what is to become of them. The pen is too small for 7 adult peacocks so we will have to find them a new home. I will keep you posted on their progress.

2 weeks ago we started to cut the yew hedges. This tale is a timely reminder for those of you who use power equipment in the garden. One of the gardeners - Richard - lost concentration when reaching across the top of one of the hedges to pick up a bamboo cane and three of his fingers were nicked by the cutter blades. After some swift first aid by Debbie he was taken to our local hospital to be checked over, and steri-strips were used to close the wounds. He returned to work after a couple of days and is now recovering well. The warning is that no-one, no matter how experienced is immune from accidents. Richard was very lucky: only the tips of his fingers was nicked. It could have been a lot worse.

For those of you who have visited the gardens recently you will have seen the plant sales area gradually increasing. The nurseryman who produces the plants aquires much of his propagation material from the gardens. This means that many of the plants for sale started life as cuttings from Spetchley Gardens.

Topical tips for September

It is not too late to cut back unruly wisteria, trimming off the wispy bits to 5 leaves, and tying in any branches to fill gaps.
Start taking cutting of tender plants such as salvias and penstemon, as insurance against the winter frosts.
Continue to trim hedges. Putting a sheet down first to catch the clippings will make clearing up a lot quicker.
Continue to pick runner beans etc. in the kitchen garden. It is not too late to sow quick crops of radish and lettuce.
Dead heading the herbaceous borders will prolong the display, but if you want to save seed, don’t forget to leave some flowerheads uncut!
Keep cutting lawns, gradually raising the cut in preparation for winter.
Check fruit trees and remove any fruit affected by brown rot to reduce infection spread.
Be particularly careful when picking tree fruit as wasps love windfalls and can become quite drunk, presenting quite a hazard.

Cute Little Peachicks

I had the loveliest suprise last month. But first, a little preamble to set the scene. I had been invited to go to the opening of the new rose garden at Ragley Hall, a special English garden party, and a potential lovely day off. (And indeed it was!)

The weather was rather inclement but my husband and I were hopeful that it would be ok. As I was about to get ready to go I received a worried phone call from gardener Richard, who is also the Spetchley peacock keeper. He had gone into the pen to do his usual feed and check, and saw that the white peahen was being followed around by 4 small balls of fluff! I was thrilled, but worried as storms were forecast and I had to be elsewhere. A quick call to the gamekeeper gave us all the information we needed. The weather turned out to be not too bad, and when the gamekeeper came to check he was of the opinion that they are about 4 or 5 days old, and had not been spotted earlier, despite all our checking. The picture shows cute 5 day old peachicks.

Then at the end of the month we had a visit from 3 ladies connected to Tresserve, an estate in France that had been owned by Mr Berkeley’s Great Aunt Miss Willmott. The ladies visited Spetchley to see the archives, and to gain information for a book they are researching on the history of Tresserve. The book is due to be published in November. It was facinating to chat with the ladies and hear stories of when Miss Willmott was in France.

And finally, back to the gardens. All the rain has caused a serious potato blight problem so we have had to quickly lift and store as many potatoes as possible before they spoil. A busy, wet month, and very frustrating as rain has prevented all the weeding needed.

August Tasks

August tasks
Make sure you arrange for someone to pop in and water the greenhouse and veg plot if you are off on holiday. They will also need to keep an eye on any veg that needs picking, such as runner beans.
Check tree ties and stakes for rubbing or constriction.
keep working with the hoe when the weather is warm enough.
Start taking semi ripe cuttings of fuchsias, penstemon, pelargonium, salvia etc
Watch for the fungal infection rust on hollyhocks, pelargoniums etc. Remove affected foliage and spray with a fungicide.
Keep picking those sweet peas and remove seed pods if they form.
Continue to dead-head spent flowers, especially those of summer bedding, hanging baskets and any remaining late flowering roses.
Start cutting hedges towards the end of the month
Listen to the weather forcast and water greenhouses and pots accordingly.
Start collecting seed.

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