Tasks for August

Continue to dead-head spent flowers, especially roses and summer bedding.

Make sure you arrange for someone to pop in and water the hanging baskets, 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. Remove and clean to eliminate overwintering pests.

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.

Start trimming hedges.

WET WET WET!

Water, water everywhere. The last couple of months of wet weather finally culminated in the most devastating storms last month, the like of which I have never seen before. We were very lucky here at Spetchley as there was little damage, apart from sodden lawns and borders, the eel trap full to overflowing and the lake slightly bursting its banks. On that now infamous Friday, two of our team had difficulty getting home: Mike had to leave his car at work, was taken through the villages by 4x4 as far as possible and then had to wade home. Debbie eventually managed to get home, but then the main road near her house collapsed, breaking water pipes and causing her village to become cut off for the entire weekend.
However, it has been an excellent year for hydrangeas (see pic) and astilbes, that both love damp conditions!

Recently we have been filmed by a TV company, intent on making a 20 week series of programmes on the day to day running of our estate, and that of Berkeley Castle. We have been followed about when rescuing eels from the overflowing eel trap, when tying up rain battered borders, and when our very exciting new entrance display arrived. The new welcome 'hut' has now been sited at the main garden entrance. It is very eye-catching, with plenty of space to display items for sale, leaflets etc. Do come and take a look. (If you are interested, the programme is running on Sky channel 280 on a Saturday evening, and is called 'Berkeley, a Country Estate'.)

Alex ('our' student) is with us again for the summer. It appears that a life after university in the world of high finance was not for him, and he is taking a break before plunging headlong into a new career involving museum archives, or document research etc

seed collecting from across the gardens is up and running again. This means that we have a wide selection of seed available. But please remember that the selection is seasonal and can change monthly. If you have any requests for seed please let us know and we will do our best to collect them.

And finally, the long awaited restoration of the conservatory has begun. The carpenter was there today, measuring up for new frames, and removing all the old glass etc. All the old, wooden frames will be removed, the original metal structure will be treated, and new frames installed.
Best Wishes
Kate Portman

High Summer is here?

Rain, rain and more rain. Looking back to last year this was the month when we had the problems with very low water levels in the lake and the fire brigade were called in to help aerate the water to save the carp. This year we are almost at maximum winter levels for the lake! This is good for the fish, but has been very difficult to work round, as grass cutting and hoeing have been almost impossible.
The gardens are begining to recover from the heavy rain and are looking lush and green. Although the roses were rather battered, other plants are just about to open. The agapanthus border is beginning to flower, whilst the Millennium Garden has clouds of verbena bonariensis (see pic.) and the earlier dahlias are out. The main borders are looking bright, and in the copse the cornus, especially varieties Norman Hadden and Porlock, are at their best.
In the Kitchen Garden all was going well. We thought that we had beaten the rabbits by keeping the gates shut at closing time, and that a lack of brassicas would bore the pidgeons. Peas planted earlier in the year had done well and had been largely ignored. A first good picking indicated a bumper crop to come. However, mice finally discovered the peas and ate all the remaining peas from the ground up.
When we came to get the crop, all that remained was empty, chewed pods littering the ground. Anyone have any ideas?
We have a new volunteer, Lee, who comes in one day a week to help out.
She has been learning a lot of new plants, and improving her horticultural knowledge whilst doing the jobs such as dead heading roses, that we never seem to get time to do.

Tasks for July

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 Begin harvesting veg and fruit in the kitchen garden.

Prune wisteria tendrils back to 5 buds.

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.

High Summer is here?

Rain, rain and more rain. Looking back to last year this was the month when we had the problems with very low water levels in the lake and the fire brigade were called in to help aerate the water to save the carp. This year we are almost at maximum winter levels for the lake! This is good for the fish, but has been very difficult to work round, as grass cutting and hoeing have been almost impossible.

The gardens are begining to recover from the heavy rain and are looking lush and green. Although the roses were rather battered, other plants are just about to open. The agapanthus border is beginning to flower, whilst the Millennium Garden has clouds of verbena bonariensis (see pic.) and the earlier dahlias are out. The main borders are looking bright, and in the copse the cornus, especially varieties Norman Hadden and Porlock, are at their best.

In the Kitchen Garden all was going well. We thought that we had beaten the rabbits by keeping the gates shut at closing time, and that a lack of brassicas would bore the pidgeons. Peas planted earlier in the year had done well and had been largely ignored. A first good picking indicated a bumper crop to come. However, mice finally discovered the peas and ate all the remaining peas from the ground up.

When we came to get the crop, all that remained was empty, chewed pods littering the ground. Anyone have any ideas?

We have a new volunteer, Lee, who comes in one day a week to help out.
She has been learning a lot of new plants, and improving her horticultural knowledge whilst doing the jobs such as dead heading roses, that we never seem to get time to do.

Royal Flight and Moving House

What a month! It has been very busy with, amongst other things, a Royal helicopter landing at the front of the house. The Duchess of Gloucester was opening a hospice in Worcester and a hospital in Pershore, so her helicopter was landed in our front field, on the same day as the marquee was erected for the first wedding reception of the season. We were warned not to cut the grass on the same day as a helicopter landing, otherwise there would be grass everywhere!

The following week I moved home from the Granary to Gardener's Cottage, where Elgar sometimes stayed during his visits to the Berkeley family. The cottage is in the garden and overlooks the peacock pen. I have yet to decide whether I still like the peacocks as I now get woken at about 5am every morning!

Then the BBC arrived to film a couple of pieces for a series called Castles in the Country. It took all day to film two slots, each of 4 minutes! It has been a really busy 3 weeks.

Keeping the wildlife out of the Kitchen Garden is proving to be a bit of a challenge. Mice have eaten the seeds, pigeons have nibbled off the brassicas and to top it all I noticed that rabbits have been grazing off the onions and parsley! Hazel sticks laid over the rows reduce the pigeon damage, and my old Head Gardener suggested moth balls to keep mice at bay, which seem to have worked really well; however every now and then the odd smell of elderly wardrobes mingles with the scent of philadelphus on the breeze.

After all the rain the garden borders are really looking good, the herbaceous paeonies are almost over but the tree paeonies are just beginning. The bright pink gladiolus byzantinus (see pic.) have made a really showy display and the tulip tree in the copse is flowering again.

Phillip, our stand in help, has now finished and is hoping to make a career in radio, whilst Richard has recovered from his knee operation and will be back at work at the beginning of June.

Tasks for June

Start dead heading flowers.

Removed reverted branches of variegated shrubs.

Remove suckers (growth from the roots) from roses, lilac and other suckering shrubs.

Shade and ventilate greenhouses, and keep paths dampened on warm days.

Remove spring bulb foliage when it can be lifted easily.

Remove alge and blanket weed from ponds etc before it becomes a problem Water hanging baskets daily.