Travels, struggles and great achievements

The October weather has really blessed us in the gardens this month. The autumn colour is improving, although the acers suffered from the drought, which caused their leaves to go brown and dry before they had a chance to change colour. Other trees, such as the nyssa, have produced beautiful bonfire tones, whilst the bees are enjoying early mahonia flowers (see pic.) The mild weather has also allowed us to complete many more jobs; border work, grass cutting, pruning etc are so much easier when the weather is favourable.

For the first part of October I spent over a week cutting the box hedging. It is a very back breaking task, so I have tended to cut hedges for half a day, and then change jobs to give my back a rest.

We have also been lifting and dividing borders, both in the Kitchen Garden and on the South Border. We have had such a problem with bind weed, ground elder and mercury that we are hoping to leave the areas cleared for a whole season and beat the weeds. It will look a bit strange for a while but I hope you will understand. This task has also ensured that we have plenty of spare plants, potted up and ready for sale next season.

It was a relief when I was then off on holiday for a week at the end of October, travelling across France with the aim of seeing the French home of Mr Berkeley’s Great Aunt, Miss Willmott. Her second home, near the border with Switzerland and Geneva, is now the town hall for the area of Tresserve, east of Lyon. We met the deputy mayor, and the two ladies who had visited Spetchley about 3 months ago to do research for a book about Tresserve and Miss Willmott. We then had a fabulous time travelling back across the country, even managing to get into Claude Monet’s garden at Giverny on the cheap as the frosts had caught the dahlias. And all the while Debbie was holding the fort back at Spetchley.

The autumn leaf collecting is also looming large, with small inroads being made here and there, although all the leaves have yet to fall. We have been greatly encouraged by the addition of a hardstanding path installed through the middle of our leaf collection area. The area has been a leaf heap for longer than I care to think about and consequently, the ground is very soft. This caused considerable difficulty last year, so I am understandably excited about the new path!!

The gardens are now closed for the winter. We open again on 21st March 2010

Best wishes

Kate

November Tasks

Check through stored veg and discard any that have started to rot.
Use any spare space in heated greenhouses for quick crops of lettuce etc.
Ensure that all tender plants have been taken into the warm, or protected by fleece or straw as we are just starting to get those nippy nights.
check guttering/drains and keep them clear.
lift and divide borders, so that perennials are regenerated for a better display. Then top dress the borders with well rotted farmyard manure, or garden compost. The local recycling centre may be able to provide compost at low cost.
Lift the last remaining dahlias, cannas, and gladioli bulbs.
Plant wallflowers and other winter displays, on warmer dry days
Keep an eye on ponds and ensure fish have a breathing hole by placing a pan of boiling water on the ice. Some people float a tennis ball to absorb the pressure of the ice and prevent damage to the pond.

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.