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wellywoman

~ A Life in Wellies

wellywoman

Tag Archives: Highgrove

Out with the old – learning to be ruthless

31 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by wellywoman in Fruit, In the Garden, On the plot

≈ 44 Comments

Tags

Anne Wareham, Blackberry 'Waldo', Gardeners' World, Highgrove, hostas, Monty Don, Outwitting Squirrels

Blackberries

Blackberries

I’m not sure why I have persevered with certain plants but this is the year I devote my energies elsewhere. I’m currently reading the wittily written book Outwitting Squirrels by Anne Wareham (review to follow in the next few weeks). Two of Anne’s tips which I have taken to heart are ‘to be ruthless enough to throw out miserable plants’ and ‘to be brave enough to change course if something is turning into far too much trouble’. It seems simple advice but one many gardeners find hard to follow, including myself. For years I have admired the tightly rolled, spear-like leaves of hostas emerge in spring. For a short time their new leaves unfurl, pristine and beautiful, but this stage is fleeting. As spring merges into summer they become increasingly studded with holes, looking increasingly like lace doilies, devoured by the mouths of slugs and snails. My hostas have been grown in pots, hostas in the border would be like treating them as sacrificial lambs. I tried copper tape last year around the pots. It didn’t work. As it was sold specifically for that purpose perhaps I should have made a complaint under the Trade Descriptions Act. I noted with interest that Monty Don on last week’s Gardeners’ World suggested hostas which are attacked by slugs are stressed plants. There’s certainly something in a slug’s homing instinct for the runt of the litter and the weakest plant in the row, and perhaps my pot-grown hostas didn’t have enough food and water. I did look on with envy at his pristine, hole-free hostas just as I did when I visited Prince Charles’ garden at Highgrove and saw his immaculate hostas.

Hosta doilies

Hosta doilies

I have used organic slug pellets and they work to some degree, but I have seen slugs climbing onto hosta leaves from a nearby fence or from another plant, and it’s hard when my attention is on the more pressing needs of my young flower and vegetable plants to devote time to hand-picking slugs and snails off my hostas. So this year the hostas are going … well, they’ve already gone. No longer will I wince at doily-like leaves or feel the need to hide them when a garden photographer comes to the house. Oh the shame! The gooseberry has gone the same way. Not because it is beloved by pests but because it was the pest. I inherited it when I took on the plot along with at least four other gooseberry bushes. Doing the maths and coming to the conclusion there were only so many gooseberries the two of us could eat I decided to keep just one, and it was one too many. It’s the thorniest plant I’ve had the dubious pleasure of gardening around and this is someone who just removed a pyracantha from her parents’ garden. Every year I would curse as I tried to harvest the berries and weeding underneath it was impossible. There was such a heavy crop a few years ago coupled with a deluge of rain that the branches all sagged and the plant hugged the floor like an octopus spreading out its tentacles. Underneath it a carpet of wild strawberries had established itself which I could neither weed out nor eat because of the vicious thorns that were in the way. I could be tending another bed and bend down absent-mindedly forgetting what was behind me only to be spiked in the bum. I’d been mulling over getting rid of the damn thing for a year or so but after the latest encounter with a thorn in the finger its days were numbered. I made the most of a dry spell last week and out it came. It was odd though. As I made the first few cuts with the loppers I wondered if I’d done the right thing. Seems it’s hard for a gardener to kill a plant. Well, until it spiked me again…

Blackberry 'Waldo' waiting to be planted

Blackberry ‘Waldo’ waiting to be planted

Its neighbour the blackcurrant has gone too. There were two blackcurrant bushes but it’s too much for us. We don’t make jams and blackcurrants need so much sugar to make them palatable that they tend to languish in our freezer rather than being eaten. Instead a blackberry bush will fit nicely into the space now created by the absence of the gooseberry and blackcurrant. I prefer fruit I can eat without the need for extra sugar – anything that I can scatter on my porridge is ideal. The tayberry, blueberries and strawberries are perfect for this and I think a cultivated form of blackberry will make an excellent accompaniment. Why grow a blackberry when there tend to be plenty to pick from the hedgerows? Foraged blackberries are often quite small and their quality is very dependent on the weather we have. A dry summer tends to produce small fruits with very little juice and a wet summer often results in watery fruits with little flavour. The benefits of growing a cultivar are bigger, juicier fruits and a stronger blackberry flavour. Hedgerow brambles are incredibly vigorous plants, as anyone who has tried to get rid of a patch of them will know. Many of the cultivated versions though are much better-behaved, and some can be grown in a relatively small space, especially if they are trained up against a fence or wall. We’ve chosen the variety ‘Waldo’. Choosing a thornless variety was essential after the problem with the gooseberry and the online reviews all suggest this is a heavy yielding cultivar with great flavoured berries. It takes a certain leap of faith to buy a pot with one unpromising looking stick planted in it and it’ll be next year before we get any fruit as a blackberry fruits on two-year-old canes. We managed one tayberry fruit in the first year of planting. The excitement at this one fruit was enormous and it was halved for us to both try. Perhaps we’ll get a tantalising taste this year too, if not this impatient gardener will have to wait until next summer for the taste of home-grown blackberries. I’d love to know if there are any plants you’ve decided aren’t worth the trouble or you’ve persisted in growing even though you don’t really eat them.

Perfection and Plant Theft

11 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by wellywoman in Out and About

≈ 43 Comments

Tags

daphne, Highgrove, Prince Charles' garden, RHS Wisley, witch hazel

Witch hazel

I love the gardens at RHS Wisley in winter. It’s such a boost at this time of year to see winter flowering shrubs and the early spring blooms. Last year we made the mistake of visiting on a Saturday during half-term when there butterflies in the glasshouse. We had no idea it was school holidays, that there was a special event on or that this combination would prove so popular with visitors. Blissfully unaware we turned into the car park and immediately our naive thoughts that it would be quiet at Wisley in February were dispelled as a sea of sparkling metal greeted us. We had never seen the gardens so busy.

This time though we were prepared. The butterflies were back so we were going to go during the week. I didn’t, however factor in the fact that Wisley seems to be the hub for every mother and toddler group in Surrey. Fortunately though, it was the cafe and coffee and cake that they had come for, and once we were in the gardens it was blissfully quiet.

Daphne

For me, Wisley is the plant equivalent of wandering around an amazing deli where everything is so temptingly delicious and, greedily, I want to eat it all . . . well maybe not the patés. Here at Wisley it wasn’t long before I’d said to Wellyman, “I’d love a daphne”, followed by, “it would be amazing to have a witch hazel”, and “I wonder if we’ve got space for another hydrangea?” Of course, the answer to the latter is no. I’ll often get a raised eyebrow from Wellyman or notice a slightly worried expression on his face as he works out how to point out that we’ve got no room for those sorts of plants. Seeing such a rich diversity of planting does make me want to grow it all, even if reality is a smaller than average garden and not vast acres.

Everything is so well done at Wisley; plants are properly staked, beautifully pruned and mulched. It all looks so perfect but then I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything less from the showcase of horticultural expertise. It does however make me feel quite inadequate when it comes to my own attempts at gardening. And, as the photo shows, even the sheds are temples to organisation.

A tidy shed

Daphnes and witch hazels were the stars of the show on this visit. We could smell the daphnes before we saw them, walking around a corner to be greeted by evergreen bushes pumping out a sublime and potent perfume.

It was a pity to see a sign that said they were suffering from plant theft in particular parts of the garden. I’m not sure why I was so surprised, I suppose I think of gardeners as being more respectful but I realise this is a rose-tinted view. I’ve heard plenty of stories of people helping themselves to plants when visiting gardens. Several years ago I was lucky enough to visit Highgrove, the garden of Prince Charles, with a group from college. One of my fellow horticultural students was very keen on coming away with a plant souvenir. It was only when we were given a security briefing on the coach and told about the security cameras dotted about the gardens and he realised he may be manhandled from the gardens by Special Branch that he left his carrier bags and secateurs behind on the coach. I suppose all gardeners like to get plants for free but most of us know when this is appropriate and when it’s not.

I did come away with some plants but these were legitimate purchases from the incredible plant shop. I had planned to while away some time in the bookshop but we never even got there. The budget wouldn’t stretch to the temptation of books as well. I have got some plans for a bit of a garden redesign and I came armed with a list of potential purchases. Face with all that choice it wasn’t long before I had dispensed with the list though . Wild carrot, apricot coloured foxgloves, some euphorbia and primulas all came home with us and will hopefully add to the naturalistic feeling I want from the garden this year.

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My latest book – The Crafted Garden

My latest book - The Crafted Garden

My latest book - The Crafted Garden

My Book – The Cut Flower Patch

My Book - The Cut Flower Patch. Available to buy from the RHS online bookshop.

The Cut Flower Patch – Garden Media Guild Practical Book 2014

The Cut Flower Patch - Garden Media Guild Practical Book 2014
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