With the Apple Walk pruning complete, that’s only half the story for our apple pruning. We now move on to our Orchard, or what remains of a once larger orchard that covered our wildflower meadow. Over the years, trees have fallen into decline, and one by one they have succumbed, leaving what now remains – a band of very large ‘Newton Wonder’, smatterings of semi-mature ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’, and one of my favourite trees in the garden, a fallen ‘Blenheim Orange’, now elegantly decumbent and as healthy as any other apple in the garden. It lies beside a sculpted stone apple, a fitting location to celebrate these trees. Once complete, this will lead us on to the coppicing of hazel to provide natural materials for the garden; staking, bean poles, stakes, and row markers, ensuring that we make the most of all the material produced by these extremely useful plants. Any excess brush, unsuitable material, or dead wood will be utilised to create habitat across the gardens, none more recent than our car park. Over the next few months, you may well see some creative activity in these spaces as we look to introduce appropriate surplus material, ensuring a closed-loop system where material is recycled, providing various types of habitat for our many invertebrates and mammals.
The Garden Focus for March
We have completed our ‘No Dig’ conversion on our Productive Plots within the Walled Garden, demarcated by woodchip paths. This approach is something we have been wanting to transition to for some time, and we have now committed to it. We are excited to see the results, both in terms of the quantity of produce and the improvement to soil structure, irrigation needs, and the general health of our soil biome through not tilling. It’s a large change for the garden, as we have been digging in manure for decades. Although this has produced bountiful crops of unquestionable quality, our increased awareness of the impact of over-cultivation and the holistic benefits of this approach has led us to conclude that we should embrace this change. Even better still, it should enhance our cropping quality, in addition to all of the extra benefits to both soil and gardener.
Upcoming work this month will include mulching, starting with the Rose Garden and ultimately the main borders. It’s a little late this year, for many reasons, but not too late, as this can effectively be undertaken at any point in the year. The preference now is that it’ll trap moisture and suppress seedbanks (where desirable) whilst avoiding borders full of plants in full growth. We are using composted bark fines for this job, mixing up the materials used to offer different elements to the soil biota and ultimately the composition of the soil itself. We will also continue sowing under glass, with the usual seasonal suspects such as hardy annuals, leafy crops, and beginning with some of the more tender plants that require a slightly longer growing season to be at their best, as early as possible.
We have many bulbs now coming to the fore. Crocus sieberi, C. tommasinianus, and C. chrysanthus are all in flower, whilst Narcissus pseudonarcissus have begun to reluctantly appear. Many other spring bulbs have begun to poke their noses up, including tulips, and the promise of spring is heralded by the false one we have recently experienced.
