Walled Garden Volunteers' Blog October/November 2023
/We have been very busy in the Walled Garden recently, with no time to send a report in October – sorry! Each Monday, and most Wednesday mornings, we’ve been tackling some big jobs. We haven’t finished yet, but here’s a taste of what been happening…
Box in our bobbly boarder
Box Moth: Now that the weather has cooled, the Box Moth caterpillars seemingly have disappeared –But following advice from local nurseries (and Monty Don) we are removing our Box, replacing it with a mixture of IIex Crenata, Lonicera, Yew , Euonymus and Osmanthus. We know the caterpillars will return, but for now we have left the topiarised Box; we’ve been encouraging it to grow for seven years, and we just want to give it one last chance in case somehow it escapes the attack.
However, in October we placed a moth trap near the Box; in just 3 days, we collected 137 moths. (The Box doesn’t really have a chance!)
The box Moth trap being held by a garden volunteer
When you next visit, you’ll see the ‘Bobbly Border’ still looking good – as we’ve already replaced some ‘moth-eaten’ Box. We were able to buy new plants for this border thanks to proceeds from our plant sales.
Meanwhile, the flower borders are in the midst of a major tidy-up. The Garden has evolved since the initial planting in Spring 2016, and this year has started to look a little on the wild side! So, in November, Cleo led a Big Sort Out, involving a lot of digging up and re-arranging, which will continue for a while.
In September, the Stellata border looked magnificent. But in fact, we were not in control. Now, we have reduced the white aster, rescuing the lavender and the magnolias.
It’s taken some effort to weed out and split plants in the ’Med’ border. We’ve lifted out whole sections, removed the weeds which were infiltrating the roots of plants, and repositioned some of the grasses.
In September, the Bonkers Border was looking wonderful… but again, action is needed! The Bonkers Border is the largest, in the Walled Garden, with a colour scheme ranging from reds to oranges, yellows and pinks. We still have quite a lot more to do in this section, and the weather soon may call a halt on progress for now.
The meadow was cut in September and next, we must weed the beds around the orchard trees.
Like many growers, we had very few apples and pears from the trees this year; but we were able to donate those we had, to the ‘juicing’ event at Horsley.
Along the pergola, Sarah has now pruned and tied in the tayberries you see here; and we shall lift and replace the gooseberries and other soft fruit bushes in the Spring.
Helen N as cleared the last of the veg at the pergola and is preparing the raised beds for winter. And Helen K tended the espalier fruit trees at the lawn.
So, behind the scenes, there’s plenty of action! We shall continue while weather allows…Cheryl will be in the very lovely garden she’s making under the yew tree at the courtyard, and the rest of busy round the back, in the Walled Garden.
We look forward to seeing you after the winter shutdown when we shall be Celebrating Snowdrops on the weekend of the 27 and 28 January 2024!
