Head Gardener's Diary - July & August
July
Since the hot spell in June where we were irrigating everything it has gone quite the opposite way. The weathermen are no longer prophesising barbeque weather and July has been wet. Quite nice for the plants I have to admit and, as it is mostly heavy showers, has not impeded our work too much. Having said that it is ideal weed growing conditions again. I went away for a few days last week and when I returned the plants had practically disappeared as the weeds had shot up. We are busily removing them now and hope to finish by the end of next week in time for the next Open Day on August 9th in aid of the St. John’s Ambulance.
The grass is also growing again now. It was growing profusely in June and then ground to a halt with brown patches during the dry spell. It has taken quite a while to get going again, which makes cutting it much easier with only a few areas growing fast enough to leave the clippings lying on the grass. We have been dead-heading and staking plants where necessary, but mostly general maintenance jobs such as weeding, mowing, edging and hoeing when the weather permits.
I am just about to sow the Polyanthus seeds for the winter bedding display in the formal garden. Hopefully these will not appeal to our thief. We have had Fuschias and Geraniums stolen from the mixed border and Geraniums stolen from the formal garden. Unfortunately we used all the geraniums so we don’t have any to fill the gaps with and will have to put up with a holey display until the end of September/ early October when the bedding is replaced. Security have been informed but there doesn’t seem to be much they can do – its not obvious if someone walks out with a carrier bag of plants and they probably wouldn’t notice.
We’ve just had a Health and Safety check and everything appears to be satisfactory. The paperwork is fairly well up to date due to all the heavy showers we’ve been having as it gives us a chance to spend the odd hour or two in the office. That’s our excuse for getting out of the rain anyway.
August
A real mixed bag of weather. Apart from the fact that it is generally warm it could be any time of year, with heavy rain, gale-force winds, cloud, sun then showers. We have been diving in and out trying to do what we can. I have hoed the Dahlia bed at the entrance three times with a forecast of sun, only for it to rain heavily and all the weeds root back in! Within a couple of days it looks as if I haven’t touched it.
We have tried to remove a lot of the brambles which seem to be shooting out from every large bush and hedge, but won’t get around to digging the roots out until Autumn/Winter when we can put on a bit more protective clothing without melting in the heat and humidity. It looks a bit tidier for now and for the next Open Days; it also makes the mowing easier and safer.
I have pruned all the wall-fruit in the walled garden and have tied in some new shoots on the Apricot in an attempt to cover the left hand side where it has died . There are quite a few figs and some nectarines but nothing ripe yet. I’m hoping the squirrels don’t spot them before they ripen. Unfortunately this is often the case but they don’t seem so keen on the figs. The grapes have several bunches of fruit on them but these fruit and the grapes in the Experimental Grounds (in the fenced off area in the middle of the Harris Garden) have terrible mildew this year. The birds have already had the cherries, even the sour ones; and the squirrels take the apricots before they ripen. We have previously tried to net them but just ended up with some very angry trapped squirrels!
I’m afraid I have nothing to report for the latter part of August as I have been off work with Labrynthitis, so if you see me staggering around the Harris Garden in the next couple of weeks can I just assure you that I am NOT drunk, just suffering the lingering effects of the illness.
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