Head Gardener's Diary - June
Everything is finally planted and irrigated. The soil was nice and moist to plant into at the beginning of June. We’ve been praying for rain to help water everything in and end up with a mini-heatwave, which is causing the new plantings to frazzle instead. I have been hauling hosepipes around the garden from the time I arrive to the time I go home again. All the main areas were planted in time for the June Open Day except the Jungle – we simply ran out of time, but it had been dug over and prepared so it looked quite tidy and like a “work in progress”.
All the Digitalis potted up by my work-experience schoolchildren were sold on the Open Day, and also all the Iris which had been potted up the previous year. We used some of the money to buy a new Digitalis for the collection – three pots of D. Anne Redetzky which has an unusual split white flower. I am looking for a prominent home for it but am going to wait until we get some rain before attempting to plant it out. The Digitalis Camelot series, in the Dell behind the Autumn bank, look fantastic – four different blocks of colour. I think it must be a lot wetter there than the rest of the Garden but they certainly like the site.
When we finished the main planting I had a week off – more narrow-boating, on the Kennet and Avon this time which is lovely. I think we must be getting the hang of it as it was a lot less stressful than our previous attempts! The weather was hot then and the staff here on the Experimental Grounds spent a few days in the Harris Garden watering all the newly planted areas while I was away, fortunately or I think it would all have been dead when I returned. Since I got back it has been mostly weeding, with a bit of dead-heading, staking and tying.
My third year students have finished now – graduated and gone. I have replacements coming to help for the summer. Two students have already ‘enrolled’ and I hope to get a third, each doing one day a week. We are now working towards tidying the Garden for the next Open Day for the Berkshire Autistic Society, then slow down a little and relax through the summer (I’m not sure we haven’t had summer already but I live in hope).
Julia Wesley |
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Digitalis purpurea 'Excelsior Group'
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