Head Gardener's Diary - May
The hardy annual seed we sowed at the end of last month
is all germinating in the summer beds and the herb garden;
the seedlings are still very small but can be seen in lines
across the beds. They are going to have to grow fast to
compete with the weeds, which have also germinated beautifully
with all the rain we’ve had. The half-hardy annuals
sown back in March by the Horticulture students and pricked
out into trays by us are now all outside and hardened off
ready to plant out. We have cleared the formal garden and
other areas of winter bedding and are forking these over,
weather permitting, in preparation for the summer bedding.
We’ve just had another “progress meeting”
with Philip John. Initial planting plans have been approved,
more seed has arrived and we have been making lists of our
new acquisitions and existing plants of medicinal use for
records and labelling.
Our other new plantings are all doing well including the
Digitalis which have all now been planted out including
a few new groups, so thank-you to everyone who helped with
those. Many of last years groups are now starting to flower
and looking very attractive – Cameras out, folks!
It looks like we might be lucky with the weather again,
which dictates everything we do in the garden. Ideally we
now want a couple of dry weeks with some overnight rain
occasionally, but not too hot; then a few heavy showers
to water everything in; followed by a sunny weekend for
the next Open Day; then it can do what it likes because
I am going to take a week off!
