Head Gardener's Diary - October
Unfortunately the last Open Day was cancelled, for some reason
the charity couldn’t organize the event which was a shame
as the weather has been so mild there was still plenty of colour
around the garden. This time last year we had some early sharp
frosts which had already finished off the bedding. The first
year students were going to take out the bedding at the beginning
of October but had left it until after the Open Day. About 30
people still turned up as they would have seen the Open Days
advertised on the web site since the beginning of the year.
The amount of autumn colour is increasing slowly, especially
around the cherry circle and the Autumn bank.  The
colours don’t seem to be clashing too badly with the new
road surface – please come and have a look (if you haven’t
been in already) and let me know what colour you think it is
because I can’t come up with one. It’s the same
colour as the lockers in our tea-room but it doesn’t match
anything in my paintbox! The entrance has been concreted to
give a smoother ramp and easier access, and the overall effect
is much flatter and tidier.
We are still cutting the hedge tops – my personal equivalent
of painting the Forth Road Bridge – the hedge around the
compound is complete, and we have just finished the south side
of the Formal Garden which hadn’t been done for two years
and was very tough. The remainder was done last year and should
trim easily with the electric hedge trimmer. That will just
leave the yew tops, by which time it will be spring and I shall
have the excuse of finding more urgent jobs to do!
I have replanted the formal garden except the centre bed, which
will be replaced after the first-year students have been around
the garden. It now contains Pansy F1 Mariposa ‘Peach Shades’
which apparently have “ been bred to have a robust root
system to enhance its over-wintering performance.” See
how easily I fall for the glowing magazine descriptions? We’ll
have to see how well they perform, but if it stays as mild as
this they won’t have much of a struggle. The grass is
still growing and we are still cutting it through the falling
leaves, though it is all slowing down as the nights are cooler
with some very heavy dews – very Autumnal.
Julia Wesley |
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Prunus 'Ojochin -
the cherry circle |
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