10th July 2022

WELCOME

We have gone from 3 weather seasons in a day to heatwave and with the exception of pots and the Vegetable Garden we do not water unless we notice plants extremely distressed. Cutting down and dead heading after flowering helps preserve the plants – a nonstop job at the moment!!

We are picking chard, beetroot, salad crops, broad beans, peas and courgettes. The strawberries have been cut down but we are still picking red, white and black currants and looking forward to the raspberries. The espalier apples need thinning out to improve the quality of those remaining but it looks like a good crop this year. The step over apples are called Scumptious- not my description.

Tomatoes are largely in the Greenhouse with a few tumbling Maskotka in the old milk churns in the Herb Garden.

We are ready to cut the Daffodil area but the lawn mower has broken- again!! Probably not such a bad thing given the heat.

The plants lining the path to the Bog Garden are Dierma or Angels Fishing rods- all originating from seeds from Oxford Botanical Gardens- a lovely reminder of a beautiful garden.

Next to the Autumn Border you will smell, before you see, the evergreen honeysuckle climbing up into the Holme Oaks- you will see it again on the wall in the West Lawn.

Hosta and Hemerocallis are in flower lining the path beside the stream and you will notice Algae on the Moat. We believe this was caused by a flash food in the village a few years ago which brought water across the fields and into the Moat and along with it the nitrates. Warm weather seems to activate the growth of algae but we are spring fed and we are hoping that with time the algae will wash out with the help of grass carp which we put into the moat. Despite the daily visit of Heron some seem to be surviving and whilst you are looking at the water see if you can spot the eel at least 3 foot long that lives there.

In the West Lawn the plants in pots at the edge of the moat are Oleander- not hardy but put under cover during the winter months. The lovely white flower by the urns is Romneya

Step back in time and take a walk in the shade of the Nut walk. It is said that the ladies of the house would exercise there protected from the suns rays which would colour their skin- not such an old wives tale in view of what we now know about U.V damage to the skin?

We still have 7 cygnets and they alternate between the Fishponds and Moat.

Stay healthy and good gardening

Lynda Tucker