Photo Gallery – Alnwick Garden and Beningbrough Hall.

I thought I’d share some photos with you that were taken over the bank holiday weekend at two gardens over two separate days. The first, on the last day of April, my Birthday, was the Alnwick Garden, roughly an hour north from where I live. The second was Benningbrough Hall, roughly an hour south, on May Day.

Alnwick Garden – 30th April 2017

The Alnwick garden is huge. It’s also wonderful; a perfect day out. A fun fair for adults (Kids’ll love it too – especially the poison garden, which is absolutely fascinating) (I hope that doesn’t too sinister.). If you want to read a more in depth write up of the gardens, please head over to this post by fellow garden blogger, Lou Nicholls. Disappointingly, I forgot to pack a spare battery for my DSLR, so after half an hour, I was using my phone, which might mean the quality of the photos is a bit inconsistent.

Alnwick Gardens Gallery.

Before entering

Clematis in the Rose Garden

Rose Garden

Cherry Orchard

Tulips

Towards the ornamental gardens

Ornamental Gardens

The Poison Garden

Beningbrough Hall – 1st May 2017

Beningbrough hall was a more spontaneous trip, we decided to go and were half way there within an hour – might as well get some more use out of our National Trust membership, we thought to our selves ( which, at under a tenner a month, is worth every penny.) To be quite honest we weren’t expecting much from the gardens, I don’t think they are really advertised as much as they should be on the NT website. All formal lawns, was what we expected. We couldn’t have been more wrong. The Beningbrough gardens are beautiful. Magical even. They’re the type of gardens that you can fall in love with. I have. They remind me of the Country House garden my Dad looked after when I was a child – Full of little nooks and crannies, long garden corridors, different ‘Rooms’, Beautiful walled gardens with espalier trained fruit. There is something of interest around every corner, and what’s more it feels just as preserved as the big house itself – a complete contrast to the Alnwick garden which definitely has a more modern feel about it – despite being a renovation of a garden as old as the hills. But is also equally as breathtaking.

Beningbrough is a proper working garden, and is truly charming because of it.

Beningbrough Hall Gallery.

Bluebell woods on the way in.

Beningbrough Hall

Walled Garden

Clematis

Greenhouse

Walled Garden

Walled Garden

Walled Garden

Blossom

Gardener at work

Because I wasn’t expecting Beningbrough to be as brilliant as it was, I decided not to bother to pack my good camera, so these are all taken on my I Phone. My own rule for photography is that if you have to ask your self ‘should I bring my camera?’ then the answer is always ‘YES you absolutely should’, but on this day, I broke the rule. Next time I will be better prepared. Despite this, I’m actually quite pleased with the quality of these.

For all the photos I’ve taken on my phone I now use the Adobe Lightroom mobile app for editing, which is a surprisingly powerful piece of software that does nearly everything the Desktop version of the software does. The Mobile version of Photoshop has also come a long way since it’s first release, and I highly recommend anyone who already subscribes to Adobe to try them out.

The Last Days of April

This last week has been quite the contrast to those balmy days we experienced earlier in the month, where spring did the finest impression of summer. The ‘Halcyon days’ as I now refer to them as. These past few days however, have acted despicably; we need rain! Lots of rain! But what do we get? Days of hail and nights of frost. Not exceptionally damaging frosts though, thank heavens. Nonetheless it’s been bloody cold.

Today armed mostly with a 50mm lens, I went out into the garden, and to the allotment, to capture what is going on, and to find out what shines, when the sun doesn’t, in The Last Days of April.

For the last few weeks, the Clematis that grows up the side fence has been full of promise. A star in waiting.

Clematis Montana Rubens, early April.

Well this morning, expecting some sort of frost damage, I was pleased. It had finally delivered.

The cheap and cheerful 50mm F1.8 lens (Nifty Fifty) that I’m mainly using here is an awkward sod – it mostly refuses to focus on anything, but on the rare occasion it obeys me it’s brilliant. This is considered a cheap lens. But even the Cheap lenses are bloody expensive, so I try to get the best out of the few I own, usually resorting to the Kit lens (18-55mm) that came with my camera.

…Very pleased indeed.

There are also other Gems to be found in the garden, the Poppies are doing well.

The Tulips not so; not in terms of quantity. But at least it gives me a chance to focus on their individualistic qualities.

Bluebells are also doing their thing.

as are Hostas and Ferns.

And now to plot 12,

Where there’s no real stars at the moment. But the Alliums ( purple sensation) will soon take that crown.

And because of this, the last of the daffodils sulks amongst it’s mushy mates.

There is a bit of frost damage here – the Blossom of the apples doesn’t look overly fantastic.

 

But it’s okay – I wasn’t expecting any apples this year anyway.

The peas I planted out last week have been nibbled. I don’t know what by but I suspect Pea Weevil?

The Sweet peas seem to have survived the frost – but they are relatively tough anyway.

In the Greenhouse the Tomatoes are doing well.

…And not so well.

The ones that are doing well were a gift. The ones that are doing not so well were sown and grown by me. Hey-Ho.

The Sunflowers aren’t doing at all.

But the Dahlias are doing all right.

As is the Nicotiana.

…If a little nibbled here and there.

And back outside the weeds are doing whatever they want, whenever they want. Undeterred by Hoe wielding gardener.

It’s been too long since I’ve been out into the garden solely to take photographs. I shall try to make more of an effort there.

It’s also been over a month now since my last blog post – no real reason for this other than the fact that nothing really ‘came’ to me – I don’t really plan my posts, they are almost always spontaneous – off the cuff. Ideas usually come to me when they like, usually at stupid-o-clock in the night. Sometimes I’ll have a light bulb moment where the wording of a particular paragraph – or even a sentence that I’ve been struggling with will come to me whilst I’m in the shower. Notebookless, it’s needless to say that by the time I’m out, it’s completely gone. And For the last month, nothing came to me. No ideas whatsoever. Not that it’s a problem but Perhaps I do need to start planning these more – brainstorming?

I’d be interested to know if any of you Garden Bloggers also Suffer from mild bouts writers block ? Or is it Bloggers Block? Is that a thing?

Anyhow, it’s been a funny old month. Kind of. Well actually, it hasn’t. Not really. Not for this country. And there’s two full days left yet! So whatever you’re doing, I hope you enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend!

 

#amsowing

…Sow I am now.

It started in January with Sweet Peas. ‘Old Fashion Mix’ , ‘Erewhon’ and ‘ Almost Black’. A bit Like choosing a horse in the Grand National, I chose them because I liked their names. ( Second time I’ve made that Joke now, still only me laughing.)

Pinched out, they’re fattening up nicely. 

A few weeks passed by till the next sowing. That was erm. Erm. (checking my diary) Nicotiana ‘Sensation Mix’ ! And Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy.’

Nicotiana Seeds

Sown thinly in module trays filled with seed compost, then placed on a windowsill, They germinated in about 10 days.

Best photo I have of the seedlings. Might help to use a magnifying glass.

Around the same time I also planted some tomato seeds. Gardeners Delight, Moneymaker and ‘Mountain Magic Hybrid’. Opening the seed packet of the latter I was a bit shocked to find only 5 seeds. But they were in the sale at the garden centre so one musn’t complain too much. Still, they most be bloody good Tomatoes.
On the seed packets for the Tomatoes it said 21 days for germination. After 26 days I wondered for a moment if it meant 21 working days. Hmm. Nearly a month later and after realising the problem was me – (I was using a spray bottle to water the trays and the seed compost was drying out too quickly – rectified by using a gravel tray to water from below.) –  they are now starting to pop up. 

They’re coming up a bit leggy, but at least they’re coming up. Finally.

This week, after a break in sowing, it was back too it. Yesterday I put in a tray of ‘Stuttgarter’ Onion Sets, with any left overs put straight into the ground alongside the rows of Onion and Garlic planted back in Autumn. French Beans (Cobra) and Peas (Kelvedon Wonder) were also sown into module trays. 

Both of these I normally sow direct but it doesn’t hurt to experiment a bit. 

These are the first lot of seeds I’ve tried to start in the greenhouse, the rest have been started on windowsills above radiators and only after germination have they went in the greenhouse. But it’s still too cold in there. Especially with my defective automatic ventilation system ( Smashed Window Pane). Yesterday morning we were back down to freezing, which isn’t too good for the tender seedlings of Nicotiana and Rudbeckia. They needed further protection from the elements. so I decided to modify this cloche into a sort of mini greenhouse / coldframe. 

It’s protecting a mixture of things: Dahlias, Rudbeckia, Nicotiana, Strawberry plants and Pelargonium Cuttings. 

It doesn’t look much but I think it’ll do the job. 

Typically when I visited today the greenhouse thermometer was showing 20C. Freezing again tonight though.

Today I managed to get a couple of rows sown direct to ground: Beetroot Boltardy and a row of Lettuce ‘Lakeland’. Being quite far north, I’m probably getting a head of myself with direct sowings – we shall see.

Looking through my seed collection yesterday I realised I still have a lot to do. 

Luckily it’s still early days. 

Some things to be getting on with.

It’s that time of year where it’s not always obvious what we should be doing in the garden. In between winter and spring. Springter?

 The winter digging regime by now ( for me at least ) is completed. At home a list of pruning tasks are also complete (these included Wisteria, Climbing Roses, Buddleja and Late Flowering Clematis amongst others.) You might start to think about taking up the ancient art of thumb twiddling.  

Climbing Rose on Trellis freshly pruned.

The grass hasn’t really got going yet, and the ground is still too cold to plant anything out for at least a few weeks yet (barring Garlic and Onion Sets.) You’re potatoes are chitting away nicely, and you might even have some seedlings on the windowsill. Or you might not. You might be of the mind set that it’s still to early to be sowing seeds. There’s no right or wrong here. But what else can we be doing in our gardens ?

Well apart from twiddling your thumbs ( it’s an art form that can be practiced anywhere), quite a lot.

 Here are just a few thing’s that I have been getting up to over the past couple of days.

1. Preparing the ground.

Although the main winter digging is complete, You might, like me wan’t to achieve a fine tilth, especially if you are going to direct sow anything ( About 60 % of my seeds are sown directly) This means to achieve a Crumbly, fine texture in the soil. For heavy clumpy clay ( I’m not sure about other soil types as clay is all I know.) it can seem daunting, near impossible perhaps, to achieve this without the use of a tiller or a Rotovator. Rototiller if you’re from the states, I believe. (And that was my initial plan; a bloke on our site, known as Ronnie the Rotovator, will do it for you for 60 quid – I’m not sure if that’s a nationwide service he provides or just on our site.), but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted the job to be my own, without the use of heavy, loud, polluting machinery.
 
The way I do it is (…the hard way, just use a tiller, the end….) the way I do it, is by taking an old rake and absolutely abusing it, bashing, thrashing and whacking lumps of clay with in an inch of their lives. Keep going over it until the clumps start to break down and then by using the rake how it was intended to be used, you will get there. It’s actually relatively easy once you get going, and something I enjoy. 

Perhaps one day I will be known as ‘master of the tilth’. The neighbours will ask ‘ Did Ronnie the Rotovator do that for you?’ And I shall say ‘ No! It was I, with bare hand and rake’ and across the site Jaws will drop. Looking at these pictures perhaps not. But I am pleased none the less. And I saved 60 quid. 

Bashing, Thrashing and Whacking. In that order.

Slowly getting there.

2. Keep on Weeding.

They never stop. They literally never stop, and if you don’t stop weeding they’ll quickly get on top of you. Although It’s also good idea to leave some of the flowering weeds for the bees. With sunny days becoming more frequent ( Hoorah!) Bee’s are tricked out of hibernation (Booo) at this time of year and there’s not a lot of flowers out there at the moment for them to feed on. The same goes for our birds: keep on feeding as there’s still a lack of natural sources of food for them at this time of year. It’s nice to be nice. They’ll never return the favour though , if that’s what you’re hoping. They probably won’t even thank you for it. Rude.



Ungrateful Tit. ( Coal Tit, that is)

Weeding.

3. Repair and replace.Check over everything. This way you will be fully prepared for the coming season and you won’t be caught out by that broken cloche you forgot about or that smashed pane of glass in the greenhouse. Also keeping on top of your tools is an essential part of good husbandry. I try to clean mine after every use, especially with things like secateurs which can quite easily spread diseases if you’re not careful. 

Pots to be cleaned.

Cleaned and Sharpened.

4. Relax.

Go on, have a brew, sit down. KitKat? You’ve worked hard over the winter. You can afford to take a bit of time out, in a few weeks it’s going to be wonderfully hectic. Take a bit of time to plan and take stock. Even if it’s just in your head. Think things over. It’s what I’m doing right now as a write this, sitting at the plot in-between achieving that jaw-droppingly good tilth ( Ha!).  

Taking a quick break.

 

Sipping. Planning. Plotting.

These are just a few of the things that have been keeping me busy recently. I’d love to hear what you’ve been getting up to in the garden and how you’ve avoided the old thumb twiddle. 

The Signs of spring are increasing daily; just this morning I head the first croak of a frog in the pond. Soon the to-do list will be through the roof and you won’t know whether you’re coming or going. What an exciting prospect!

Ribbit.

Wordless Wednesday

Coping with couch grass

The Quest for Veg

Although couch grass (pronounced coo-ch, Latin name Elymus repens sometimes known as Agropyron repens) is said to have uses in herbal medicine, most gardeners and allotment holders will know it as an invasive weed that is difficult to control.

Our own little plot is riddled with it.

It might seem as though you’re fighting a losing battle when it comes to couch grass, but with perseverance and a little bit of understanding about how it grows and survives, it is possible to keep it at bay. (Although that is likely to take us many years of vigilant work!)

Why is it a problem?

Couch grass grows rapidly through the top layer of soil, creating a thick mat of roots, removing water and nutrients from the soil and making it difficult to plant other things.

Like all plants, it exudes chemicals to help it survive and some of these…

View original post 1,055 more words

A gentle reminder…

Snowdrops, Aconites, Hellebores, Crocus, amongst others, mark the ending of winter, and the beginning of spring. Soon Fritillaries, Daffodils and Bluebells will take the torch. Then spring really has started. Winter forgotten. I like to accept the 1st of march as the start of spring, although if I were more patient, I’d wait until the spring equinox on the 20th of March. Here the sun is in line with the equator, as it also is on the Autumn Equinox ( just heading in the opposite direction ), so spring is basically the same as Autumn, just backwards. And if you cast your mind back to late autumn, you’ll remember how cold it can get, the novelty of the first frosts soon wearing thin. Frosts are as much a part of spring as they are Autumn. They do not belong to winter. That’s important to remember. They will dwindle, the days will lengthen, but the equinox is not a switch. Spring comes gradually and if you’re not careful, you’ll be caught out. 
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Photo Gallery – Testing a new garden trail.

Last Weekend me and my Partner decided to stay for a night at one of our favourite Country House Hotels ( this makes me sound like I’m visiting country houses every week – trust me, I’m not!)… Which also just so happens to be where my father works as the Head (only) Gardener, 15 acres which in it’s day as a stately home had a total of 12 Gardeners. A sad and clear sign of the times. And hard work indeed for my Dad.

We stay there quite regularly actually, as since my partner also works at the hotel, albeit in a separate building in the grounds, we get a good discount, which includes bed and breakfast (I’ll stop gloating in a minute but those breakfasts are glorious) …We’d be mad not take it up. The people who own it also own quite a few others dotted around the country which we can stay at for the same amazing discounted rate, so we do try to get a way for a little break somewhere every now and then.(I’m now making myself sound like a cheapskate… trust me, I’m not… okay yes maybe a little. I prefer the term Bargain-Hunter )

When we visit, we always do a walk of the grounds, which consists of Formal Gardens, lawns and woodland, just to see what changes have been made since we last visited.

This time however we had been set a bit of a mission. He is wanting to set up a clear, sign posted trail that guests can follow through the gardens and woodland, and before we left he give us a set of directions to follow, just to see if it would work.

So unpacking our stuff, and Being lured out by the glorious afternoon sun:

 

we set off…

From leaving the Main House, you’ll see the Front formal lawn, known as ‘the glade’ which within a couple of weeks will be fully striped:

Stripes being put in.

left from here is this door, which I had to admit is very alluring.

However we had been instructed to go right and into the woodland in the distance. Entering the woods, the signs of winter were still here, the ground still quite boggy:

But there were also sure signs of spring, with snowdrops out, and other spring plants following behind.

Continuing on you’ll pass a series of natural wood features recently installed:

Mushroom Bird Feeders.

Log Bench.

Until, after admiring snowdrops and log features, and bits of topiary, you reach an opening:

And up some steps, a glimpse of the house.

Up the steps and to your left, you’ll see the Main Lawn:

(Never Shoot into the sun)

And to your right, an enclosed area:

Which if you enter you’ll find the sunken garden, which has recently been redeveloped into a Rose Garden:

Last Summer with newly planted Roses.

I’m really looking forward to seeing this establish as it’s just going into it’s second year in it’s current form so I will certainly be back in the summer to see how it’s going.

Back on the path you pass another bench,which offers glorious views over the formal lawn and house:

Taken Jan 2016.

We’ll continue past this bench and reach a Yew hedge, behind which is another path leading us back into the woods:

where again there a clear signs of spring.

This is the first time I’ve actually been down this path as I’ve never known it was here, I guess part of the reason my dad wants to sign Post.

Following on we reach the main drive where we had been instructed to cross over to another part of the grounds I had not visited before.

From here there are fantastic views of the estate.

These fields have a few fallen trees which are protected so cannot be removed, instead they are left to break down naturally. But I don’t mind that. They’re not an eye saw, sad to see them fallen though. But a habitat for something else.

Further down the footpath, we reach another opening:

Going through here you’ll reach the old Kitchen and Cutting garden:

This was lost many years ago, the reason to which I am still unsure but I’m desperate to find out ( Long before my father arrived – my best guess is after the Second World War when large country estates like this really started to decline.) It would take a lot of money (and a lot more gardening staff) to get going again; even more if they were to redevelop the old Greenhouses and Orangery:

Old Glasshouses and Orangery

which is in an even further state of disrepair… very sad because you can see what marvellous constructions they once where. One day I hope they will be fully restored. But Sadly I doubt it.

Nature has reclaimed them:

Here you can see trees growing from the inside.

Behind this fence there are still working Beehives, which are kept by a local bee-keeper.

Leaving here, through another enticing door, you’ll reach the orchard:

In the orchard there is also the blackthorn that provides us with the Sloes from which we make Sloe Gin with ( fast becoming a Christmas Favourite)

Opposite the orchard is an old converted set of stables, which hosts 2 out of 3 of my dads Sheds.

Shed in the Archway.

Continuing on you’ll pass ( but not enter) a little yard which plays host to the compost bins and piles… which quickly fill up in Autumn when the leaves begin to fall.

Down this back track , and through the trees, you’ll see the end of the first formal lawn we passed:

Taken January 2016.

The end of this track and back where we started, would conclude the trail, which I think is going to be very successful.

However there is one more area I’d like to show you: a little hidden Gem.

Five stepping stones, only noticed by the most observant eye, mark the entrance.

And past a little spring planter,

You’ll see a sign.

This area was installed 2 years ago. This bit is meant for the wildlife not the guests: although there is a bench if you happen to find it.

It’s quite peaceful, to just sit listen and watch for a bit. Normally I bring some food up for the birds but sadly it slipped my mind this time, but it does play host to a lot of garden birds, as seen in this video ( apologies for poor quality).

 

And in these Pictures:

The British Trust for Ornithology also regularly visit, monitor and ring the birds, check the nest boxes.

Last year, in one of the boxes on the trees, they had Tawny Owl Chicks for the first time.

One of which, by absolute chance, once landed on a branch right next to where my Dad was working:

How I wish I Had seen that! But we do hear the owls on the night whenever we stay, and it is a haunting , Beautiful sound.

On the day after this visit, after the glorious breakfast in bed, we decided to make use of our new National Trust Membership, and visited Fountains Abbey, and Studley Royal Deer Park, which was equally beautiful (If 10 times the size). I could carry on and show you photos from that walk. But we’d be here for weeks. So I’ll just reccomend that you visit and leave you with this:

Studley Deer Park, February 2017

Overall it was a fantastic Weekend.

 

 

 

A birds eye view.

Most people, when commuting will probably pass an allotment site every day without a second thought. Nothing special, just like passing a hedgerow. An ancient, endangered, home to wildlife, stopping the beasts in the fields causing havoc hedgerow. Like I say, nothing special.

Our site – as viewed from the outside – looks just like any other site.

But have you ever looked at an allotment from above? I have. I mean I haven’t gone as far as renting a helicopter or anything but I’ve certainly looked at my own site on Google Earth, just to see how it might look from the eye of the Kestrel that regularly hovers over.

The images are quite old actually, long before I had a plot, so it was quite an interesting thing to see how ‘ my ‘ plot looked before I had it. Of course when I got it was full of weeds – not through neglect, but from the previous tenant struggling from the effects of old age – completely understandable – he left it in as best condition as he could before he passed the torch on. It could have been a lot worse, and you can see through these images that it has previously been well tended too.

My plot under previous Tenant.

When I look at the satellite images of my site ( and others ) I am reminded of something else.

No, that wasn’t the opening titles to Emmerdale. It’s actually the patchwork fields that make up a lot of Britain, and something you’re likely to land on if you zoom in on any random point of the map. Iconic to Britain – and something which sadly, like the hedgerow , is likely to decline, as we go mad with house building.

This patchwork mishmash is reflected on our allotment sites, on a much smaller scale of course. Every plot is different, boundaries are clear.

Another ( absolutely bloody massive) site near me,

And on the inside, I believe it’s very much like a scaled down version of Britain, ‘ little britain’ if you like: People from all walks of life, from all over the country – world- yes world! Neighbours, friends. Getting a long, not getting along. People you know only well enough to give a nod of acknowledgment too. People you’ll chat the day a way with whilst getting no work done at all.

A sense of community spirit. As important a thing to having an allotment as the actual growing it self.

Want to visit a city of culture? Just nip down your local allotments. Maybe even get your name on the list. Because when you look closely , you’ll see they are special things, that should be cherished. Before they too, like hedgerows, patchwork fields, community spirit and of course, proper pubs serving proper ale, (and where darts boards and dominoes are not ousted for dining tables), become endangered.

Ooo, hark at me getting all proud and passionate.

( All images except the first one belong to Google) 

Taking advice from neighbors.

This week,  whilst out and about, I bumped in to one of my allotment neighbours. Lovely bloke, who like a lot of the people on the site will always stop for a chat and occasionally pass on their top tips.

Most of the advice this chap (Who I’ll call Paul) has given me has been sound – however there have been certain pieces in the past where I’ve thought to my self ‘ is he having me on here?’ One such piece was about sprouts:

‘What you want to do is stamp on the ground around the sprouts to compress the roots just before you take them out, that’ll stop them from exploding you see’ Says Paul.

Now, I don’t know about you, but this sounds a bit iffy to me.  But the fact he said it so straight faced, so matter of factly made me think perhaps he was being serious. Please do let me know if this is actually a sound piece of advice!

I haven’t actually seen Paul at the plot since about the start of November, and regular visits for him stopped in about mid October.

‘Been down there recently Paul?’ I asked just wanting to start a conversation, knowing full well that he hadn’t.

‘Nah’ He replied.  ‘Nowt to do in the winter.’

‘Yeah, that’s true.’ I heard my self saying.

‘I’ll Go down at the end of February and just Rotavate all the weeds in and then I’ll be ready to go. That’s what you wanna do!’

Of course,  like many of you, I’ve been working at the plot non-stop any chance I could all winter, digging, weeding, spreading crap, tidying, sorting the compost. ‘Nowt to do’ is surely far from the truth? So naturally I had to disagree with him.

Mentally disagree that is.

‘Yeah, I suppose you’re right’ was of course the natural reply.

Now, I’m sure everyone has there own methods when it comes to tending there plots, but I believe that the winter graft is part of the allotment experience. Digging is something I particularly enjoy doing in these cold winter months. So yes I disagree that the garden should be put to bed for winter. But should I question it? Air my opinion? Probably! But Paul has been gardening a lot longer than I have. 

Come to think of it he might even have a point. Perhaps I am doing it all wrong. Maybe heavy work during the winter is more damaging than it is good… My grass path certainly hasn’t enjoyed all the heavy wheelbarrowing. But even if he was right, and it wasn’t just about an easier alternative, I don’t think I could do it! Months on end without a visit to the plot? No thank you.

‘ Hard work though them Rotavators.’ He said ‘Sweating buckets by the end of it.’

I smiled and thanked him for the advice, then carried on with what I was doing.

Of course, as  I say MOST tips / advice I am given is sound, if occasionally odd. I’d love to know if it’s the same for you. Please do let me know what pieces of questionable advice you’ve been given in the past.