Weekly catch up with garden & propagation

This week in Propagation

with Rob

This week in the growing department... foggy, damp and full of wind, and that's just the staff! The weather too has conjoured the garden into the realms of the gothic. At times I’ve half expected to see Jane Eyre meandering through the Gravel Garden. I think there's a general misconception that work slows down as sepia tones plunge us towards the forthcoming winter. On the contrary, we are possibly the busiest we've been all year!

The Beth Chatto Christmas Fair approaches! November 21st is the date, where we will house over eighty stalls selling a variety of crafts, food and good will. So, with this creeping up, one of our jobs this week was making space! Tina, Mel, Kirsten, Nicola and myself took to the nursery shade tunnel, for the "big move." We took the opportunity to provide the TLC our plants receive at this time of year, a cut back and a fresh mulch. The mud kitchen was also treated to a spruce up!

Work is ongoing in bringing in both our sale and stock plants for their winter protection. Emily and Debs have been leading the charge over in the famous half-poly-no-doors tunnel, whilst Mel and Kirsten have been working diligently on our sale plants over in the multispan.

Kathy has been busy, potting a variety of bulbs, some with fantastic Usonian sounding names. One of these being Narcissus 'Rip van Winkle', a name paying homage to one of the greatest American writers. Another with an American theme, although it must be said, with a less renowned moniker attributed to it, is Tulipa 'Honky Tonk'. Despite the name, it is charming, with the outer tepals appearing pale yellow, kissed with a soft pink blush.

Elsewhere, Emily and Kirsten put together a couple of gorgeous nursery displays. Whereas Pete and the packhouse team have been picking and packing your orders with care and precision.

As always, thank you for choosing to bring a piece of Beth's garden into yours.

This week in the Garden

with Cathy

We began the week by putting the last of the tender plants away for the winter. The agaves in the Gravel Garden add wonderful structure over the summer months but they can’t stay out in the cold weather, so we lift them and put them in the propagation tunnel. The gravel is scraped back and they are dug up. We planted them with their root balls in hessian which makes them easier to handle and move. Goggles are a must for this task as the tips are very sharp. After lifting, the holes are back filled with soil and the gravel put back in place.

The last of the tender plants to be moved were the succulents in the alpine sink. This was planted up alongside the display of succulents from the greenhouse and has been growing away all summer. The plants were lifted and potted up to go into the greenhouse over winter. We then planted the trough up with a mix of Tulipa turkestanica and Muscari ‘Pink Sunrise’ and topped with gravel. This will provide a lovely spring display to look forward to.

The next task to tackle is the cut back of perennials in the Woodland Garden. This is done before Christmas in preparation for the bulbs and spring interest which will light up the beds in the new year. Spent stems of plants such as polygonatum, geranium and lunaria are cut back and removed to give space and light for the spring displays, we already have early snowdrops flowering now. It’s also a time to assess the spread and reach of some groundcovering plants. We have been reducing Doronicum pardalianches which has taken over in some beds, spreading by tuberous roots and also by seed. It has lovely yellow daisy like flowers in May, but it has spread the last few years and now is a good time to check this growth by digging out clumps to reduce its size.

Lastly, this week we said goodbye to our Berkshire pigs - they returned after being loaned to us from a local farm. They have done a brilliant job clearing a new area of land ready to be developed next year. We’ve enjoyed looking after them and taking visitors up to see them over the past few months.