Gardeners everywhere have been getting funny looks recently. We’ve had a month of lovely weather, two four-day weekends with lots of sun, and even a royal wedding, yet mostly what the gardeners have been saying is “We really need some rain”. Cue the funny looks. Well, we got what we asked for. But now we’ve had a good downpour, if we could go back to the nice sunny weather, that’d be great. Please?
I’ve previously blogged about the redevelopments that have been happening over the winter at Ryton Gardens, and now a year on from Helen, Claire and myself starting, it’s amazing to see parts of the same gardens looking so different. Other parts are still the same though – the Judas tree is flowering, which it was doing when we started, and it’s a reminder that we only have a few weeks left. It’s been a brilliant year, and I have learned so much just from being around such good gardeners. The highlight for me though has definitely been making the videos each month. I’ve really enjoyed the whole process, from filming through editing to the finished piece, and hopefully they’ve been informative in some small way. Who knows, maybe I’ll keep doing them! Anyway, I’ll definitely be back to Ryton Gardens to see how the gardens and the people are getting on.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Sowing Summer Seeds
Things are in full swing now in the gardens. The winter is gone, the evenings are lighter, and everything is growing! I’ve been busy sowing seed, I’m nearly half way through, and I’m preparing the beds for planting out. I just finished preparing the cold frames in the Vegetable Inspirations garden for the first planting of lettuce, by taking the doors off and giving them a dose of our compost. Everyone is sowing now, and I think that we’re going to be fighting for space in the glasshouse and polytunnels soon – we start a lot of plants off early under heated glass, things like squash, tomatoes, chillies, basil and in my case mouse melons. Basically, things that like the warm and dislike the cold. Doing this means by the time the weather’s warm enough for them to be planted out we already have nice sized plants, and they will begin to crop sooner and therefore longer, meaning more food for us.
For Helen, Claire and myself diploma assessments have been a frequent occurrence as we near the end of our time here. We’re being assessed on all sorts of things, from sowing seed to watering to correctly applying nutrients to plants. We also have a more theoretical side to the diploma, in the form of test questions to answer. I now know that yellowing of young leaves, particularly of acid loving plants, indicates an iron deficiency. And now, so do you!
For Helen, Claire and myself diploma assessments have been a frequent occurrence as we near the end of our time here. We’re being assessed on all sorts of things, from sowing seed to watering to correctly applying nutrients to plants. We also have a more theoretical side to the diploma, in the form of test questions to answer. I now know that yellowing of young leaves, particularly of acid loving plants, indicates an iron deficiency. And now, so do you!
Garden Redevelopments
We’ve been doing a lot of redevelopment of the gardens over the winter, removing an old garden, enlarging an existing one, and installing a brand new one. It has been hard work, and once again the volunteers have proved just how valuable they are to us, but now it’s starting to feel like we’re getting there. The big project has been the enlargement of our allotment garden. This started a while ago, at the beginning of 2010 with the moving of two semi-mature oak trees to make way for the new garden. They didn’t like it, but we’ll see how they cope in their new home! Since then, we’ve put in a new fence, greenhouse, fruit cage, pond (my favourite), and re-laid all the paths. It looks lovely, and I don’t think any of us can wait to see it brimming over with veg come the summer.
We’re currently in the process of removing the old pest and disease control garden, the key messages from that garden will be moving to the new and improved allotment garden. In my opinion the most interesting development is the Cuban garden. This is going to be an exotic garden with a feel of Cuban urban growing. We have a new walled courtyard area, which is (supposed to be, I should add) part tumbledown, and we’ll have beds growing more unusual veg acquired by the Sowing New Seeds team. We’ve got quite a few exotic looking plants to put in, and some painting to do, and I think when it’s finished we’ll have something unique to Ryton Gardens.
We’re currently in the process of removing the old pest and disease control garden, the key messages from that garden will be moving to the new and improved allotment garden. In my opinion the most interesting development is the Cuban garden. This is going to be an exotic garden with a feel of Cuban urban growing. We have a new walled courtyard area, which is (supposed to be, I should add) part tumbledown, and we’ll have beds growing more unusual veg acquired by the Sowing New Seeds team. We’ve got quite a few exotic looking plants to put in, and some painting to do, and I think when it’s finished we’ll have something unique to Ryton Gardens.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Tree Work
Yesterday, I spent a very enjoyable afternoon working on some fairly mature trees at Ryton. They had got to the point where low branches were attacking people as they walked by, so we gave them a crown lift. For me, this was enjoyable because working with trees is my favourite thing to do in the garden – trees of any size. The fact that these are mature trees also means I have this sense of caring for something which has been in the gardens for a while, and will hopefully be here for a lot longer.
There is something of an art to removing large branches from a tree (if you don’t have or don’t know how to use a chainsaw), so that you don’t damage the rest of the tree. Some of these branches weigh quite a bit, so as you cut through them, the weight pulls them down and splinters the wood, sometimes peeling large amounts of bark off. Instead, we make two cuts, one underneath the branch, then another above and a little closer to the trunk, so the branch comes away cleanly. Then, if you want, you can shout “Timber!”.
Last weekend was Garden Organic’s Potato Weekend, so the whole team have been busy, organising the layout of over 100 varieties of potato for visitors to pick from. I plan to include some of this event in my next video, look out for that soon.
There is something of an art to removing large branches from a tree (if you don’t have or don’t know how to use a chainsaw), so that you don’t damage the rest of the tree. Some of these branches weigh quite a bit, so as you cut through them, the weight pulls them down and splinters the wood, sometimes peeling large amounts of bark off. Instead, we make two cuts, one underneath the branch, then another above and a little closer to the trunk, so the branch comes away cleanly. Then, if you want, you can shout “Timber!”.
Last weekend was Garden Organic’s Potato Weekend, so the whole team have been busy, organising the layout of over 100 varieties of potato for visitors to pick from. I plan to include some of this event in my next video, look out for that soon.
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