Garden in ‘Lock down’ – Spring Unlocked!
Here, as elsewhere, people have taken the ‘lock-down’ seriously. The restrictions are strict and stark. By contrast, spring in the garden is completely unconstrained – everything is happening at speed. The garden could not be more full of life and hope. The real shame is that only a handful of us see the garden at the moment.
My work will continue as long as funds permit and this is now reviewed month by month with trustees. This is not easy but so far we have found a way forward. I remain optimistic by keeping focus on the work needed in the garden and looking forward to the day we can reopen.
We really do miss the volunteers’ input into the garden. With more work than ever to be done in this busy season, it would have been very difficult to cope, without help from Vaughan and Nigel once a week. Sadly. all the garden volunteers, apart from Barry and Janet, have had to stay away since lock down. Barry & Janet come on a day when no-one else is here, which keeps them safe. I keep in touch with them and they are in good spirits and continue to do good work here.
Plans continue, as budget allows, on the Fitzroy pond.
To that end, the remainder of the plants for the top (Fitzroy) pond planting scheme have arrived and have been planted out with Duncan’s help. The combination of an attractive new bed and Barry’s bridge make the top pond a much more attractive feature. It is already becoming established.
The bottom pond renovation work continues. Nigel, Vaughan and I have completed the heavy work of the installation of land drains and overlay of stone chippings along the course of the former boardwalk path. This is now a stone path that will last for years, remain dry and require much less maintenance. 
Some new plants have been added to the boggy parts of the bottom pond and some large shrubs removed. We will continue to work through this part of the garden in stages through the year. It is now even more important that any cleared areas are thoroughly weeded, replanted and mulched fairly promptly if we are to keep maintenance time/costs to a minimum. The ‘Strulch’, trialled last year, seems to be quite effective and attractive keeping renovated areas in good condition.
Trees are waking up in the nursery. After so much wet weather, the dry weather is now an issue as the young trees need some regular rain water or growth will be restricted. The green manure crop sown over both nurseries will also need some rain soon.
Our commercial grafter has warned that results may not be as good this year. Hopefully, we will know more when he able to deliver the successful grafts to us in about a month – ‘lock-down’ permitting. This is later than I would like, but given the odd situation we all find ourselves in, I think we just have to accept that things will be different this year.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. Last year we sowed thousands of candelabra primula seeds and pricked them out
into small pots in the poly tunnel. This year we have planted out several hundred into boggy areas of the garden, where they are already putting on a great display. The plan was to sell the surplus to visitors. Instead, my partner Rachel persuaded me to try selling them from outside our house. Good news, we have sold about 140 so far!
Seeds of trees and herbaceous plants sown again this year, both for sale and for our own use, include seed of birch from Iceland, collected by Pru’s daughter, and seed from Japan collected by a Polish birch enthusiast and colleague. The planned Greenland expedition, we were to join this summer, has been delayed until next year.
With no human visitors, the deer have begun browsing in the garden with damage to some of the newly planted trees. I have put in place a temporary scare-crow deterrent, but may need to install more solid protection. I am trying to avoid this as the visual impact is great. Let’s hope it will deter them quickly and can be removed before reopening
The bird boxes are occupied once again with much tapping and flitting around, and the swallows are also back in residence. A pair of ducks appear regularly in the bottom pond, flying off in a hurry whenever they are disturbed, but soon back again. It is a beautiful time of year in the garden.
A new project to add to our research and education resources.
Over the last few weeks I have begun to use a digital microscope to record close-up images of birch flowers. These should help with species identification and we can use this library for future talks, displays and articles. It is a painstaking task, as the flower parts are often less than two millimetres width. I think the images will be a great asset and investment for the future. I look forward to sharing them with you over the coming months.
We will update you as soon as the situation here changes. Thank you again for your loyalty and support. Out best wishes to Friends and volunteers at this difficult time. I look forward to welcoming you back into the garden very soon.
