This is the time of year when the last of the remaining frosts are on the ground and it’s starting to get a little bit warmer. Around the gardens in Tatton the beginnings of spring are starting to emerge: Forsythia intermedia on the L border is now flowering in golden abundance; the delicate white bell-like flowers of the Pieris japonica on the rockery complements the sky blue Irises surrounding them. The pink flowers of the Rhododendron ‘Christmas Cheer’ are peeping through the buds that have enclosed them all year and the dark pink berry-like flowers of the Skimmia rubella around the corner are flowering profusely.
Unfortunately I am missing all of this as I have been digging in the kitchen garden! I have been working on the herb bed which we plan to re-locate to a small raised bed elsewhere in the garden and replace it with a mixture of perennial flowers, including dahlias. We did not have the opportunity to finish preparing this bed during the early winter period, due to the biggest burden on gardeners – the unfavourable weather conditions!
Digging is a tiresome task but very rewarding as it aerates the soil and allows water to seep through. Many of the visitors to Tatton have complimented us on the condition of the soil in the vegetable garden and we simply say it is due to many years of hard work and feeding it with manure and fish blood and bone. I look forward to filling these bare beds with vegetables and flowers later on in the season.
Daniela Jankowska
Unfortunately I am missing all of this as I have been digging in the kitchen garden! I have been working on the herb bed which we plan to re-locate to a small raised bed elsewhere in the garden and replace it with a mixture of perennial flowers, including dahlias. We did not have the opportunity to finish preparing this bed during the early winter period, due to the biggest burden on gardeners – the unfavourable weather conditions!
Digging is a tiresome task but very rewarding as it aerates the soil and allows water to seep through. Many of the visitors to Tatton have complimented us on the condition of the soil in the vegetable garden and we simply say it is due to many years of hard work and feeding it with manure and fish blood and bone. I look forward to filling these bare beds with vegetables and flowers later on in the season.
Daniela Jankowska
The photo shows me rotivating a bed in the kitchen garden during late spring
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