As the first September leaves start to fall and the nights become cooler, let’s reflect on the garden activities over the hot and dry Summer months.
Over in the House Garden, the Bog Garden pond has fared well. It has been a hive of wildlife activity with Damselflies and Emperor Dragonflies being spotted. The latter is a very large, impressive dragonfly - males are pale blue, with an apple-green thorax and a black stripe running the length of the body. Females are similar, but a slightly duller greeny-blue. Both are spectacular. A fact I didn’t know is that Emperor Dragonflies are a characteristic dragonfly of new ponds and, for the first few years, the larvae may be extremely common (courtesy of The Wildlife Trust). Dragonfly larvae have been spotted in our pond, in addition to water boatmen and smooth newts!
Behind the Rose garden, the meadow area has been cut in sections over the last few weeks. This is a technique used to extend the growing season of a wildflower area in the following year. I’m looking forward to seeing the results next year. Some of you may also have been lucky to have seen the leaf-cutter bees in the insect houses in this area. Check to see if they are still there the next time you are in the garden.
While we are on the subject of bees, Beekeeper Annie had a very busy week back in July with honey extraction in the Filmmaker kitchen. Here’s Annie removing the wax caps from the cells so that when the frames spin in the centrifuge the honey has an uninterrupted passage out of each cell and can be collected via a tap at the bottom of the centrifuge. It really is an amazing process.
Over in the Walled Garden, we have had plenty of produce over the Summer. Tomatoes and courgettes have done extremely well, as have our raspberries and beans and (for the first year I think) – aubergines 😊. We have also had success on the sweetcorn front and a special mention to the mashed potato squashes that are now coming thick and fast. There has been the odd “disappointment” and this year the winner has to be the white sprouting broccoli – all leaves and no actual broccoli heads!
Finally, the Walled Garden has given us a beautiful and colourful display of flowers this Summer. The poppies dominated in the earlier months but were soon followed by the towering verbenas and an abundance of nigella with the cosmos and rudbeckia following. Let us not forget our majestic sunflowers and exceptionally pretty morning glory and sweet peas. I am always excited to see what is blooming when I arrive in the garden.
We are very much looking forward to our Autumn time in the garden, and a big thanks to all of the hours and effort that everyone has put in over the Summer. The results are always worth it.
With thanks to the Gaynor Hayburn author of the Gardeners’ newsletter
