Now that all of our heritage potato varieties have been lifted from the kitchen garden we have spent a day ploughing the bed with the aim of removing the compacted layers of soil which continue to cause us cultivation problems.

Our new single furrow reversible plough attaches onto our BCS740 two-wheel tractor supplied by tracmaster. Please click on the link below for further details on this piece of equipment and the available attachments.
http://www.tracmaster.co.uk/BCS-740-Two-Wheel-Tractor.html

Once the bed had been cultivated, Nicola and James raked the bed level removing some surplus stone. The bed was then consolidated by performing a very amusing to watch, "gardeners shuffle". This is where the gardeners walk across the bed walking on their heels moving forward at a very slow pace with feet together across the area. This consolidates the soil lightly and effectively. Once this was completed the gardeners then used landscape rakes to produce a fine tilth ready for sowing.

Our intention for this bed is to grow a green manure during the winter months which will then be dug in following cutting in early spring. The green manure will help to stabilise the soil during the winter months while also adding organic material to the soil which in time will increase the humus level within the soil. The particular green manure that we have selected is a Winter Mix Green Manure containing Crimson Clover, Mustard, Red Clover and Italian Ryegrass. Please click on the link below for further details regarding this green manure.

http://www.sowseeds.co.uk/green-manure-seeds/winter-mix-green-manure-seeds.html

The morning, after sowing, upon arrival to the kitchen garden the area was covered with pigeons slowly but surely undoing all this hard work. Birds are generally not an issue for us however we have decided to install some wonderful Victorian bird scarers to help reduce their presence in this area.

Nicola discovered this particular technique some time ago while reading through Victorian kitchen garden references.

Nicola suspended six potatoes from arching bamboo stems placed around the vegetable bed. Each potato has between 10 and 15 feathers stuck in them giving the impression of a bird. The feathers help the potato to move and swaying upon the pendulum. At present this appears to be keeping the pigeons away. Although this cannot be said for all the wildlife. On the second morning of the new bird scarers one had been detached from it's bamboo cane and taken several metres away. The feathers had been removed. We believe this to be the activity of a fox as all those feathers were removed and the potato was effectively unharmed. The long potato tubers of the pink fir apple proves be very effective and almost give the impression of a very large hummingbird when it bobs back and forth.

BIAZA Conference

Last week I attended a conference for Zoological horticulturists. The main reason for attending the event was to give a presentation on Myddelton House Gardens followed by a tour of the gardens highlighting the restoration work as well as the horticultural practices we undertake in the garden. I was sent the full programme of the conference a few days before and realised that there was a great benefit for me if I was able to attend. I was delighted that this was possible.

The organisation that has put on the conference is the British and Irish Association of Zoo and Aquariums (BIAZA). For details please click on the link below. They hold a conference within the UK annually open to all zoological gardeners. This year it was held at Paradise Wildlife Park Broxbourne, up the road from Myddelton.

http://www.biaza.org.uk/

A view from the Lunch table!

I thoroughly enjoyed the two days of the conference with presentations on subjects from alien aquatic species to which tender plants you can select for our climate.

 http://pwpark.com/index.html

Alister introducing the East Gardens - Hatfield House

Vegetable Garden - Hatfield House

Hatfield House Maze

The conference proved a great source for sharing horticultural practices as well as networking with fellow professional horticulturists from zoos such as Paignton, Chester Edinburg, Bristol etc. Following the first day I returned that evening to attend a BBQ at Paradise Wildlife Park. Part of the evening was spent experiencing some of the park and the animals. We were allowed to feed Meerkats and Lemurs. The highlight for me, however, was watching the visual health check of a White Lion. The keeper Aaron used fresh meat to position the 35 stone lion at the optimum place against the enclosure fence. Although we were separated by a fence, we were all affected every time the lion roared - well every one but Aaron. What an experience!

Open House

Myddelton House Gardens opened the front door of the main house for the annual Open House day on 18th September. The doors opened at 10am. Members of the E. A. Bowles of Myddelton House Gardens Society were stewarding within each room of the of the ground floor. It is a wonderful opportunity for visitors to view the property and to see exactly how Mr Bowles had the house with the aid of photographs and text. It brings alive what is now essential offices and meeting rooms for the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority with tales and anecdotes from members of the Bowles Society members.

Nearly 400 members of the public passed through the house. I greeted visitors whilst also promoting the heritage variety potatoes we are selling. A total of 27 2.5kg bags of potatoes were sold during the day.

This event alway proves to be a good opportunity to talk to people regarding membership of the E A Bowles of Myddelton House Society and to explain the benefits of becoming a member. For more information on membership please click on the link below which will direct you to their website.

http://eabowlessociety.org.uk/

Coach Trip

On Saturday 10^th September I joined The E A Bowles of Myddelton House Gardens Society on a coach trip. We left Myddelton at 9am headed for Hyde Hall the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) garden in Essex. When we arrived Ian Le Gros, the curator, welcomed us and told us about all the developments that have been happening in the gardens since the RHS was given the property in 1993 by Dick and Helen Robinson. A recent development is the new visitors centre which opened a couple of years ago. It is a modern building with clean lines constructed from timber, glass and stainless steel. Although it is very smart it does not have the same ‘oldie worldy’  atmosphere of the old barn which is situated at the top of the hill close to the house. The barn serves a range of hot and cold food. Bryan and I tucked into bowls of delicious butternut squash soup. I had not visited the garden for the last couple of years and although the main structure was much the same. I would like to visit again in a years time to see how the extension to the dry garden has been planted and started to establish.
 

 
A tree that has always fascinated me for years, due to its quirky growth habit is Taxodium distichum var. imbricarium 'Nutans'. It is a tree that I first discovered whilst studying at the Sir Harold Hillier’s Garden and Arboretum near Romsey Hampshire.

Following lunch we boarded the coach for our second garden of the day which was closer to home. Copped Hall in Epping Forest, once a large family run estate, fell into disrepair once the family left in the 1940's. The family abandoned the grand house following a electrical fire that gutted the majority of the house in 1917. The family moved to another smaller property on the estate. The naked architecture of this mansion is fascinating to see as the vast majority of the plaster and wooden panelling is no longer present. The houses’ remarkable survival is due to a wonderful band of dedicated volunteers that managed to purchase the house and gardens in 1995 after many years of fight to protect the house from being converted into a hotel, luxury apartments, a golf course and even from demolition. The house and garden continue to be supported and restored solely by volunteers with the occasional skilled craftsman brought in for specialist work. This is a remarkable feat of volunteering power. I would recommend a visit. I will certainly continue to visit the house and garden following its progress.

http://www.coppedhalltrust.org.uk/

 
Close to the racket house, which is now used to serve refreshment on open days, stands a large specimen of Taxodium distichum Swamp cypress. This tree shows no signs of knees because there is no water in the vicinity.
 

The tour took in the extensive basemet

The south facing wall with diamond shape black decorative brick work which has faded more on this southerly aspect 

The wonderful boarder planted and  maintaned by only one volunteer 

The grand iron entrance gates

Copped Hall