by Lucy Hart, head gardener
This week brings much excitement to the gardens team as our workforce has expanded from Chris A, Chris R and myself – our garden volunteers have started!
We have recruited 30 willing helpers that are coming in regularly – mainly weekly and fortnightly to assist in improving the garden. Under supervision the volunteers will be carrying out all sorts of gardening tasks, from general maintenance such as weeding, dead heading and bed preparation, to more specific tasks. This week we applied another dose of nematodes to control our slug infestations and we will be feeding the potted bay trees, the knot garden box hedging and giving the herbaceous plants a boost with liquid seaweed.
We have also got going with clearing the gardens of the Gothic and Coachman’s Lodges that are beside the main gate. Here we will be creating small gardens for each lodge, which have been under renovation for the past four months and the garden areas have been inaccessible. The lodge renovations are almost complete and its now time to get the gardens looking tip top as the lodges will soon be let out as residential properties. We are very grateful to the extra help from the volunteers in clearing the site, in time grass seed will be laid in order to create lawn areas for both homes.
Learn more about volunteering and how you can get involved.