As I scribble this blog in the NGS Garden Ferns Lodge shed, Ghillie is snoring at my feet, having been unsuccessfully chasing rabbits in the big garden already this morning. It must be said that there are FAR TOO MANY of them and a rabbit platoon has even made it into the top garden – our rabbit defences have been increased now, but they are a nuisance.
With our long and wet summer, the garden is looking lovely. The grass is growing massively and most things are growing at a rate unseen by me before. The autumn cut back has started, and in the breeze today, the first of the turning leaves are fluttering onto the lawn – a sure sign that autumn will most certainly be with us tomorrow.
The pots of plants that will be sold at our garden opening next year are already beginning to multiply as we cut back, divide and made sense of the jumble of growth in the garden.
Thinking forward to the restoration, Dan and his chums and digger will be back in September to start work on the new bed by the vegetable garden. There is a dead yew to come down and numerous other stuff – as well as brambles as tall as me. We will also do some tree work, there are some dead, and others that need a trim, and others again about which I am worried. Ash die back is a horrible disease and Ferns Lodge garden is not immune.
The vegetable garden is a joy – at the moment I am living on green beans and courgettes. The leaks are doing well and the sweetcorn is not far away. We have had our share of disasters with blight on the tomatoes and not really understanding our polytunnel as well as we should. However, we have plenty of cucumbers, aubergines are on their way and peppers too – so all good! This year has been a fantastic learning experience and my big take away is that NOTHING tastes as good as vegetables picked from the garden and eaten that day. The second is that whilst you can fence against rabbits, deer and the rest, but cabbage flies and other bugs can still invade – wasn’t expecting that…!!
The bees have been busy with one immaculate hive. The other swarmed (not OK) and we now await a new queen – very exciting!
In amongst all this, we now have our approximate dates for our NGS open weekend for 2022 and I hope that you will save the date and see what we’ve been up to with the restoration next summer. So on the 28/29 May (TBC, watch this space) we very much hope to see you here at Ferns Lodge for a jolly good look round, a scone with lashings of cream and strawberry jam and a nice cup of tea…
Contact sue.grant@fernslodge.co.uk.
