Rebuilding a nursery - Copton Ash

[Tim Ingram]

Gardening is a continuum, weeding and pruning tells you that! But there are distinct periods when certain plants dominate. This is a view from above along one of the apple rows now, where Brunnera macrophylla is flowering profusely and has self-seeded - sometimes a bit too much. The second picture is two months ago, when the snowdrops (G. nivalis) were flowering - and at their high point they fill this row, and also self-seed. Later, Anthriscus syvestris 'Ravenswing' comes to dominate. The other rows of apples have a much wider range of woodland perennials - in the last picture. These take a lot more weeding and management to stop plants like Brunnera and Anthriscus becoming dominant, but are visually a great deal more interesting through the spring. Getting ready for opening the garden again for the NGS on Sunday...

[Leena]

Lovely views under the apple trees. My Brunneras never flower so much, you have a sea of blue.

[David Lyttle]

Hi Tim,

Always a pleasure to see pictures of your garden and how you place plants. Underplanting your (deciduous) apple trees seems to work very well.

[Tim Ingram]

Leena, your little Anemone is flowering under these trees - thank you.

[Tim Ingram]

The less sexy (or should I say artistic) side of gardening - dealing with the prunings and weeds. A mature garden (aka a 'woodland') is highly productive and these piles of prunings can either be left to break down naturally, burnt, or shredded. In the past we made a lot of weed-free compost by mixing grass cuttings and finer shredded material, which enabled it to reach high enough temperatures to kill any seed or pathogens. Now generally we shred woody prunings when the piles begin to become large enough that they can't be ignored! These, and grass cuttings, are used for mulching in different places. The second picture shows this in the newly planted area beneath the eucalypts. Hopefully this will keep weeds in this area at bay for the coming season and allow other parts of the garden to be cleared for replanting through the summer and autumn.

[Tim Ingram]

Prompted by a dig from David Nicholson of spending too much time placing pictures on Facebook  . So I will return to update progress in the garden here in what has been a very dry year until recent storms in July. By now the garden is at its most productive (in terms of weeds!) and runs away from the gardener. These are concerted efforts to rein back on the overgrowth - in particular opening up under trees and pruning the hedge behind the long border.

When you plant trees in the garden (see last picture taken in autumn 1993), and they carry on growing and obscure the view (the third picture of Betula ermanii in full autumn glory in 2015). With the help of a superb extendable Pole Saw made by Silky, the trees have now grown tall enough to open up a view through their canopy and there is that feeling of space again. The downside is aching arms and a good deal of future shredding and log cutting for the wood burner in winter.

[Tim Ingram]

Pruning the beech hedge behind the long border, which has not been pruned for too long and grown too high to be comfortably cut. An alpine gardener after 40 years becomes a forester. Rather than an Ancient Mariner, a woodland philosopher (or perhaps just an old man of the trees... 🤔). Any volunteers to help with the shredding? A good bit more to do around the garden but my daughter Robyn has been helping which has spurred me on. There is that sense that the garden breathes again, but the gardener is more out of breath!

[Maggi Young]

Big job there, Tim.  Lovely pine tree.

We're delighted today that we've got our old shredder back in good order after a trip to the engineers to revive her! So we'll be able to get on with the pruning work that's waiting here.
 What a marvelous helper a shredder can be - not as beautiful as a helpful daughter, of course! 

[David Nicholson]

.
 What a marvelous helper a shredder can be - not as beautiful as a helpful daughter, of course! 

........but daughters are far more expensive

[Maggi Young]

........but daughters are far more expensive

Surely not? Anyhow, worth every penny..... ( I speak as a daughter, of course!!)

[Tim Ingram]

The evolution of an alpine trough. The inspiration (and initial plants) for this came from visiting the 2nd International Rock Garden Conference in May 2013 http://czrgs.cz/photogallery.html. Like many things about gardens the planting changed over time and something was learnt! These two pictures are separated by four years and some of the 'in between' is described in my last AGS Kent Diary entry (plus some references to others who have more experience with troughs  . http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/diaries/Kent/+August+/848/. The enthusiasm is now on to work on the row of empty troughs that have been sitting waiting for a couple of years...

[Maggi Young]

Seems that the Kent Alpine Show at Sutton Valence went well - some pix pinched from Tim on FB!
The Farrer medal was awarded to a super pot of Crocus banaticus 'Snowdrift' - from Alan Furness.  The Alpine Dept. at Wisley put on a good display... and there were clearly many other very good plants on show at an event which also  boasted other attractions at the venue as well as the show. Seems these Kentish folk are full of ideas to widen the scope of interest to the event -  well done everyone!

Seems the time of Sutton Valence is coming round again...... this year  21st October....

[Tim Ingram]

  As ever you are ahead of the game Maggi! Gearing up for the AGS Show... but before that this weekend is the Autumn Plant Fair at Great Dixter with a certain Alpine Plant Nursery from the neighbourhood of Edinburgh  , and another that grows a smattering of peonies  . This is the nurseryman Dino Pellizzaro from a couple of years back.

[Maggi Young]

That will be a great weekend, I don't doubt, Tim - more details here : https://www.greatdixter.co.uk/whats-on/events/great-dixter-autumn-plant-fair/  and I see that Kevock are attending !
 
 A lot of SRGC/AGS folks will be heading to Ponteland  by Newcastle on Saturday, though, (I hope!)  for the autumn show there.

[Tim Ingram]

This really is like theatre. It has that same process of organisation and direction... and curtain rising, but so much preparation and 'rehearsal' before that happens. For the 'players' - if you think of the nurseries taking these roles - there is that same involvement as for the venue, and the partnership between the two is what makes these Plant Fairs at Dixter so unique and irresistable.