Spring is here and the plants are stretching their limbs, head’s up, ready to get going for the year’s growing. There is much to be enjoyed through the changing seasons of the year but the sight of the first shoots and blossom is always a special moment.
In March we complete the last of the winter rose pruning ensuring any dead, diseased or damaged material is removed. We then prune the shoots to about a third to a half of their length and shape them to provide a balanced framework on which the summer’s growth will build and flower.
We are lucky to have a Vegetable Garden that produces crops throughout the year. This means that at this time of year we are still enjoying Leeks, Kale and Parsnips from the beds as we start planting for the coming year’s crops. The first of these into the ground are the First Early Potatoes and the Broad Beans. They’re then followed by the Onion and Garlic sets, and the new seedlings of Kale, and Carrots. We tend to interplant the crops with cut-flowers such as Gladiolus, Cosmos, and Marigold; the first to go in will be the Cornflowers.
March has also brought to a close this season’s Garden Courses. It has been great fun to see the student’s learning different techniques and with their help see the garden slowly emerge from its hibernation. We are looking forward to next year’s courses, details of which will be published soon.