From Thursday, 1 May The Stables restaurant is open every day. For all enquiries please see www.thestableshospitality.com
Pruning has been the predominant task for the Formal Gardens team over the last couple of weeks, and its no surprise…
Last Thursday all of us gardeners disappeared from Hestercombe for the day and went to Bicton college near Buddleigh Salterton in Devon for a study day. http://www.bicton.ac.uk/ As some of you know we have recently moved and restored two large Victorian glasshouses which we intend to use to propagate plants for the garden, and also to start to supply the shop. This is a big move forward for the team as previously we have tried our best at seed sowing and cuttings on a terribly small scale with a domestic size glasshouse and a small poly tunnel with limited success. Having a glasshouse just makes the whole gardening cycle make more sense. It means that we can hold stock plants such as rosemary and lavender, we can save seed annually from the garden to create more plants, and we can start to produce all the plants that visitors see in the garden and want to take home. At the moment we have just the shell of the glasshouse up but fund raising is continuing to get purpose built benches made, to put in a heated bench for cuttings and seeds, and to get a heat source to keep the glasshouse frost free- meaning that we can overwinter more plants. It is exciting times for us, so to get us fired up and to refresh our memories about glasshouse work, we arranged for a one day course, just for us, at Bicton college. We spent the day in the glasshouse with Janice Hindley, who took us through several propagation techniques, seed sowing, and glasshouse pest and disease issues. It was a really informative day and has mentally prepared us for the task in hand- so watch this space! And keep an eye out for a Bicton college open day- they have lovely grounds and a great plant collection and you can fit in a visit to the seperate Bicton park Gardens too. http://www.bictongardens.co.uk/
Today was the first of the Confident Gardener workshops at Hestercombe and we mastered apple pruning. Although very cold, we had dry weather and met a lovely bunch of people who had come to learn how to prune their trees at home. As with anything I am involved with, this also included a great deal of tea drinking and lots of general chat- about gardening obviously! Thanks to all of you for attending, it was lovely to meet you all and I hope that it is all a bit clearer now. If roses fill you with doubt every time you go to prune them why not sign up to our Confident Gardener workshop on rose pruning on the 20th February. There is also a Confident Gardener workshop on seed sowing coming up on the 20th March. See the events page on our website for details.
Another week, and it's a week that is filled with menu planning for the new spring season. A visit to a local food show always gives a great opportunity to meet new suppliers and find new ideas. As winter is still upon us a great and versatile (if a little bit ugly) vegetable is the celeriac, fantastic as a soup and also great as mash or puree to accompany a main course such as venison or beef. (Look out for it!) Shellfish such as clams, mussels and cockles can be used to make a lovely chowder or mussels by themselves with some crusty bread is just divine. I have also been informed by my 8 year old son that pancake day is soon (“it’s the 12th February Dad, I googled it!”) So we may have a few pancakes to tempt you with next week. It is half-term after all so bring the kids along. One more little story before I go – I was explaining to my other son (aged 5) that Philip White (big boss man) would be going up to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen for his MBE. “What is that for Daddy” he asked so I said “for saving Hestercombe and making it great again” (didn’t go into too much detail, he is only 5 after all) and he replied “wow that’s awesome, do you think he’ll be able to save Blockbusters as well???” I’m not quite sure he’ll manage that one, might need a bit of help!!
This is us planting up the Victorian Terrace back in November last year. and this is it today.... We plant it up with spring annuals in November. These then stay in until May when it is all taken out and replanted with a new design and new summer annuals. We get Kim Legate, the archivist, to design our patterns. They are all based on original ideas for Victorian bedding scheme designs and we try to use plants that would have been popular in the era. We are slightly limited as we have stopped using spring bulbs.. we may have well just bought them as feed for the squirrels!! sometimes you just have to know when to give in. As a very wise man (a gardener from Barrington Court) once told me 'You can't fight nature'- and he had a good point!
Tomorrow is a sad day for the garden team as Luke Hampton moves on to pastures new. Luke has been with us for two years working in the Landscape garden and also acting as our estate maintenance man, and as the miller. He has been a fabulous employee. I am yet to meet anyone who doesn't like him and he is always first to raise a smile in our mess room, even on a rainy day. Driving down from Clevedon (the Don, as Luke calls it) every day has finally got to him and he has found a job closer to home. The gardeners will all really miss him- especially Ben who I think may cry! So goodbye Luke and good luck with your new job.
If you are visiting Hestercombe over the next couple of weeks (and you must) then make sure you head to the rotunda in the formal garden to 'smell spring'. The walls of the rotunda are covered in a deciduous shrub called Chimonanthus praecox, also known as Wintersweet. At this time of year it produces these small waxy flowers that look rather like a 1930's lampshade. They are not the most beautiful flowers in the world but their scent is magnificent. The rotunda is such an clever place to grow them as the scent gets trapped within the circular walls so you just cant help but notice it. Many winter flowering plants are heavily scented in order to make sure that they attract what little insect life there is at this time of year to pollinate them. The Victorian shrubbery has been specifically planted with early spring flowers so come and take a look/sniff. And hurry, these flowers don't hang around long!
There are a few last minute spaces on the Apple Pruning workshop with our Head Gardener Claire Reid next Wednesday. The…
The main road up to Hestercombe (Pitchers Hill / Volis Hill) will be temporarily closed on Sunday 3rd February for…
HESTERCOMBE HUMDINGER & SUNDAY ROASTS! We've teamed up with Forever Running for the annual running race around…
January is a great time to take some hardwood cuttings of any deciduous shrubs or trees you may have in your garden. You can take hardwood cuttings anytime over the winter once the shrubs have lost their leaves and before the new buds break in the spring. Today I have taken some cuttings of Cornus alba 'Sibirica' and Cornus stolonifera 'Flaviramea' which are found growing in the Shrubbery and here is how it was done: 1/ Collect the material from the chosen shrub. From Cornus, you are looking to take strong, straight stems that have grown this year. Avoid any old, weak or damaged growth. Use sharp secateurs and cut long stems that you can shorten to size later. 2/ Prepare your growing medium a.k.a compost. Mix some multipurpose compost with a little perlite or grit for drainage. Use clean pots when you take cuttings to help prevent any fungal diseases. Today I used 'long toms' which are a tall, narrow pot. 3/ Prepare your cuttings. I cut the Cornus to a length of about 25cm. I made a straight cut just below a bud at the bottom of the cutting. I then made a slanted cut above a bud (about 25cm above the first cut). Having a straight cut at the bottom and a slanted cut at the top helps you to orientate your cutting so it doesn't get planted upside down! Above: Slanted cut at the top of the cutting and straight cut at the bottom. 4/ At this point you can insert the base of your cutting into a hormone rooting powder. Fill your pot with compost and gently firm it down, then use a dibber or a stick to gently make a hole, and carefully insert your cutting. You want to leave enough space between cuttings to allow good air circulation, I tend to insert about five cuttings per pot. Above: Five cuttings per pot. 5/ Label the cuttings with the name of the plant and the date. Water them in using a watering can with a rose. This will gently settle the compost without disturbing the cuttings. They can then be placed outside or in a coldframe. Above: Always label your cuttings so you know what they are! Here are a few more photos to show what else has been happening in the garden over the last week and a bit!: Above: Snowy Hestercombe! The Pear Pond in the Landscape Garden last Wednesday! Above: One of our students, Hannah, thinning out the woodland area above the car park. Above: Hazel coppicing. We cut and collect stems of hazel to use as our plant supports in the Formal Garden in the spring.
Ok people, I know that the weather has been a bit challenging recently but it is time to shake off the winter blues with a trip to Hestercombe gardens. I know it's grey, I know it's raining but spring is springing and I'd hate you to miss it! Besides I read somewhere that a brisk walk in the fresh air is just the ticket for re focusing and re charging the batteries so get your wellies on, bring your dogs, bring the pushchair and get out here. The new signs of spring will lift even the darkest mood. and if that isn't enough you can reward yourselves with a huge hot chocolate and even bigger slice of cake- after all you have deserved it!!
