Category: Dear Walter – letters/info from Old School Garden


Dear Walter: Letter from Old School Garden, 30th January 2014

Filed under: Dear Walter - letters/info from Old School Garden, Gardening techniques, Grow your own food — Leave a comment
30/01/2014
Cyclamen still looking good in the courtyard
Cyclamen still looking good in the courtyard

To: Walter De Grasse – 30th January 2014

Dear Walter,

Is it too late to wish you Happy New Year?! I hope that you have a great year, especially in your wonderful garden. It seems ages since I last wrote to you, probably because we’ve had all the activity that comes with Christmas and New Year and then gradually getting back into the rhythm of something approaching a normal routine! It’s been an interesting couple of weeks here at Old School Garden, though I must admit that only in the last week have I begun (sometimes with muscles and bones screaming ‘don’t do it!’), to get back into the garden for an hour or two each day (well some days).

Seeds sorted- I'v e been through my supply and filed them in date order for sowing
Seeds sorted- I’ve been through my supply and filed them in date order for sowing

I’ve managed to finally collect the last of the leaves (mostly Oak, that seem to be the last to fall), pruned the Grapevine and Apple Trees and continued to tidy up dead and untidy foliage as new growth starts to emerge. I also sowed my first seeds the other day; a mixture of early veg (Calabrese and Leeks) with some annuals and perennials. It was quite pleasing to review my seed purchases alongside spare seed from earlier years and to start to place the packets in my seed box in date order for sowing. I’m fully expecting  my dining room to soon be full of seedlings in the process of growing on prior to putting outside in the cold frame or greenhouse (or even under cloches/fleece). I’ve purchased some rather more exotic annuals and perennials this year as well as ordering some ‘heritage’ varieties of vegetable from the Garden Organic Heritage Seed Library. Oh, and I mustn’t forget my Christmas gift of some carrot seeds called ‘Nigel’!

Greek Squashes grown last year- a 'heritage' variety, more of which I plan to grow this year
Greek Squashes grown last year- a ‘heritage’ variety, I’m planning to grow more ‘heritage veg’ this year

I’ll tell you more about these different plants as they get growing, but I’m excited about the greater diversity of food and flowers I’ll be growing this year. I should by now have done plan for the kitchen garden, but haven’t managed this, partly because I’m a little stumped as to how to do it now that I’m aiming to grow a wider range of smaller quantities in successional sowings and mixing in more ornamentals too. I must devote a few hours to thinking this one through – I’ll put the final version in a post soon – hopefully!

Though I know that you’ve been more affected by me by the wave of storms and flooding we’ve been having in the UK, but even with this, the lack of any really cold spell makes me wonder if we’re going to get a ‘real winter’ this year! As testimony to the mild weather I’m amazed at how the Melianthus is still putting on new foliage and plants like the Scabious and Fuchsia I have in the courtyard are still flowering!

Call of the mild- Scaboius still flowering ..
Melianthus still putting on new leaves…
Fuchsia still flowering- just

I’ll be putting in a few more hours outside as the days continue to lengthen, including finishing off pruning the roses and moving and dividing some herbaceous plants I didn’t get round to in the Autumn. Well I say that, but I may have to curtail my own gardening time in the next few months as I’ve taken on some new teaching work at a local high school (working with Foundation skills students to develop their school garden and especially food growing). I’m off there later today to work with two groups, focusing on what they’d like to grow in their plots, which we can hopefully get into soon and begin the work of preparing the ground etc. The School Garden is a potentially wonderful resource, with two large greenhouses with electrically operated vents and water supplies, lots of tools and equipment and a south-facing aspect with what seems to be good soil- once the weeds have been cleared and its been turned over and fed of course!

I’m also hoping to repeat my Garden Design and Grow Your Own Food courses for adults (assuming we get the numbers required). These are due to kick off next week, and it looks hopeful that they’ll run.

signs of Spring- wintyer Aconites and Primrose…
Bulbs starting to emerge alongside Cyclamen persicum

I’m also carrying on with supporting the local Primary school in its ‘Learning Outside the Classroom’. In fact as I write this the School is being inspected for its latest accreditation on it’s outdoor work, hopefully an addition to its ‘level 5’ achievement in the RHS Campaign for School Gardening. I’ll be getting over to the School after half term to help them get seed sowing underway and hopefully getting the youngest children involved through use of the ‘pallet planters’ we built last year, plus a mini greenhouse for propagation, all of which can be placed near to their classrooms.

I guess that my support for individual households in food growing may also pick up soon, as I’ve promised help to  three of the students on the first ‘GYO’ course that ran in Foulsham last Autumn. Sadly the ‘Master Gardener’ programme in Norfolk is about to be reduced due to the ending of some grant funding, but I’m likely to continue to be involved in the Breckland area, where the local Council is supporting the work.

No doubt you’re well ahead in your plot? I’d love to hear what you’re up to and your plans for the year. I’m contemplating repeating our opening of Old School Garden to the public once more, as this was such an enjoyable day and one which raised funds to support worthy local projects – most of which involve gardening. Maybe you and Ferdy would like to join us – it’ll probably be in late June/early July? Well, I’ll sign off for now, wishing you and her well and looking forward to hearing from you.

all the best,

Old Schoool Gardener

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

Dear Walter- letter from Old School Garden, 23rd December 2013

Filed under: Dear Walter - letters/info from Old School Garden, Gardening techniques — Leave a comment
23/12/2013
Molehills seem to be springing up at a rate of knots in Old School Garden!
Molehills seem to be springing up at a rate of knots in Old School Garden!

Letter from Old School Garden 23rd December 2013

Dear Walter,

As I write this a major storm is sweeping across the country,disrupting travel, cutting power from homes and maybe even bringing further local flooding. I hope that you aren’t in danger from this.Fortunately we seem to be missing the worst of it, but nevetheless the winds are ferocious and I’m wondering if we can complete out planned Christmas family gathering later today, as I’m due to collect my eldest daughter and her boy friend from Norwich Station. Let’s hope they are able to get a train before the cancellations set it in at 5pm.

Setting the current ‘excitement’ aside, it’s been a pretty quiet time here at Old School Garden in recent weeks. I’ve been collecting Physalis fruit, Rose hips and Crab apples (‘Red Sentinel’) for festive decorations and rather good they look too. The other day I was pleased to discover that my local nursery had its supply of seed potatoes in, so rather than wait and possibly miss out on my favourite variety (‘Charlotte’), I bought a bag of these and one of Maris Bard (second and first earlies respectively). Once Christmas is over I’ll be setting these out on trays to ‘chit’ (sprout).

Festive Decoration- Physalis
Festive Decoration- Physalis

We’ve also had some new french doors fitted and I managed to grab the old glazed doors which I hope to use for cloches to warm the soil/protect tender crops in the new season. I really haven’t done as much as I’d hoped in the garden this past few weeks. As I said last month, the weather has been quite mild so I should have taken advantage of this to move things around, but all I’ve managed to do is extend a border and moved a few perennials to here and one or two other places. I still have some larger clumps of Achillea and Echinops to split and move.

I’ve just about managed to keep on top of leaf collection, but have noticed how the grass has kept growing, so at some point I shall have to venture out with the mower to keep it to a reasonable height. Having said this, mole hills seem to appear almost as I’m clearing the old ones away!

The last month has seen some gorgeous autumn colour- the Euphorbia palustris was especially brilliant, and I’m looking forward to seeing the various groups of Dogwoods as their bright stems liven up the winter garden.

Red Sentinel crab apples
Red Sentinel crab apples

The greenhouse is now fully set up with electric heater, insulation and tender plants all in- though I’ve still to get the Dahlias properly potted up for winter. I’ve ordered some flower seeds and these have arrived. I’ve gone for few more exotic- looking varieties of flowers this year and also some extras which I’ll use for an extended ornamental area in kitchen garden. I’ll turn to more detailed planning of these areas and my propagation schedule in the next week or two. I’ve also re-potted some house plants and I’m trying to care for these a little better, by thinking about their placement and trying not to over water them!

On the wider front, I’ve been approached by a Norfolk High School about tutoring a group of students on the School gardening plot, probably for a couple of sessions a week.This sounds interesting and something I’m keen to do, so will be visiting the School garden in early January to discuss plans in more detail. Meanwhile, I’ve continued to help at my local primary school. The mild weather has meant that we managed to plant out some leek ‘survivors’ from a sowing earlier in the year- hopefully it will remain mild enough for them to get settled. The children have also been busy collecting a lot of leaves for leaf mould. I’ll probably be back with them after February half term to get on with some seed sowing, amongst other things

Rose hips
Rose hips

I’ve also heard that I may have a new garden design commission in the New Year and I’ve agreed to meet up with the Head Gardener at nearby Salle Park Gardens to discuss her plans for turning over a portion of their 2 acre walled garden to ornamental rather than food production ( a bit like my own plans but on a much larger scale!).

As I mentioned last month my courses in Garden Design and Grow Your Own Food seem to have been successful and I’m hoping that we can run another set beginning in February, though once more subject to numbers of course.

Well, old friend I hope that you and Lise are safe in this rough weather and that you have a wonderful Christmas time with your family, tucked up in that lovely old house of yours. All the best to you and them at this special time and here’s to a productive gardening year in 2014!

Old School Gardener

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comment

Blogiversary!

Filed under: A musing: odd thoughts, Blogging, Dear Walter - letters/info from Old School Garden, This and that — Leave a comment
17/12/2013

IMG_4966A year ago today I posted my first article on Old School Garden. Thank you to all those people who have taken the trouble to read that and the more than 1000 articles or other posts I’ve made since then. And a special thanks to those who are regular followers of Old School Garden.

So what have I achieved and what has been the experience?

First the ‘metrics’ for the last year:

  • 1018 posts or articles published (including re-blogs)

  • Over 40,000 ‘hits’ or ‘views’ from visitors in 129 countries with the highest dally total views being 429. The average daily views is now standing at well over 100.

  • Over 5,000 posts were shared by visitors via Facebook, Twitter and a wide range of other platforms

  • 1,653 ‘followers’ alerted to new posts via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and directly via email (the latter has grown in the year to 285 followers)

  • Over 900 comments, including 300 of my own in reply to others, with recycling projects and ‘Picposts’ generating most comments

  • Not surprisingly the United Kingdom, USA, Canada and Australia account for over 80% of the hits (the U.K. alone 46%)

  • Overall, the most viewed posts seem to be about recycling projects (interest in projects in the garden using pallets and other recycled materials seem to be really popular, as have posts dealing with design, gardening techniques and play)

  • 21% of the views have been generated by internet searches using a wide range of search terms, and a further 10% via Twitter and 6% each via Facebook and Pinterest

I’m not sure if these figures are impressive or not – my guess is that they’re probably ‘middling’ when compared to the full range of numbers achieved by different blogs.

Pallet furniture and other garden recycling projects seem to have been especially popular this last year
Pallet furniture and other garden recycling projects seem to have been especially popular this last year

What has been my blogging experience?

I’m pleased at the overall numbers of people who have viewed the blog and that many have ‘liked’ or commented on the articles and other material I’ve shared.

I’ve been surprised at how some posts have generated enormous interest, with views ‘spiking’ on recycling posts in particular.

I’m pleased that my efforts to inform about gardening using a range of post types seem to have been well received; examples include ‘GQT’; ‘A-Z of Perennials; ‘Plantax’; monthly ‘top tips’ and various series on design topics, climate change, school gardening etc.

I guess I’m feeling that I haven’t yet ‘found my audience’ with the blog and that I seem to have generated only a small (but nonetheless very valued) community of followers who are stimulated enough to contribute to developing ideas and knowledge via comments.This may be in part due to my eagerness to produce a relatively large number of posts only a few of which have been structured and styled to generate debate.

So, I think I need to revise my blogging strategy. Perhaps I need a combination of meatier items, more of which are focused on developing ideas and seeking opinions, but retaining a mix of other types of post (but maybe reducing the frequency of these?). To ‘educate, inform and entertain’ (a la BBC) but with ‘stimulate’ perhaps added?!

What do you think? I’d love to hear from you!

Old School Gardener

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

Tags: , , , , ,
Comment

Dear Walter: Letter from Old School Garden 28th November 2013

Filed under: Dear Walter - letters/info from Old School Garden, Design — Leave a comment
28/11/2013
Califorinian Poppies- a possible addition to the new front border
Califorinian Poppies- a possible addition to the new front border

To Walter Degrasse

Dear Walter,

I write this month about lots of gardening related activity, but not so much ‘direct action’ in Old School Garden. The past few weeks have remained relatively mild here in Norfolk, only the slightest of frosts having affected us to date. I think this weather has been one of the reasons I’ve felt able to leave off doing some of the garden jobs I might have gotten on with in other years; leaf raking, dahlia digging, plant moving, bulb planting etc.

Even though the greenhouse is more or less set up for winter with its bubble wrap insulation and electric heater, I haven’t yet hooked the latter up and certainly haven’t felt the need to get it going. The greenhouse now has our Pelargonums, Echeveria and tender pot plants all set out for their winter repose.

You remember the border of old English Lavender as you come into our drive? Well, I decided this has now got to be so ‘leggy’ and large that it was time to take it out and go for something fresh. I’m experimenting a little here, as I’ve transplanted a few Sedum plants  (some of a spectabile variety I salvaged from Peckover House, whilst working there), and these are fronted by some divided Nepeta (‘Catmint’) to mirror a similar edge on the other side of the drive. I’ve spread the Sedum around a bit and inter planted them with the four packs of tulip bulbs I bought in Amsterdam recently.

My hope, then is that the white, violet and blue heads of these will give a good spring show and once these are over I’ll put in some annuals to complement the violet flowers and glaucous foliage of the Nepeta- possibly some Californian Poppies as their shades of orange and red will give a real burst of interest in high summer. I migth also add some grasses (Stipa tennuissima for instance), and some Nerine bulbs that could do with replanting.  These should both work well with the Sedums for some late Autumn colour and interest. I’ll post some photos of this border as the season progresses so that you can see how the plan works out in practice!

Sedum spectabile
Nepeta
Nerine bowdenii

Today looks like good plant moving weather, so I think I’ll try to tackle another area at the front of the house, by moving some Perovskia (Russian Sage) to a more suitable location fronting  our big laurel hedge (and with some further Sedums in front to help this rather lax performer stay upright), and possibly plant the remaining 40 bulbs we got from Holland, along with some more Sedum (‘Herbstfreude’) to the front of the house.

I won’t repeat all my other ‘garden related’ news here as you have probably been reading about this in other articles:

  • Trips to Portugal and Amsterdam including lots of interesting garden visits

  •  Completing the courses I’ve been running on ‘Grow Your Own Food’ and ‘Garden Design’, both of which seem to have gone down well with the participants. I hope to be running further courses in the New Year.

  • Doing a ‘mystery shopper’ inspection of a Country Park near here as part of the ‘Green Flag’ scheme.

  • Very satisfying reports on how some of the money raised at the opening of Old School Garden back in July has been used to fund food growing projects in Norfolk under the ‘Master Gardener’ programme.

The splendid ceiling of the bandstand in Estrela Gardens, Lisbon- a highlight of a recent visit
The splendid ceiling of the bandstand in Estrela Gardens, Lisbon- a highlight of a recent visit

Come to think of it, I haven’t said much of late about my voluntary efforts at the local primary school and Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse. We’ve had some very productive sessions at the school,  with children planting three apple trees in the orchard , weeding and digging over the soil in preparation for next year, sowing broad beans, onion sets, garlic bulbs and some green manure (the latter doesn’t seem to have germinated, probably down to the age of the seed). I’ve been heartened by the children’s enthusiasm for gardening, and I’m getting to know some of the real characters at the school- it’s always a joy to be greeted so enthusuastically when I arrive at the school!

At the recent ‘open day’ one parent commented on how excited her child was when he brought home a runner bean seed in all its wonderful purply violet colours and one pupil who had sown some broad bean seeds in paper pots at this event, proudly presented me with one plant as ‘an early Christmas present’! A couple of ‘Garden Gang’ events have also resulted in the garden being tidied up, more progress being made on our plastic bottle greenhouse and the plumbing in of water butts from the garden shed to help with water supply. Parents are regular helpers at these sessions.

I’ve also had a sort through the school’s seed collection. This was an interesting exercise, there being many packets (and several of these unopened) dating from 3 or more years ago. I’m tempted to give some these a go next year, though there are many packets where I suspect the seed is just too old to bother with. Here’s a useful article about using old seeds.

Can you use old seeds?
Can you use old seeds?

At Gressenhall Museum the gardens are slowly fading into dormancy and time has been largely spent here managing the decline to keep the borders presentable, planting up some new entrance barrels with bulbs and pansies for spring interest, as well as helping with other routine tasks such as raking out leaves and excess plants from the wildlife pond, weeding, and mulching the extended front entrance border with compost to help improve a rather poor soil. I think I’ll put in one more session here to complete the tidy up and them things can be left until the spring.

Well, Walter, that’s about the sum of my efforts over the last month, and you’ll probably award me only 5 out of 10 for what I’ve actually done in Old School Garden!

Hopefully today I can make inroads to the remaining jobs and then spend some time working out my priorities for the next couple of months. I know this list will include reorganising the outside sheds, installing a barrier made out of pallets to support the border in which my fan – trained cherry and plum are starting to get established and ordering seeds for next year. The latter will involve paring down the current list from my excited first look at the catalogues! I must remember to check the seeds I already have, including some purchased on the trip to Ryton Gardens a few weeks ago.

I was pleased to hear that you’ve more or less managed to get your autumn garden tasks done, especially as you’ve had a few more frosty days than us. What are your plans for Christmas? Is there a chance that you could both drop in to see us for a weekend before the festivities really kick off? We’d love to see you both!

Old School Gardener

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Dear Walter: Letter from Old School Garden, 28th October 2013

Filed under: Dear Walter - letters/info from Old School Garden, Gardening techniques, School and childrens' Gardening — Leave a comment
28/10/2013
Grasses and autumn leaves are looking good in Old School Garden

Grasses and autumn leaves are looking good in Old School Garden

28th October 2013

To Walter Degrasse

Dear Walter,

I hope you and Lise are well. I guess you’ve been experiencing the warm autumn like us over the last few weeks? This has done wonders for prolonging the flowers and colour in Old School Garden and the combination of these with the golden glow of grasses in the mixed borders looks super- especially in that low October sun.

But it’s also meant that I’ve been hanging on and waiting for things to finish their show so that the ‘autumn clear up’ can truly begin (though I do like to leave some plants whose stems, seed heads or shape survive to provide eye catching winter interest). I’ve just started to get tender things inside for over wintering as well as replacing summer annual displays with something to give us winter and spring colour. The main annuals beds and containers have been cleared and planted up with a combination of spring bulbs, along with Pansies, Violas and Bellis. I’ve also cleared out the greenhouse of the remaining cucumbers and (mostly green) tomatoes, the latter are now resting in a fruit bowl along with a banana to encourage ripening! The harvest has continued with lots of delicious apples, some very good black grapes and runner beans, chard and the last of the courgettes. It’s also been a busy sowing and planting time- crops of Broad Beans, yellow and red Onions, Garlic as well as green manures have all been put in, and I’m having another go at growing Asparagus.

Scabious still looking good in the courtyard garden

Scabious still flowering in the courtyard garden

As you read this we’ll be away visiting our daughter Madeleine and our son-in-law, Diego, in Portugal. So, many other things – bringing in the dahlias, pruning the climbing roses, keeping on top of the leaves, selective cutting back of perennials and dividing and moving some – will all have to await our return. A little late perhaps, but hopefully the mild weather will continue for a couple of weeks!

I’m still helping at the local School with their ‘outdoor learning’ (specifically in the School Garden). I think virtually every child (apart from the very young), has learned about tools and tool safety and harvesting (the School cook had a lovely supply of Red Cabbage, Courgettes, Runner Beans and Carrots to weave into her daily menu). It’s been inspiring to hear their enthusiasm as they open up a runner bean pod and discover the little pink and purple jewels that can become next year’s seeds and how they love to find worms and other critters in the soil! One mum told me the other day how excited her son had been when he brought home the bean I’d let him take away!

They have also learned about the different types of seed and their dispersal, what we do in the Autumn to prepare the soil, and sow and plant certain things, as well as the importance of composting, including looking after the school wormery. The other day this half term’s efforts culminated in an open day focusing on ‘outdoor learning’. Parents linked with their children and took part in a range of activities around the school site including den building and bug hunting. I was mainly involved in fuelling the fire pit where we did some ‘campfire cooking’ (bread and marshmallows on hazel sticks), and helping with:

  • some gardening (the boys particularly like a bit of digging),

  • weather monitoring (we managed to reach 19 degrees C on a beautiful sunny day)

  • making ‘elf houses’ and furniture (and a few elves too),

  • making recycled paper pots and sowing broad beans in them.

I think this event has helped to raise awareness of the good work being done in the ‘outside classroom’ at the school and may even encourage some parents to volunteer to help out at one of the regular ‘garden gang’ days or in other ways. Here are some pictures I took to give you a flavour of what was a  fun and successful day.

A beautiful autumn day
Catching them young…
Elf house making…
An Elf!
Elf house -with elf
Weather monitoring
Den building
Bread and Marshamallows, yummy…
Strawberry runner potting up
Sieving the soil…
Dig dig dig
Paper pots and Broad bean sowing
Sunlit grasses in the wildlife pond

 

The other major activity I’ve been involved with recently is teaching.

As you know from my last letter, I’ve been running a second Garden Design course at the local High School and this is now in its last couple of weeks. The eight participants, have a wide range of different garden design challenges in front of them. They are an enthusiastic group who it’s been a pleasure working with. They are now firming up their design ideas and creating scale drawings of what they want to achieve, and the final evening will focus on how to go about realising these on the ground.

I’m also pleased to say that my first ‘Grow Your Own Food’ course for beginners and novices is running locally, too. Tuesday mornings in a nearby village hall (Foulsham), sees 6 relatively new food growers coming together and both sharing experiences and exploring the ‘keys to success’ in food growing. The second week involved a visit to Old School Garden where I shared (‘warts and all’) my own experiences of food growing, some of the ideas and tips I’ve used and some of the issues confronting me – not least being the need to ‘downsize’ my food production to avoid gluts and surpluses! I shall be introducing a greater level of ornamental planting in the kitchen garden to achieve this, so reducing the productive areas by about a third.

My blog continues to grow both in terms of followers and also in the feedback and ‘conversations’ its enabling around the world. I’ve recently topped 1500 followers on all ‘social media platforms’ and since starting it back in December last year have had over 33,000 views of pages on the site. These are currently averaging about 800-1000 per month at present. Its been especially pleasing to have positive feedback from people who have enjoyed particular articles or items (recycling in the garden seems to be especially popular). Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Read More & Comment

Dear Walter – letter from Old School Garden, 30th September 2013

Filed under: Dear Walter - letters/info from Old School Garden, Design, Gardening techniques, Grow your own food, School and childrens' Gardening — Leave a comment
30/09/2013

IMG_7431To Walter Degrasse

30th September 2013

Dear Walter,

September has been a month of relative quiet in Old School Garden. Summer has tipped into Autumn and the garden hasn’t needed (?wishful thinking) full throttle attention. The odd weed pulled up, flowers dead headed or staked, hedges trimmed, grass mown (less frequently and less closely). A typical September then, apart from the relatively cold spell we had earlier on which sent me to the wood shed and led to lighting of fires – albeit only once or twice. Still I resisted the temptation to switch on the central heating! Since then we seem to have had something of a mini ‘Indian summer’.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how some annuals I planted earlier on have at last come good – Cleome, Cosmos, Nicotiana and Tithonia in particular. A slow start, but they seem to have gone for a sprint finish so to speak! They are looking very good alongside some other late summer perennial colours – Asters, Sedums and Aconitum. And I’m pleased to say that last year’s sowings of Phalaris (‘Chinese Lanterns’) have now turned into beefier plants, just starting to show off their wonderful papery orange ‘lanterns’.

Cosmos, Asters, Achillea, Helianthemum
Aster,Echinops,Macleaya
Cosmos and Asters
Aconitum and Lavatera
Verbena bonariensis and Nicotiana
Fremontodendron
Gleditsia tricanthos
Cercis ‘Forest Pansy’, Echinops and Stipa gigantea
Phalaris
Actea simplex
Cotoneaster
Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’
Crab apple’ Red Sentinel’
Sedum matrona
Scabious ‘Vibtant Violet’
Seed heads of Clematis tangutica
One of the mixed borders
Echeveria backed by Melianthus

I’ve continued to harvest  various fruit and veg – Chard is now reaching maturity, Tomatoes, Lettuces and Cucumbers have done really well, and some late sowings of Carrots and Mangetout are looking promising. You may recall that I sowed three seeds of ‘Greek Squash’ sent to me by the Garden Organic Heritage Seed Library – two of these have gone on to produce four or five good-sized squashes, which are now hardening off in the autumn sunshine. Oh, and remember my caterpillar disaster with the Calabrese and Broccoli plants last month? Well, I’ve cleared the bed, and managed to get hold of some young plants of Chinese Broccoli and Spinach, so along with some of my own Red Cabbage seedlings we now have that area once more in production – hopefully they’ll all put on good growth before the onset of winter.

The first windfall apples have been falling in some strong breezes recently. We’ve been collecting some of these as well as early pickings directly from the trees, and very tasty they are too! I can see that the next couple of weeks will be consumed with apple harvesting, and that of course raises the question of where to store them! Our larder could soon be a lot fuller.

The Kitchen Garden
Rainbow Chard
Runner beans ‘Lady Di’
Sunflowers- this monster grew to about 15 feet (5 metres) tall!
Sun flowers bowing to the inevitable
Greek Squash
Windfalls a plenty- if we beat the birds and wasps!
Chilli peppers
Marigolds and Chard

Further afield in my gardening life, I’m pleased to say that the six week Garden Design course I put on last year is once again up and running, with 8 enthusiastic students with a wide range of garden sizes and ideas that I hope to help them develop in the coming weeks. I’ve also planned a one day workshop at nearby Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse where I hope to show people how to get more from their garden through using some of the key elements of garden design. It will also be fun using the gardens at the Museum to illustrate some of these, as i designed some and help to maintain them as a volunteer. As I speak I’m hopeful, too, that the six week beginners course on ‘Growing Your Own’ at nearby Foulsham, will also be viable, but we’ll have to wait and see on that one.

I’ve also started back with my support of gardening and ‘learning outside the classroom’ at the local primary school. I’ve been encouraged by the way the school – and particularly their LOTC Coordinator, is building on the progress we made last year. Over the first half term I’m taking a series of small groups from most classes through some of the basics such as introducing different types of tool and how to use them safely; the importance of clearing and preparing the soil during the autumn; harvesting some of the produce we planted last season (there are some seriously impressive carrots that seem to have thrived on neglect!); gathering different types of seed for next year; how different plants propagate themselves and sowing broad beans, garlic and onions as well as some green manures.  The School is also carrying out an international project on composting and organic gardening to which I’m contributing. So a busy half term! It’s always great working with such enthusiastic youngsters, reawakening my own sense of wonder at nature as they dig over the soil and are delighted to discover worms, grubs and creepy crawlies!

On Saturday I went to Garden Organic’s HQ at Ryton, near Coventry, for their annual conference for Master Gardeners and Composters. Around 30 of my colleagues from Norfolk went along and were joined by over 200 other Master Gardeners and Composters from a number of other areas around the country. It was a very interesting and inspiring day. I attended some workshops on community composting, reaching ‘hard to reach’ communities and ‘love your bugs’- all about the goodies and baddies in the garden. Most inspiring was a talk by veteran naturalist Chris Baines, looking at ‘The Nature of the Future’. I’ll do a fuller article on this event later in the week, but here are a couple of pics from the ‘Naturalistic’ area of the gardens, which looked wonderful – as did the many other different gardens which demonstrate a range of gardening techniques and planting arrangements.

So, old friend, that just about brings you up to date for the last few weeks in my gardening life at Old School Garden and beyond. A mellow and measured time when its been possible to enjoy the late summer colour and reap the fruits (and veg) of my labours earlier in the year! No doubt you’re well ahead of me with your autumn garden jobs, but in case you’re not and need some ideas, I’ll be posting my regular monthly item on tasks in the garden for the new month tomorrow, so I hope that proves useful. Happy Gardening!

Old School Gardener

If you’ve enjoyed reading this post and others on this blog, why not comment and join others by signing up for automatic updates via email (see side bar, above right ) or through an RSS feed (see top of page)?

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comment

Dear Walter…letter from Old School Garden, 30th August 2013

Filed under: Dear Walter - letters/info from Old School Garden, Gardening techniques, Wildlife and Nature — Leave a comment
30/08/2013
Cosmos looking good at Old School Garden

Cosmos looking good at Old School Garden

 

To Walter Degrasse

Dear Walter,

Sorry for the delay in this month’s letter. Having been away for a couple of weeks, I find myself playing ‘catch up’ in the garden and in many other respects too! The past month in the garden has been a relatively quiet one. The continued dry, hot weather has had a marked impact on the state of the plants, and not having been here for a fortnight has also left its mark, though I’m blessed with some very kind, helpful neighbours who have at least kept most of the vulnerable things watered – more on that later.

It was a joy seeing you and Lise at the beginning of the month, and I’m glad you enjoyed your visit and what you saw in the garden. That new crop protection netting I was telling you about arrived just before I went on holiday and this meant I was able to get it set up over a wooden and twine  frame to cover my recently – planted Purple Sprouting Broccoli and Calabrese. You remember this has a smaller mesh than the previous one I’d been using and is supposed to prevent Cabbage White butterflies getting at the brassicas? Well, it came just in time (or so I thought), as the beginning of August saw an explosion in these pretty but annoying pests that lay their eggs on the undersides of Brassica leaves leaving a legacy of a host of hungry caterpillars that destroy your best Brassica efforts!

As we departed on holiday (I’ll be doing a few posts about the various gardens we visited whilst in Devon and Cornwall), the Agapanthus was coming into flower and I had hopes that my Tithonia (‘Mexican Hat flower’) and Cleome (‘Violet Queen’) were finally putting on flower buds. The late Spring seems to have delayed their development somewhat.

What it is to have good neighbours!  Our next door neighbours Rob and Wendy were happy to water the containers and greenhouse etc. whilst we were away, though they were themselves due to go on holiday a couple of days before our return, so I was a little concerned that things might just wilt before I could get to them. I had no need to worry, for on my return – in fact the very evening I went round and started watering things – I stumbled across our next to next door neighbour, Norman, who had just finished watering the containers in the Courtyard! He had apparently been tasked by Wendy to carry on with the watering in their absence! I thanked him for this kindness and remarked on my pleasant surprise at the healthy look of most of the plants.

On closer inspection, and looking beyond the containers, greenhouse, cold frame etc., I discovered that the pests had been at play while we had been away! Moles had decided the time was right to dig up various spots in the lawn (their activity might have been prompted by one day of heavy rain) and when I inspected the brassicas I found not very much left of the Cauliflowers, Calabrese and Broccoll previously mentioned! In fact the caterpillars had been busy and stripped every last leaf! The Red Cabbages looked reasonably OK, though even here there was clear evidence of caterpillars starting to munch their way through the tightly drawn heads. So a quick harvest of those was in order (and the 4 heads i salvaged are being cut up and cooked for storage as I write). So, i can only guess that the little varmints (in egg form) had somehow been deposited on the plants before my new ‘butterfly proof’ netting was in place! Oh well, it’ll be different next year… I might just try one last sowing of Sprouting Broccoli and Calabrese, to get us some home-grown greenery in the winter months. We’ve also been harvesting courgettes (some interesting ‘patty pan’ ones  included), and the tomatoes and cucumbers as well as autumn raspberries and blackberries are looking great. The apple and plum harvest to come is also looking very promising and I’ve even found a first pear on one of the ‘super column’ fruit trees I planted a year or two ago. This year looks like a good one for fruit, as everyone is saying.

Mole hills on the Old School Garden lawn
Stripped Broccoli
The courgette that got away..
Red cabbage just about survived..

The flower garden is hanging in there. The Tithonia and Cleome have fulfilled their promise and are adding some bright colour (along with cosmos, Achillea, Phlox, Helianthus, etc.) to the late summer borders, once again complemented by the burnished stems and seed heads of the various grasses that intermingle in the main borders. I’m especially pleased with the mix of Verbena bonariensis and Nicotiana that underscores the view to St. Peter’s church. The Nicotiana’s perfume of vanilla is wonderful too.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Having had the late ‘bank holiday’ my mind definitely turns to autumn and so the coming month will be very much about managing a mix of harvesting (especially fruit), dead – heading and coaxing the last flowers as well as gradually clearing up those plants that have finsihed flowering and whose foliage won’t add anything to the winter garden in terms of structure or wildlife value.

Further afield I popped into Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse Museum (where you know I’m a garden volunteer). The gardens here seem to be surviving the hot dry weather pretty well. However, the sweet peas and container plants are obviously struggling with lack of water (though I was told that the Museum had had some pretty heavy showers at the weekend). I spent a couple of hours watering, dead heading and weeding and also helped contribute to a new film being produced for the museum website . This is going to ‘cameo’ some of the many volunteers here in order to provide some information for anyone thinking of joining the volunteer team. I had to say a few words about my time as a volunteer, how I’d helped to redesign and renovate some of the gardens and my time as a Heritage Gardening trainee last year. This all seemed to go well, but a few hours afterwards I received an email from one of the film crew saying that because the sun had glinted on my glasses, that this had somehow affected the focus of the whole sequence – hence the need for a rerun next week- at least I’ll have had practice at my lines!

Its back to school here next week, and so Deborah is gearing herself for the return to our local primary school. I will no doubt also be having some discussions with the Outdoor Learning Coordinator about the year ahead in the School Garden, Hopefully we can build on the progress we’ve made this year and ensure the children all get a chance to work, learn and enjoy the garden through the different seasons.

That’s about all the news from here at present. Hopefully you and Lise are enjoying  the late summer sun, as we are. It somehow seems easier to sit and view (and snooze) in the garden at this time of year, occasionally harvesting some produce, pulling up the odd weed or cutting the lawn, rather than the more frantic, continuous activity needed to cope with the surge in growth that is spring and early summer – an altogether more relaxing time!

Old School Gardener

Other posts in this series:

Dear Walter…. letter from Old School Garden 22nd July 2013

Dear Walter…. letter from Old School Garden 21st June 2013

Dear Walter….letter from Old School Garden, 20th May 2013

Dear Walter….letter from Old School Garden, 18th April May 2013

Dear Walter….letter from Old School Garden, 11th March 2013

Dear Walter… letter from Old School Garden: 15th February 2013

If you’ve enjoyed reading this post and others on this blog, why not comment and join others by signing up for automatic updates via email (see side bar, above right ) or through an RSS feed (see top of page)?

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

Dear Walter: letter from Old School Garden 22nd July 2013

Filed under: Dear Walter - letters/info from Old School Garden, Gardening techniques, Grow your own food, Heritage Gardens & gardening, School and childrens' Gardening — Leave a comment
22/07/2013
The blckbirds nesting among the vine in the Courtyard Garden at Old School Garden- picture by Gabbie Joyce and Paul Hill

The blackbirds nesting among the vine in the Courtyard Garden at Old School Garden- picture by Gabbie Joyce and Paul Young

To Walter Degrasse

Dear Walter,

It’s coming to the end of one of the driest and hottest July’s we’ve had in nearly 10 years. Today looks like it will be the hottest of the year to date – somewhere in the upper 20s if not low 30s Celsius in our corner of England (and higher elsewhere)! Having spent a couple of hours this morning planting out the last of my summer annuals, thinning and transplanting wallflowers and planting some leeks, I’ve escaped the worst of the heat and come inside to drop you a line!

As you can imagine, the last few weeks have been very busy on several gardening fronts. I guess the most significant event was our first garden opening last week, which I’ve done a separate article about. This was great fun and I was very pleased with the way the garden looked and the many positive comments from the 70+ visitors. We raised over £300 too which will be going to three local ‘good causes’.

One of these is ‘Master Gardener’, where I continue to offer my voluntary advice and help to those starting  to grow their own food. Gabbie, the local co-ordinator, has come up with the idea of using the money we raised as a special fund to be tapped into by Norfolk Master Gardeners to purchase small items to help their households, groups and other new growers- I’ll tell you more about this in due course. I’ve attended a few events recently and had fun talking with a range of people about their food growing experiences and maybe even helped to recruit a few new households. The latest event was the ‘Destination Aylsham’ Fun Day yesterday, which I helped out at with fellow Master Composter Sally Wilson- Town and co-ordinator David Hawkyard. Well over 70 people came over to discuss composting and ‘growing your own’, though my period at the stall seemed to coincide with the quieter, ‘wind down’ phase towards the end. Still,  no matter, we seem to have promoted composting and food growing to a few more people – and I managed to sell some plants and produce too!

Some produce for sale at Aylsham ‘Fun Day’
The compost game
Master Gardener and Composter stand at the ‘Fun Day’

I’ve done my last session this academic year at Cawston Primary School, where we had great fun harvesting potatoes, broad beans and a few onions. In truth, with the exception of the Broad Beans, these were harvested a little too soon, because this was the last opportunity for the children to garden before their holidays which begin on Thursday. Still, the potatoes were of a good size and a reasonable quantity and will be used in the school kitchen this week along with the beans and some of my donated home grown produce (we’ve had some enormous Calabrese and Cauliflowers lately). The children also continued to dig out the old compost bins so that we can make a new start there in the Autumn. However, it’s disappointing that we’ve not been able to keep on top of the weeding in the bog garden around  the wildlife pond (which is also looking extremely dry), as many weeds have now set seed, so that will be an added problem for us in the Autumn, when  hopefully the soil will be damper and weeding easier. However, the Outdoor Learning Co-ordinator , Sharon, tells me that the pond has been a real winner with the children and has yielded examples of a wide range of insect and other wildlife.

A good crop of peas nearly ready for picking
Harvesting Broad Beans at Cawston Primary School
..and onions
Onions, a little early
Clearign the ground where the broad Beans were… what next?
Some of the harvest
Potatoes- ‘buried treasure’…
They’re here somewhere…
Here they are….
I could eat this right now…
One more for the bucket…
Who’s found the biggest, and smallest potato?
Charlotte posing, not digging out the compost bin..

The gardens at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse Museum are struggling in the sun and heat, but the planting and care taken earlier in the year by myself and other volunteer gardeners seem to be paying off. The rambling rose ‘Rambling Rector’ in the Wildife Garden looks particularly splendid as it covers the arbour and adjoining wall, where I and my friend Steve spent an hour or two pruning and tying in last autumn.

‘Rambling Rector’ over the arbour at Gressenhall
..and over the adjacent wall

 

At home, Old School Garden is also struggling in the heat, and evening watering sessions of hand held spray and sprinkler have lasted a good few hours in recent weeks – and still many new plantings are wilting! Anyway, the long borders are looking great, though with a few gaps after shearing back the oriental poppies. I’m hoping that my strategically placed pots of tender perennials and plantings of annuals will soon plug these and the overall show will reach a crescendo in a few weeks time. The kitchen garden has proved to be very productive to date, though we  continue to get problems with pests such as pigeons and to a lesser extent blackbirds and aphids. I’ve noticed a few Cabbage White butterflies recently, but hopefully with my planting of Nasturtiums and netting of my Brassicas, we’ll not be too badly affected by their hungry green caterpillars! So far we’ve had crops of :

  • Potatoes – though I had to lift many of these a bit early as blight had started to affect them

  • Calabrese  -huge heads from the F1 variety ‘Beaumont’

  • Cauiliflowers- though a few heads were ‘blown’ as we couldn’t keep up with the supply!

  • Mange Tout – despite early pigeon attacks!

  • Celery – too much to cope with!

  • Carrots – a reasonable first crop though many were twisted and misshapen, possibly a combination of too rich and stony soil

  • Lettucs – a few varieties from the garden have tasted good along with some ‘cut and come again’ varieties in pots.

  • Tomatoes – just a few of the smaller, golden variety to date, but plenty on the plants in the greenhouse, ready for swelling and ripening.

  • Courgettes – the start of what promises to be a bumper year, especially as my friend Steve has given me four ‘Patty Pan’ plants to go with the two green varieties he’d already supplied!

  • Strawberries-  you remember I’d started the process of relocating the strawberry bed? Well the new plants seem to have taken well, though, as youd’ expect I didn’t let them flower or fruit this first year, but the old plants I left hoping for ‘one more year’ of fruit were a disaster. Very few fruits and what there were the blackbirds, slugs and mould seem to have taken. So for the first time in many years I actually bought two punnets of strawberries!

  • Raspberries – these are coming on well and we’ve enjoyed a few days supply so far, though the pigeons, despite my various ‘bird scarers’, seem to be enjoying themselves and breaking off the fruiting stems as they use them like ladder to go up and down the canes!

  • Garlic – most now harvested but some along with the onions are just drying  out before storing

  • Broad Beans – a good crop of a rosy pink variety, though when cooked their attractive colour seems to turn a rather dull grey, but they taste just fine!

  • Gooseberries- first bush harvested , two red varieties to come this weekend

  • Blackcurrants- two bushes harvested and a lot frozen, with one more to come shortly

An unusual ‘black’ Petunia in one of the hanging baskets at Old School Garden
Newly planted Ladybird Poppies, Lavatera ‘Mont Blanc’ and Physalis (‘Chinese lanterns’) in the front gardens
The Arbour in the Kitchen Garden
View along one of the Long Borders
One of several fine Cauliflowers- ‘Snowball’

Later today, I’ll be sowing some further crops of Lettuce, Mange Tout, Carrots and Cabbage as well as some Pansies I got from the Royal Norfolk Show and which  should provide us with some autumn and winter colour. That’s if it is not too hot of course.

Well, old friend, I see that it’s about time for lunch, so I’ll close for now and wish you and your good wife ‘Ferdy’ well. By the way, would she mind terribly if I called her by her second name, which I find so much more attractive? Lise seems to capture her elegant beauty a lot more than that  nickname she got all those years ago at University! We’re looking forward to seeing you both here at Old School Garden in a week or two’s time – hopefully the garden will still look good and the weather will mean we can enjoy some warm summer evenings on the terrace with some good food, and even better wine!

all the best

Old School Gardener

Other posts in this series:

Dear Walter…. letter from Old School Garden 21st June 2013

Dear Walter….letter from Old School Garden, 20th May 2013

Dear Walter….letter from Old School Garden, 18th April May 2013

Dear Walter….letter from Old School Garden, 11th March 2013

Dear Walter… letter from Old School Garden: 15th February 2013

If you’ve enjoyed reading this post and others on this blog, why not comment and join others by signing up for automatic updates via email (see side bar, above right ) or through an RSS feed (see top of page)?

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Sunny Sunday at Old School Garden

Filed under: Dear Walter - letters/info from Old School Garden, This and that — 4 Comments
15/07/2013

IMG_6139It’s over. My first garden opening has left feelings of satisfaction, pride, friendship and aching limbs.

We had about 70 visitors yesterday, not bad for our first opening. Several came by bike and all seem to have had a good time, soaking up the heat, the garden and some delicious tea and cakes. Many made positive noises about the garden and the Courtyard seems to have been a particular hit. It was particularly interesting to meet a former pupil at the School- back in 1937 – and a new neighbour. Friends,colleagues and neighbours helped to make the event a success:

  • Keith Broughton brought along his restored 1969 Saab car – it was fascinating hearing about the hours of skillful work he’d put into this project
  • Michaela Boggis and colleagues from Jelly Cottage Nursery brought along a fantastic range of very healthy looking plants and many visitors were seen clutching their purchases as they left
  • Steve Mosley and John Nicholson from Master Garden and Composter respectively put on a display and gave out helpful advice on growing your own food and making your own soil
  • Sharon Brett from Cawston Primary School was selling plants and mugs to mark the school’s 60th birthday and was telling people about the work on outdoor learning, including gardening that she and I have been doing at the School
  • My wife, Deborah and friend Joan Mosley did sterling work as the ‘refreshment ladies’ serving afternoon teas and cakes.

So a very big THANK YOU to all of them and most of all to mother Nature who put on a wonderful display for all to enjoy (including blackbird nest and mole hill)!

I’m now planning a few days of rather less frenetic activity. But first a trip to the bank to pay in the proceeds of the day and to then write three cheques for around £100 to each of the three ‘good causes’ we were supporting:

  • Norfolk Master Gardeners
  • Cawston School Gardening
  • St. Peter’s Church

Here are a few pictures from the day to give you a sense of the atmosphere – if you were one of the visitors, then thank you for your support and maybe we’ll see you again!

One of several fine Cauliflowers- ‘Snowball’
Home made obelisks in Old School Garden used for Runner Beans and Sweet Peas

Old School Gardener

Tags: , ,
Comment

Visit Old School Garden this Sunday!

Image
Filed under: Dear Walter - letters/info from Old School Garden, This and that — 2 Comments
11/07/2013

Visit Old School Garden this Sunday!

I’m looking forward to welcoming visitors – including you? – to the first opening of Old School Garden. I’ll do a post about this next week for those that can’t make it.

Old School Gardener

Tags: , ,
Comment
Finding Nature

Nature Connectedness Research Blog by Prof. Miles Richardson

Families Connect

Norfolk Green Care Network

Connecting People with Nature

Discover WordPress

A daily selection of the best content published on WordPress, collected for you by humans who love to read.

Susan Rushton

Celebrating gardens, photography and a creative life

Unlocking Landscapes

Writing, photography and more by Daniel Greenwood

Alphabet Ravine

Lydia Rae Bush Poetry

MU Library Treasures

TIME GENTS

Australian Pub Project, Established 2013

Vanha Talo Suomi

The Journey from Finnish Rintamamiestalo to Arboretum & Gardens

Marigolds and Gin

Because even in chaos, there’s always gin and a good story …

Bits & Tidbits

RANDOM BITS & MORE TIDBITS

Rambling in the Garden

.....and nurturing my soul

The Interpretation Game

Cultural Heritage and the Digital Economy

pbmGarden

Sense of place, purpose, rejuvenation and joy

SISSINGHURST GARDEN

Notes from the Gardeners...

Deep Green Permaculture

Connecting People to Nature, Empowering People to Live Sustainably

BloominBootiful

A girl and her garden :)

Winterbourne House and Garden

greygoosedotco.wordpress.com/