Two weeks on and I was finally back in the Walled Garden at Blickling this week.
I arrived later than usual as I was giving a talk to a group called ‘Inspired Gardeners’ in Aylsham. 25 gardeners were inspired enough to turn up and hear me talk about Water Management in the Methodist Hall. What a splendid group they are, with my session but one in a packed programme of talks and garden visits to keep them on their (senior) toes! I’ll put together a precis of the Water Management talk and feature it in a future article.
The handful of other garden volunteers were hard at it weeding under the large Mulberry Tree in the Walled Garden, but I was detailed by Project Manager Mike to help him plant out some Pumpkins, the first things to go into the newly cultivated borders in the Walled Garden! The digging on one of the hottest days of the year so far certainly generated some perspiration, even after only half an hour, before we paused for lunch.
Pumpkins with space to invade
Mike raking the soil tidy around the new planting
Irrigation system nearly ready for action
After lunch we pressed on and in total put in some 36 plants of different varieties. Mike’s thinking is to get something going in the new borders, even if it isn’t part of the full and final plan for the different spaces, just to get the ground covered and producing something; pumpkins with their ‘space invader’ habit are perfect for that.
After loosening up the bottom of each generous planting hole we filled them with plenty of farmyard manure, mixed this with loose soil and put in the well-watered plants, which had been inside the (very full) Greenhouse. We created a saucer-like depression around each mounded plant to encourage water gathering around the roots and then topped off each with some organic ‘rocket fuel’ and a generous mulch of more manure (having given each plant a good soaking).
Very satisfying seeing something going into the new borders, and hopefully it won’t be long before more things are introduced. Certainly the irrigation seems to have been fully installed and I gather the metal edging for the paths will be done in the next month or two as the other members of the gardening team have a little more time on their hands to help with this mammoth job.
I mentioned in my last post a rather lovely ‘artist’s impression’ of the regenerated Walled Garden and I’m grateful to Mike for sending me a copy, which I set out for you to see below. It was done by local artist Fiona Gowen.
Having a few minutes to spare I planted a few Basil and Lettuce plants near the front of the main cultivated strip of the Walled Garden, which all in all is starting to look very good, as the various vegetables and flowers are bulking out and putting on colour.
I also had the chance to see the beautiful, blousy Peonies which, two weeks on, were now getting fully into their stride.
Further Information:
Blickling Hall website
Blickling Hall Facebook page
A 360 degree tour of Blickling Hall
Old School Gardener
Yesterday’s session at Blickling was spent planting 6 million Penstemons ( I exaggerate)…
After leaving Emmetts Garden on our way home from Sussex last week, we also stopped off to see a place that I’ve wanted to visit for a long time- Red House, in Bexleyheath, London. The house and garden designed by Philip Webb with fellow Arts and Crafts man William Morris, is a wonderful monument to all that exuberant artistic endeavour of the mid and later 19th centuries.We had a stimulating guided tour of this lovely house and garden that has been a major influence on English architecture and garden design.
I think it must be three weeks since I was last at Blickling. I got a chance to look around at the end of my working session and there were several highlights I hadn’t seen before, most notably the Azaleas round the Temple, the wall-trained Wisterias, the masses of Forget-me-Nots and Honesty in the Dell and some of the colour combinations in the double borders; especially the Tulip ‘Queen of Night’ and the black foliage of Mongo Grass and Black Elders. 
On our way home from Sussex last week, we manged to call in on two other National Trust properties. The first was Emmetts Garden, near Sevenoaks, Kent.
Another trip out and another chance to visit some interesting and inspiring gardens last week. We travelled to see friends in Sussex and our lunch time stop was Knole near Sevenoaks, Kent, a large estate still owned by the Sackville family (of Vita fame) and part run by the National Trust. We were very lucky because we tipped up on a Tuesday, when the private Sackville gardens are open to the public, and we availed ourselves of a very engaging guided tour…
Further information: 
Our final garden visit whilst travelling home from the Lake District last week, was to Southwell workhouse, Nottinghamshire.
Sources and further information:
Old School Garden 