I’m getting a bit behind…so here’s post covering my four latest visits to Blickling….sorry for the delay!
Session one involved weeding in the fruit cage in the Walled Garden. As you can see, after doing the bush fruit we wandered over to the strawberries, including ‘checking’ on the quality of some late fruiting varieties!
Session Two focused on clearing weeds from a part of the side borders, where its planned to create some raised beds for local Schools to get involved with. Rory and I set to and removed a large amount of Couch Grass (or rather it seemed a lot, but as you probably know the stuff will return…). After this I trimmed back the tendrils of the squashes and gourds which were starting to invade the perennial borders…some of the pumpkins are looking very large already…
The third session was a bit of a wet day and only a few volunteers were on site, but I think we made an impact in a morning’s work. First Rory and I replanted and strung together some tall perennials that had been uprooted by Storm Aileen, and then we joined Jane and Tressa in tidying up one of the glasshouses. The floor had been overrun with ‘Mind your Own Business’ and we decided to lift the metal gratings above the old heating pipes and clear this out, which revealed the piping and ornamental ironwork, and with the other tidying up made for a much improved scene overall..
Despite the recent stormy weather toppling some of the taller flowering plants in the Walled Garden, its still looking glorious…
My last session was a switched day, so I was working with some of the Wednesday volunteers over in the Rose Garden, weeding, and in my case, tackling the large amount of lichen and other weeds that had invaded sections of the gravel paths. Here are some ‘during’ and ‘after’ shots. Quite satisfying, though I suspect in lifting whole sections of path surface like old carpet, that much of the original path is now in the compost bin!
Over the past few weeks its been pleasing to see progress in a number of other areas: the sun-dial that was stolen from the Secret Garden has been replaced with a replica (complete with 2017 date on the dial), and a couple of large oak trees have been felled because of infection – one of these may provide a good opportunity to include it in the planned Tree Trail, using its stump rings as a way of illustrating both its age and associated historical events back over a couple of hundred years. Work is also progressing on refurbishing the water wheel near the Lake, including a viewing area for visitors. And the metal tunnel in the Walled Garden has been finished and is looking great; as the apples grow up it will be come a central feature of the garden….
So a pretty busy month at Blickling (with a small contribution from yours truly) and it was also very interesting – and inspiring to see these pictures of the Walled Garden back in 2015 and just recently- what a transformation in a little over two years!
Further Information:
Blickling Hall website
Blickling Hall Facebook page
A 360 degree tour of Blickling Hall
Old School Gardener
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Well, a little sadness this week. Due to a combination of other commitments (including Jury Service and six weeks away in Australia), I had to say a temporary farewell to my fellow gardeners at Blickling this week. I won’t return until early August; by then I expect to see plenty of progress, including the apple arch fully assembled and painted!
At Blickling this week it was a case of more hoeing, or rather using the rather neat three-pronged cultivator to get under the crusted soil to loosen a rather extensive spread of weeds.
I planned to return after lunch to rake off the loosened weeds and to knock down the forked area to enable the weeds in this area to be removed. However, on our way back to the Bothy we met Head Gardener Paul, who, in his usual cheery way, asked how we were and thanked us for what we were doing. He had also received my submission for the planned Tree trail we had discussed a few months before and wanted to discuss the next steps with me and Assistant Head Gardener Steve, after lunch.
I’d given a copy of the thirty sets of text to Aussie Peter, who is also a Garden Guide, to see if he could add any interesting local information to what I’d found online; he said over lunch he’d send me a few thoughts, but that the overall proposals seemed fine..so that was encouraging. He also offered to carry on where I’d left off on the weeding to allow me to see Paul and Steve.
On our last Devon trip we spent a day at Antony House, Torpoint. This 18th century mansion tells the story of a family caught up in the English civil war, a place which is still home to the Carew- Poles. 
I’d missed a week, but the Dahlias, which I thought had reached their best two weeks ago, were definitely in peak form in the Walled Garden at Blickling this week.
Old School Garden 