Swans (First Egg 2015)

The nest, used by the swans in previous years, has been changing in shape this week with, what looked like, new material on top. This activity was confirmed today with a sighting of the first egg and the swans working hard to build up the nest.

Unwrapping The Tree Ferns And Banana Plants

The tree fern and banana plants have been under wraps since the 22nd October protecting them from the cold of the British winter. The south of England has been basking in unseasonably high temperatures over the last week, reaching 21C today, so the gardeners took the opportunity to remove some of the wrapping.

First to be unwrapped were the 9 tree fern, Dicksonia antartica and Dicksonia fibrosa, all of which had both the hessian and horticultural fleece removed. On some of the crowns, newly emerging fronds were revealed, curled up tight waiting to unfurl.

The bananas, not as frost hardy as the ferns, had their hessian removed, leaving the fleece in place to insulate them until all risk of frost has gone, usually end of May.

Pricking Out 2015

The first of the seeds have germinated and are now showing signs of their first true leaves. The first set of leaves, seed leaves, are called cotyledons and are part of the seed, acting as a food source fuelling the seeds growth before it produces its first true leaf which will start to photosynthesise its own food.

For the last week Ali, Danny and Kieron have been spending the first few hours of the day in the greenhouse, when it is as its coolest, pricking out the many seedlings that are ready for pricking out in to their own individual pots.

 

The contents of each pot is carefully tapped out before each seedling is gently separated from its neighbour using a sharp object, in this case, the sharp end of the plant label.

Each seedling is handled carefully using just the seed leaves as the point of contact and not by the stem which bruises easily.

The seedling is placed in to its pot of compost which has been prepared with a planting hole sufficient for it to be lowered in to. The compost is then gently firmed around the young plant securing it in place.

The space on the benches, left behind by the removal of the cuttings, is filling up quickly and will soon be completely filled when the pricking out is completed over the next few weeks.

Moving In To The Cold Frames

Tender Plants In The Peach House, Time To Move Out

The tender plants have been hardening off in the cooler peach house for two weeks, today it is time for them to move out. Space is at a premium in the large, heated greenhouse and the seedlings are pushing for the prime location, so the next lot of tender plants need to be moved out and in to the peach house.

Moved Out In To The Cold Frame

The plants, all from cuttings taken in September, were moved in to one of the frames where they will remain until the end of May, beginning of June, when they will be planted out in to the gardens. The space they left behind in the peach house has been filled already leaving room on the bench in the heated greenhouse which will be filled by the, soon to be pricked out, seedlings. 

The lids have been put on the frames, during the day they are left up and at night they be closed whilst the overnight temperatures are below 5 degrees. 

Lids On At Night

Laying The Soaker Hose

The soaker hose was removed from the herbaceous border in November, see blog entry 11th November 2014 'Cutting Down The Herbaceous Border', to protect it from the frost. If left out any water inside the pipe, during freezing conditions, would turn to ice, expanding, and then in warmer conditions, would turn back to water, thawing, potentially causing the pipe to crack. The hose has been kept in the greenhouse during the winter but today it has been returned to the border and carefully relaid, snaking its way through the plants. Additional lengths have also been added to increase to the total area of seepage, delivering water directly to the roots of more of the plants on the border.

Feeding And Weeding

Under a beautiful blue sky Ali and Graham spent the day working on the herbaceous border. Having scattered Growmore, a general purpose fertilizer, over the soil they had to fork it in, digging out the weeds at the same time. Growmore contains equal amounts of Nitrogen, phosphates and potash, (NPK 7-7-7), perfect for leaf growth, root growth and flower growth respectively.

Renovating The Path In The Quad

Yesterday the team began the project to renovate part of the path in the quad. They started by breaking up the section of the path at the base of the banks which had gradually worn away over the years. Unlike previous path renovations, when the surface was broken up using the New Holland tractor with the grab attachment, due to its location and accessibility, the quad path had to be broken up by the team using forks.

Following the preparation of the path yesterday, three deliveries, totalling 10 tonnes of 'as dug ballast', arrived today. The ballast had to be transported from its delivery site to the quad in order for it to be used to create the new path. First the New Holland, with the front loader attached, was used to scoop the ballast up and load it in to the trailer. Once full, the trailer was towed by tractor round to the archways of the quad where its contents were emptied. 

The ballast was shovelled in to wheelbarrows which were then wheeled in to the quad and tipped on to the broken path. 

Raked to create a slight camber, the 10 tonnes of ballast was then compacted using the wacker plate. The path will be allowed to settle overnight and be compacted again in the morning.

(L-R) Ady, Graham, Callum, Ali behind the camera (The wheelbarrow team)