Alistair did a nice new site map for the NGS day, featuring a sketch of the "Future Orchard" at the top of our Wildflower Meadow. This is currently just a mown stock-fenced paddock with 24 blobs of mulch set at regular intervals where this coming winter we will plant some very young fruit 'maidens' (as young grafted apple plants are known).
As with all good childcare we'll then ignore them for the best part of a decade - before (we hope) realising they have turned out rather well and enjoying the fruits of our labours.
For now - like all fanatical gardeners I am already working on next year - I am sourcing the 24 trees, 6 of the most altitude, wind and rain-proof varieties from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
So far I have:
'Scotch Bridget' - a locally grafted specimen, she does well in Cumbria I am told
'Gravenstein', 'Brownlees Russet', 'Duke of Devonshire' (Bred at nearby Holker), 'Mere de Menage', 'Monarch', 'Keswick Codlin' and 'Hawthornden' - from the lovely R V Roger Northern fruit specialists
From Irish Seed Savers I'll be ordering 'Yellow Pitcher', 'April Queen', 'Cavan Sugar Cane', 'Kemp' and 'Keegan's Crab' which apparently isn't a crab.
Finally, Wales will be represented by 'Cissy', 'Bardsey', 'St Cecilia', 'Pig Aderyn', 'Croen Mochyn' and a 'Snowdon Queen' pear - yes a pear, found at 1000' on the slopes of Snowdon!
As the nice man at supplier Gwynfor Growers says "that should love Coniston!'
Woodland Garden looking over Old Man of Coniston
....who braved the rain for the third NGS Open Garden here at Lawson Park - numbers were up on last year! One lady fell in the stream en route but was very decent about it, and one chap told me that Lawson Park used to be a dairy 'farm' (something about being bordered by 2 streams...), which was the first I'd heard of it.....
Thanks also to all family, friends and staff who helped out.
Topics: 'NGS'
0 Comments:
Contributors:
- Adam Sutherland[28]
- Alistair Hudson[1]
- Dorian Moore[1]
- Grizedale Arts Intern[5]
- Karen Guthrie[96]
- Lisa Stewart[42]
- Maria Benjamin[8]
Topics:
- animals[2]
- apples[2]
- bad weather[2]
- Bracken[3]
- Brantwood[2]
- building[15]
- carving[2]
- demolitions[2]
- drainage[2]
- drilling[2]
- farming[2]
- Fruit[2]
- garden[12]
- gardener[2]
- gardening[2]
- grand designs[2]
- ground source heat[6]
- hedgerow[2]
- honesty shop[2]
- Japan[2]
- Japanese food[2]
- Kitchen Garden[5]
- Lawson Park[26]
- Lawson Park building[4]
- lighting[2]
- National Garden Scheme[3]
- orchard[4]
- pigs[3]
- progress[2]
- raised beds[2]
- roof[3]
- seeds[2]
- sewage treatment[2]
- slate[2]
- spring[2]
- trees[2]
- vegetables[3]
- view[2]
- wildflower meadow[4]
Months:
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2013
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2012
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2011
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2010
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2009
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2008
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2006
3 Comments:
Don't abandon your maidens for 10 years. Train them and prune them to the shape and form you want. This is art and if well done will make them more productive later in life. Also keep them well fed and weeded with mulch and make sure the soil is not acidic.
I enjoyed visiting on NGS day. Thank you. Tremendous achievement. Beautiful house and garden and delicious cake. BUT you need clover in the grassed terraces to build fertility.
John Barber, July 27, 2010 21:28
I'm only joking about the neglect! Thankyou for the advice on the clover too - I wonder if we can overwinter it by sowing now?
Karen Guthrie, July 29, 2010 12:34
You can probably get away with sowing white clover into the first week of September but the earlier the better. You have to choose between the traditional small leaved Kentish wild white and the modern varieties. We are currently using a variety called Crusader which is so vigorous that it can smother out grass and its effects can be seen in crops 3 years after it is ploughed in. I have only ever sown red clovers in the spring. They only live for a couple of years or so but are very vigorous.
John Barber, August 1, 2010 09:35