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Right then this is my first attempt at this section as there has been limited room up to now within the magazine. The problem is I don't have green finger and Alan Titchmarsh I'm not. So here goes. 

I'm afraid that Autumn is upon us the summer displays are fading and the leaves are a-coming down. On your allotments or vegetable patch I believe its time to lift remaining potatoes and store them away from light and frost. Peas and bean haulm are to be cleared and the ground dug over. Pick your apples and pears as they ripen, cut out fruited blackberry canes and tie in new shoots. 

Take hardwood cuttings of rambler and miniature roses. Cut back taller roses. Firm in any stakes and check ties. Mow lawn as appropriate feed and water if needed, control moss if necessary and aerate. 

Tidy borders and beds, removing stakes and plant debris and compost or burn (ensure any bonfire does not cause nuisance to others) dead head except for decorative seed heads, remove seeding weeds. Divide old clumps of perennials and revitalize by planting the vigorous outer shoots. 

But most of all try to catch a few of the late summer sunny days to enjoy your garden.

[WS Oct 05]

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November / December:

Jobs for November: Keep cleaning the leaves away to prevent debris accumulating in beds and borders. Now is a good time to transplant any plants you wish to move. Get your bulbs in now, especially tulips! They are overdue! But be careful with other bulbs as they can rot in overly wet conditions. With heavy rain, it's a good time to put autumn feed on grass if it's short. You can cut back clematis, and any other bushes that don't have berries on at the moment. Mulch your flowering shrubs around the base with compost. Hold fire with pruning for the moment, if it is still too warm. Keep the greenhouse clean and tidy, and keep the air vents open because it is still relatively warm, so the warm air of the day meats the cold air of the night and can still lead to condensation.

Herbaceous borders: continue cleaning and tidying up beds and borders and digging between plants. Replace worn lawn turf beside beds, by cutting rectangular sections and turning them through 180°. Prune any overhanging branches of trees and shrubs. Check for any invasive roots from trees and hedges, cutting through them with a sharp spade.

Lawns: continue to aerate the turf when reasonably dry. This can be done with an ordinary garden fork, pushing it several inches in and wriggling it. If possible, brush in sharp sand. Now is the time to clean and overhaul your cutting equipment and mowers, oiling them and putting them away in the dry.

Trees and shrubs: clear away fallen leaves to the compost heap. Check for any loosening due to frost or wind. This year, even some mature established trees have been rocked and made unstable in the waterlogged soil. 

Otherwise, put your feet up and settle down with the seed catalogue to plan for next year’s garden dreams.

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Bassingham Open Gardens

Bassingham Open Gardens & Scarecrow Trail 2011
Sunday 12th June from 2pm until 6pm
Enjoy a great afternoon out in Bassingham with friends and neighbours! Delicious teas with homemade cakes, Pimms and ice creams, the plant stall, a children's quiz and of course, delightful gardens and the scarecrow trail will all be on the map in the entrance programme, price £3 (accompanied children free). You can buy the programme in advance from Bassingham Post Office (available from 6th June), on the Village Hall car park from 1.30pm on the day or at any of the gardens.
This annual event is run in aid of the Village Hall and Playing Field charity.
The next project is the essential restoration of the old tower building and your support will be greatly appreciated.
If you are able to help by donating plants,
please contact Jean Solven 788949 or Madeline Vickers 788519
and, if you can make a cake for teas,
Lyn Baker 788031, Sandra Nelson 788213 or Jan Culpitt 788793
will be delighted to hear from you.

The Scarecrows will be on display around the village on
Saturday 11th June and Sunday 12th June 2011
Maps for the scarecrows only will be available on the Saturday price £1
The event is run in aid of the Village Hall & Playing Field charity and your support would be greatly appreciated. If you are able to help by donating plants please contact Jean Solven on 788949 or if you could offer a cake for the teas Sandra Nelson on 788213 would be delighted to hear from you.

See selected photographs from some of gardens and scarecrows on display in 2005 to 2010.

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A request to all gardeners:

Please remember when you are reorganising your house plants and greenhouse and are setting out in the garden that your spare plants would be very much appreciated as stock for the plant stall at Bassingham Open Gardens. If you can’t keep them until June we will gladly look after them. Call Geoff and Jan Culpitt (Tel: 788793).

You can also:

• Make a Cake

• Donate Some Plants

• Visit the Gardens

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Other Open Gardens

Harmston Village Open Gardens

Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th June 2011 between 1pm and 5pm

In aid of

Harmston Parish Church and Harmston Memorial Hall Restorations

Join us in Harmston Village for a celebration of gardening. Visit 10 different gardens, see a collection of clematis, fish and wildlife ponds and many different varieties of plants, trees, and shrubs.

Afterwards, enjoy afternoon tea in the recently refurbished Harmston Memorial Hall, where you will be able to purchase some plants for your garden.

Also, see if you can spot the scarecrows taking part in Harmston‟s second scarecrow competition as you walk around the village.

Admission to the Open Gardens is by programme and these will be on sale at Harmston Memorial Hall, the Thorold Arms, Harmston Parish Church and also in each open garden. Adults £2.50 - accompanied children are free.

Parking is available around the village.

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Charity Open Gardens

Sunday 19th June 2011 1pm to 5pm

at Windrush, Main Road, East Keal, Spilsby, Lincs PE23 4BB

with homemade teas and stalls

Admission £3, children under 16 free

Opening for the first time since development of the garden began in 1996, a large informal garden of nearly 4 acres, on a south facing site on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds. Visitors can enjoy their afternoon tea, pimms, wine and beer whilst taking in the wonderful views over the Fenlands.

The garden comprises woodland with many native species; newly planted small orchard with Lincolnshire varieties of apple; herbaceous borders; many climbing and shrub roses; three ponds and a well stocked vegetable garden.

Proceeds to Lincs. Ark (animal welfare)

For full list of stalls go to www.lincsark.co.uk

or call for info: 07851 048 806 / 07880 716 121

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Aubourn Hall Gardens

These are opened to visitors at several times during the spring, summer and autumn year under the National Gardens Scheme and for charity events.

Come along and see the gardens at Aubourn Hall on

Sunday 26th June 2011

as part of the National Garden Scheme

Admission is from 2pm to 5pm

Refreshments are being served by the ladies of St Peters Church, Aubourn. If you can't make this date, the gardens will be open every Sunday in July,

2pm to 5pm, with refreshments and plant sales.

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Hedges Growing Over Paths

Please check outside your home and see if the vegetation is spreading over the pavement or footpath. If so, please cut it back. Such growth must not interfere with the safe use of the footpath, and due consideration must be given especially to small children, prams, pushchairs and wheelchairs. Overgrown hedges can also cause annoyance to your neighbours - be considerate!

High Hedges

The High Hedges legislation became law on 20th November 2003. It has been introduced pnmarily because of the increased incidence of neighbour disputes arising from fast-growing Leylandii cupressus hedges and should be fully operational by the end of 2004.

It is clearly in everybody’s interest to resolve differences regarding hedges amicably. However, if this is not possible, complaints may be taken to the local authority, provided that:

• the hedge in question is comprised wholly or predominantly of a line of two or more evergreen or semi-evergreen trees or shrubs;

• is over two metres high;

• the hedge acts, to some degree, as a barrier to light or access;

• and because if its height, is adversely affecting the complainant’s reasonable enjoyment of his domestic property (ie home or garden).

The criteria covered by the guidance for local authorities all concern problems caused by the height of the hedge and are expected to include:

• both light and sunlight deprivation to homes and gardens;

• safe height for regular trimming and maintenance if the hedge is in such a position that it needs to be regularly maintained because, for instance, the overhang is taking up too much of the victim’s ground;

• plant damage caused by hedge height through deprivation of light or rainfall;

• deprivation of a cherished view.

For those who do have hedges bordering other property, it may be worth checking whether your neighbour is content with the height and state of the hedge. Alternatively, it may be advisable to take early action to trim the hedge down to manageable proportions. [WS June 2004]

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Best Kept Gardens, Bassingham 2008

Small Garden 1st Mr & Mrs B Hibbert 12 Newark Road Runner up Jean Solven, 29 Water Lane

Large Garden 1st Mr & Mrs Moore, 2 Lime Grove Runner up Mr & Mrs J Rodham

The following were also noted as worthy of merit:- Mr & Mrs Cotton 22 High Street. - Mr & Mrs Croft 24 Water Lane. Mr & Mrs Foulston 2 Hallfield. - Mrs P Baker 19 Water Lane. Mr & Mrs Pounder 85 Lincoln Road. - Mr & Mrs Short 10 Millfield. Mr & Mrs Shiles 30 Lincoln Road. - Mrs Green 11 Middlegate. Mrs Black 12 Middlegate. - Mr & Mrs Geeson 35 High Street. Mr J Woodcock 4 Battersby Close. - All the gardens in Torgate Ave.

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Carlton Le Moorland & District Gardeners’ Club

THE AGM was held on 5th December (2001) when only twelve people attended. Four of the present committee are stepping down this year and, as nobody was prepared to take on the running of the club, it was suggested that it should fold. It was decided that an extra meeting should be held on Friday 8th February in the Village Hall to give any interested people a chance to have their say and to consider the suggestion that, if the Parish Council agrees, a glass cabinet be provided from the funds left in the Club bank account and housed in the Village Hall to keep Club trophies on view, as these are considered to be part of village history; any funds left over after this to be given to charity.

[WS Feb 2002]

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Aubourn & Haddington Village Hall - Plant Sales

These are held each year, usually in May and in October. These include a varied collection of quality plants with tea & coffee served, plus a raffle and a cake stall

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The Permaculture Garden at Hill Holt Wood, Norton Disney

By Robert Macbeth, Ranger, Hill Holt Wood 

The Permaculture Garden at Hill Holt is once again a hive of activity this spring. As in previous years rangers and learners are working together to grow vegetables, herbs, and fruit. Most of the vegetable seeds have been sown, and overwintering crops like leeks, spring greens, broad beans, and the winter salads, winter purslane, land cress, chard, spinach beet, corn salad, chicory, endive, lettuce, and oriental mustards are being harvested. Unfortunately the purple sprouting broccoli hasn't done so well against the peacocks. We encourage learners and staff to take home as much of the produce as possible, but the summer glut may enable us to offer a 'pick-your-own veggie box' scheme. Certainly we'll be offering a selection of chemical-free, peat-free, naturally grown potted herbs for sale at Hill Holt and South Scarle Church Farm Shop. 

Last year we used our rare breed pigs to root out the ground cover in a clearing next to the vegetable garden, leaving a dug over, manured, but rather puddled area to expand the garden into. The plan is to gradually fill the new garden with low maintenance perennial crops as time and budget allow, creating a 'forest garden'; an edible ecosystem which mimics a natural woodland in its diversity, multi-layered structure, and, to an extent, self-maintenance. So far Jerusalem artichokes, Chinese artichokes, asparagus, rhubarb, comfrey, gooseberries, buffalo currants, mahonia, Berberis darwinii, and fuchsia are the pioneers. These last three are among the many well-known ornamentals which have not-so-well-known edible berries. 

We employ a number of unconventional but increasingly popular techniques in the vegetable garden too. Sheet mulching is used to keep weeds down and keep the soil moist. I prefer newspaper to cardboard as it is a uniform size and forms a tough papier mache shell in the rain. Weeds can be a problem for onions, so this year I've experimented with overwintering onions planted in rows a tabloid width apart. I will cut down the middle of the newspaper and interplant the onions with one of their best companions, carrots. Onions are said to discourage carrot fly and carrots onion fly, and interplanting in this way allows you to plant the two crops closer to each other than you would to themselves. 

A sheet-mulch can also be covered with a thick layer of compost, manure or any other growing medium to create a new bed without the need for weeding or spraying. Potatoes grow well in this way, but the sheet-mulch is not necessary if the patch is largely weed free; we simply placed our potatoes on the firmed soil and covered them with well rotted pig manure, leaf mould, grass cuttings, and straw. As the tops show through more mulch can be piled on and potatoes will continue to sprout up the stem. No-dig potatoes have several benefits; they are less prone to blight, you can reach into the mulch to harvest a few new potatoes and leave the plant to continue producing, and of course there's no digging to do. Digging is hard work, encourages weeds, causes soil erosion, and destroys the soil structure. 

Digging decreases the levels of mycorrhiza, the fungi which form a symbiotic relationship with plant roots, exchanging food for water and minerals. This has the effect of reducing the mineral content of vegetables. We only dig when planting, or if the ground is compacted or uneven, and always try to avoid turning the soil over. Instead we mulch with various materials; oak leaf-mould, dug from the ditches around the wood to keep them clear, is perfect for sowing seeds directly into, well rotted manure is good around brassicas and other transplants, and oak bark saved from forestry activities keeps slugs away. These organic mulches slowly fertilize the crop, keep weed seeds from germinating, and keep the soil moist and in place. 

In using unusual techniques we are not rejecting conventional gardening wisdom. Permaculture is about learning from nature and working with nature; the methods chosen on that basis will depend on individual circumstances but will always be drawn from a variety of sources, both conventional and novel, traditional and exotic. For example at Hill Holt we combine the best of companion planting with the good practice of a four year rotation. Year 1 combines potatoes with broad beans and peas with lettuce, followed by winter brassicas, then summer brassicas in year 2. Overwintering in year 2 are leeks, onions, and garlic, and in year 3 the onion family is joined by the carrot and beet families. Broad beans follow that winter then year 4 is the pumpkin family, French and runner beans, sweetcorn and sunflowers, followed by winter radish and a green manure. The polytunnels follow a three year rotation of tomatoes and basil, peppers-aubergines-tomatillos, and the cucumber family. Lots of annual herbs and edible flowers are liberally sown around the crops; dill, parsley, coriander, calendula, caraway, chervil, cornflower, summer savory, nasturtium, edible chrysanthemum and French marigold. 

Permaculture is not just a type of gardening, but more generally a design system which can be applied to gardens, buildings, farming, communities, and any other human system. It can be characterised as 'the design of sustainable human systems according to the principles of ecosystems', or simply 'applied ecology'. The word was coined by two Australians, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, in the 1970s and is a contraction of both 'permanent agriculture' and 'permanent culture'. Permanent here does not mean unchanging, but rather, self-renewing and sustainable, as nature inherently is, and human culture needs to become. Of course, learning from and mimicking nature is nothing new, but permaculture provides a practical design framework to enable us to create a more sustainable and flourishing society. 

We will be running courses on permaculture and other aspects of our work during 2005; 

'Gardening with Nature' is a one day course covering various techniques, including those discussed in this article, and the principles behind them. 28th May and 28th July, cost £12.50 - £25 according to your ability to pay. 

'Introduction to Permaculture' is a weekend course covering the principles of ecological design and their practical application to sustainable lifestyles, gardens, homes and communities. 24-25 September, cost £25-£75 according to your ability to pay. 

'Introduction to Permaculture for Professionals' is a two day course in permaculture design and its application to sustainable communities, business, industry, local government, and land management. 25th -26th October, POA. 

'Charcoal Burning' is a practical weekend course covering filling, lighting, maintaining and ending the burn, and an opportunity to try green woodworking. 18th-19th June, £75 including camping. 

The garden, like the rest of the wood, is open every day during daylight hours. Ranger-guided tours of the garden and/or the wider wood can be arranged, and rangers are also available to lead activity sessions, whether one-off, occasional or regular, for schools, groups and clubs. Hill Holt Experience Days can be arranged, and include ranger-led activities and talks by the project director. The project director also gives evening talks on sustainability in business, community, and rural affairs. Of course, volunteers are always welcome to join in any aspect of our work. 

We also offer a wide range of products made to order, including hand-carved bowls, implements, and ornaments, patio troughs and window boxes, garden furniture, features, structures, sheds, signs, pea sticks, fencing, gates, oak stumps, and even composting toilets; please contact us about these or any other hand-made products. 

Email rmacbeth@hillholtwood.com

or phone (01636)892836 for more information and booking. Hill Holt Wood is just off the A46 on the Newark-bound side. The entrance is just after the Nottinghamshire county border sign.

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Catch A Cold Night 

On a calm clear night the temperature at this time of year can fall sharply. You gardeners and growers should watch out for frost. As a rough guide as to how cold it's likely to be by dawn first check the temperature at 2pm and again at 10pm. Double the difference and take it away from the afternoon temperature and you'll have the dawn reading. Example: 18 deg C at 2pm and 9 deg C at 10pm could mean 0 deg C at dawn.

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Digital Garden Photography

Jan Slack runs digital photography workshops with her associate Pete Murray, who has won RHS awards for his plant photography. 

For detail see their website: 

www.goingdigital.co.uk/pages/gardens.htm 

Discounts are offered  for group bookings.

They are based in Colsterworth, Lincolnshire.

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Aubourn Hall Gardens Sculpture Weekend

Art is bursting out of the flowers and shrubs all over the Gardens at Aubourn Hall on the weekend of the 16^th & 17^th June (see separate advert on page 11).  The gardens will be competing with neighbouring Bassingham’s Scarecrow Festival and Open Garden Weekend by playing host to a glamorous collection of stone, glass, wood and ceramic sculptures.

There will be a large array of different types of sculpture on show from domestic scale ceramics to large stone, wood and metal structures. The prices of the work range widely from a few pounds to several thousand.

The gardens will also be playing host to an exhibition by Fools and Angels whose craftwork in a domestic setting has become well known in Lincoln and beyond.

Both Christopher and Annabelle Nevile are huge Arts and Crafts enthusiasts and have been working closely with a number of local arts and craft organisations such Arts NK and the Design Factory. The opportunity for them to show local and international sculptors work in this setting is tremendously exciting:

 “We so much admired the exhibition put on for the last four years at Harpswell by Pam and Mark Tatham, that when they decided to take a break we were thrilled to take over”, says Annabelle.  “With more space, (the gardens stretch over approximately 10 acres,) we have been able to involve many talented artists.” says Annabelle Nevile.

Aubourn Hall is the home of the Nevile family who built the house in 1628 and continue to live there to this day. Although little remains of the 17^th Century arrangements, the gardens we see today were established in an unusually open and informal style by Lady Nevile and her late husband Sir Henry in the 1980s. New features and points of interest continue to be introduced under the careful watch of the present occupiers Christopher and Annabelle and the head Gardener Simon Moore.

The Gardens are also open from May 16^th until July 8^th on Wednesdays, Sundays and Bank Holiday Monday. Private groups, tours and garden walks can be arranged at other times

For further information call Christopher Nevile or Ginny Lovell on 788224 or email aubournhall@btconnect.com

[WS June 2007]

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Witham Staple Web Editor can be contacted by e-mail: info@withamstaple.com