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Spring chores

Volunteers worked hard today, tidying the Gardens ready for the first Open Day of the year on 18 April. Maggie and Lesley cleaned the information boards ready for them to be rehung. Primroses now welcome visitors to the Gardens, in the front entrance bed. ...

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Making a warm welcome

The Gardens were gorgeous today: almost peak daffodils and violets, and the first of the cowslips and lots of beautiful blossom. Sam and Roy worked really hard building this log wall – helped by Steven, carting some of the logs on the Honda that he ...

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More daffs!

What a lovely day we had at the Gardens this week – spring was definitely in the air. With most volunteers now back and working, spread around the Gardens, we got a lot done. Planting of magnolias in the Glade; planting of more grasses in the Japane ...

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Daffs are cheering us up

It was a grey and wet day for volunteers this week, but we remained cheerful, buoyed by the sight of daffodils opening up around the Gardens. We have over 30 varieties, from simple wild ones to showy colours and blowsy petals and trumpets. The massed show ...

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More tidying across the Gardens

It is great to see volunteers back, tackling more essential tidying around the Gardens. Weirdly, few leaves came down in the autumn, but they have now. So Valerie, Ann & Lynne did more raking to tidy them off the grass and put in the bins to make leaf ...

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Sorting the apple whips

Neil was with us this week, bringing apple whips for planting, which had been kindly donated by the East of England Apples and Orchards Project. Sam, Steven, Peter and Ann dug holes. Then Neil talked us through the planting process and how to prune the wh ...

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Not yet dried out

The sun shone and we were pleasantly warm, until it clouded over and the rain fell, again! Undaunted volunteers made a good start on getting the Italian garden pruned back into shape for the coming season. Others of us finished the deadhedge in the walled ...

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Work goes on

Despite the freezing conditions Neil helped us get some more of our pruning done. It is apples and pears this time of year: progressively pruning the heritage trees into a good shape and with the newer trees working on encouraging them to grow strongly an ...

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Dead hedging

Steven, Carolyn, Sue and I made a start on a dead hedge in the proposed new orchard corner of the walled kitchen garden. A dead hedge is a great way to create a new feature, tidying the area, while locking away the carbon in the wood. And we have plenty o ...

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The snowdrops are coming

Each week, now, we are seeing more of the snowdrops’ silver green leaves poking through around the Gardens: in the grass under the trees at the front of the Gardens, down the sides of the Glade, in the woodland and in the walled kitchen garden. Some ...

A ray of sunshine

Despite the cold weather, there are a few signs of spring being on its way. The Mahonia is beautiful and sweet and the viburnam is also beginning to flower in the Japanese garden; a few primroses are flowering in the woodland; and bulbs are pushing up the ...

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A sunny Thursday at last

What a tonic it was, to enjoy sunshine and a little warmth in the Italian Garden and the walled kitchen garden this Thursday, after all the rain. The Gardens are very boggy and it has been impossible for Roger and team to re-lay the path by the gate. But ...