One Word…..

I could begin and end this month with one word…… rain. The trusty waterproofs have come into their own and have been the most useful items in the shed for this month. It has been a good month besides the obvious wet weather. The highlight of the month was being able to have a charity visit from The Friends of St Andrews Botanic Gardens, many of the group had visited the gardens several years ago and were in turn able to see massive changes to the gardens. Best of all, it didn’t rain during their visit so we had a wonderful view across to the Bass rock and beyond.

In between the showers we have been able to tidy up lawns, cut back in the fruit cage where needed and tidy up of the beds. Alongside the routine tasks we have a lot of other tasks that come along during this time of year. The meadows that run alongside the East drive and down towards North drive have been getting cut with our trusty two wheeled tractor. We use this compact pedestrian machine as it reduces soil compaction and gives a quality cut to the meadow with its double-bladed scythe. We leave the cut material to break down and return much needed nutrients to the soil. Jeremy, as mentioned in his blog, has been carrying out very helpful and insightful soil tests which help with the future management of such areas and show the real benefit of the work that is being carried out to regenerate these areas for the future.

A large task and a long-term restoration project of the hedges within the grounds has begun again. Many of these hedges are now beginning to show signs of filling in and taking shape and others will need a helping hand from us to fill in with smaller underplanting, bareroot planting in coming months. This will help fill in the bottom areas of the hedges and in time help to give them the A form that is desired. Such hedges will be left to recover and rest for at least one more season before being looked at. During this time these will be receiving a seaweed feed to boost the strength of the plants and a heavy compost mulch to the base of the hedge.

Conditions are looking brighter for the coming weeks so we will hopefully catch up on sharpening up of areas before next months tasks and projects. I think its nearly time to pack away the factor 50 sun cream for another year and get planning for the projects coming up. Hopefully the showers are spaced out and we can enjoy a bit of dry weather before the leaves begin to fall. I hope you all enjoy any dry spells and don’t give up on the garden just yet!