Gardens Archive - JULY 2004
We have now passed the summer solstice and summer should be here, but as usual the weather has been erratic with thunderstorms and hail.
This time of the year can be hectic in the garden: sowing, planting, weeding, summer pruning, and the endless grass cutting. It is a satisfying thought to see the results of your labors and enjoy the flavours of homegrown produce.
We have just added a larger greenhouse to the vegetable garden, enabling us to grow more tender crops such as basil, orach and numerous varieties of pak choi which ned to be grown quickly and are unfortunately attacked by everything which crawls or fly's. This is why if you are a regular reader of my newsletter this one is a little late.
As is usual with gardening some things do exceptionally well one year, and not the next. Last year we had good red, white and black currents. This year they are not looking promising, though the apples, plums and damsons are the opposite, as are our outdoor grapes!
Late last year I added a fig, loganberries, raspberries and a desert blackberry to the garden to go with our existing kiwi. All are fruiting well, as have been our alpine strawberries and the other varieties, which came from Highgrove stock. Unfortunately I didn't manage to raise many plants of the white alpine strawberry, but the few we have are superbly sweet, better luck next year.
We have been making good use of our lemon verbena, which I nursed through the winter, it being a native of South America. If you can get hold of a plant it is well worth growing as the flavour and smell of lemon sherbet is intoxicating. As long as it is kept relatively dry through the winter months it is not hard to look after, thought it can be difficult to obtain initially.
Summer is traditionally the time for Pimms and topped with fresh garden mint and the stunning blue borage flowers is the epitome of summer, so it is good to see our borage flowering well again. The bees and pollinating insects also love it, so it is beneficial to grow a few plants not only for your Pimms but also to sprinkle over your culinary creations, their flavour of cumber goes well with both sweet and savoury dishes.
I hope you have had time to grow a few of my suggestions and are enjoying their flavours, as I am enjoying the smell and taste of home grown Florence fennel at the moment .
Andrew Mellin (Head Gardener Northcote Manor)