October’s Garden Update

Winter is coming – although the temperatures during October and November have been up and down to say the least.  We have had frost and warm sunshine in the same day followed by heavy rain which has made it impossible to predict which jobs we can do when, but gardening is always a challenge!  

Earlier this month some of the Gardens Team and the Duchess paid a visit to The Northumbria Cider Company just down the road at Etal to see our very own crop of heritage apples and pears be made into delicious pear and apple juice and apple cider. It is great when we see tangible results of our hard work, we had a super day with them and even had a go at pressing our fruit! We then had a tasting session and can confirm it all tastes amazing! We cannot wait for the first batches to arrive and hopefully it will prove very popular with our regular visitors who always want to know what happens to the fruit in the garden.  When it arrives, our heritage juices and ciders will be available from the Apple Shed.  Watch this space…! 

Main gardening tasks for the team this month are clearing and collecting the leaves that fall and disposing of any that harbour disease such as black spot on the roses.  We are also steadily working our way through the borders – clearing and tidying the beds ready for their winter mulch and rest. 

Although they lasted this year for ages, the last of the Sweet Peas have now been cleared, we are harvesting the parsnips, celeriac, celery, carrots and kale and supporting the Brussel Sprouts which are looking great.  Our Paperwhite bulbs have been potted up for forcing for flowers at Christmas time and the tulip bulbs and narcissi will all be planted this month ready for their displays in Springtime.  Our herbaceous borders and the Tapestry Garden have been left to allow wildlife to enjoy the seeds and shelter, but the time comes now when we do start to clear the plants and get the beds ready for winter – cutting back herbaceous perennials that are faded and spent and lifting our Dahlia tubers and Cannas for overwintering.   

Our more tender plants also need protection such as the Agapanthus, DIcksonia antarctica (Tree Ferns) and the plants in our Hedychium (Gingers) RHS Trial bed.   The RHS Trial team paid a visit to Floors to assess how the variety of Hedychium plants had fared in their first year and were pleasantly surprised to see how well they had established which has been due to the mild and wet summer we have had this year.   Winter protection for these plants is a mulch of wood chip once stems have been cut down at ground level after first frosts and hopefully we can expect a great display next year.   

Seed selection and planning for next year: garlic, shallot and onion set sowing plus leaf cuttings of Steptocarpus, African Violets and Begonias plus root cuttings of plants such as Verbascum for propagation ensure we are kept busy!  

Finally, at the end of October we say goodbye to our lovely team of Volunteers who make such a massive difference to the garden – everyone enjoyed an end of season BBQ to say thank you – and the sun shone brightly which made it a perfect day for everyone! Huge thanks to all our Volunteers and we look forward to seeing you all again in March!