Luca's Garden
with Bridget Sudworth OUR VILLAGE WENT mad over the Jubilee weekend and events piled in one after the other. Whether Monarchists or Republicans, there were plenty of people to support them regardless of affiliations - it was much more to do with socialising and the spirit of community among neighbours! The Dog Show brought a rosette for Lukie, who behaved impeccably and
really enjoyed the company of about 100 dogs. But back to business. After the national excitement of the Chelsea Flower Show which I was not able to comment on last month as results had not come in, there was much to think about with regard to gardens once the dust had settled. For those of us not able to go, the television programme provided much food for thought, not least the overall winner which was a rewilding garden including a beaver dam, which raised the issue among critics of ‘What is a Garden?’ ergo what elements should be rewarded with gold acclaim.
Hemerocallis.
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Capanula ‘Elizabeth’.
Inevitably, the answer has to be that a garden is something that is managed rather than left to the vagaries of nature but rewilding, whatever one may think of it, seems to be raising awareness among those of us who grow and tend things (as if we didn’t already know) that taking care of our world is becoming an urgent business and rewilding is allowing nature to get back to normal and contribute to repairing biodiversity Thus the judges, with their choice, were obviously making a very strong point. During the lush month of July, something of a climax in growing is reached and gardens will be burgeoned with magnificent growth. I read about a suggestion that June/July was a good time to plant lots of seeds to provide more annual blooms for late summer which, though a great idea, only gave rise to a hollow laugh from me as every space seems to be taken up round here and not an inch to spare for more flowering. Plus, of course, it means more to look after while the goose grass, bindweed and ground elder take over completely elsewhere! Keep up the watering (gray water and water butts) - the recent hot spell has really dried out the soil not helped by the mean little wind and plants will battle on till suddenly they give up the ghost so don’t be caught out. Loads of dried out bulb leaves can be removed from the underbrush allowing new growth of other species to emerge with
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more space. I hoof out most of the vetch which, though loved by insects, tends to smother other plants and gives headroom for goosegrass and bindweed to add to the dodder-like effect of green blankets. Monty Don, talking at the Chelsea Flower Show, had some lovely comments to make about the mystical world of trees below ground with their web of essential fungi and a means of communicating between themselves through myriad hexagon shapes between roots. ‘Look after your trees and they will look after you’. My rant b uc ke t is pr e tt y f u l l a t t h e moment (gotta keep the lid on tight) as we keep being reminded about the urgency to do things to improve the planet but still, nothing happens from ‘on high’. More occurs to further damage or ignore a world that is sick. I still maintain that hedgerows are every bit as important as trees and quicker to grow and could be an immediate answer to increasing biodiversity while the trees come along behind at a slower pace. Jake Fiennes, a conservation manager on a Norlfolk estate, lucidly argues that hedgerows are helping to reverse so many losses in the natural world - it’s the wild
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Nigella.
