Reveley Lodge Gardeners page

Reveley Lodge Garden July 2010

I wrote in the last newsletter that the volunteers had a new task to clear the overgrown bed at the back of the Mulberry Garden this summer. I had of course forgotten the time consuming task of the maintenance of the shrub and flower borders. The Mulberry bed is on hold while weeding, shrub trimming and dead heading carries on repetitively.

After a slow start with poor germination, the vegetables are now growing well and the rows are full. The soft fruit has produced well too and many punnets of strawberries, raspberries and loganberries have been taken to the museum. Rhubarb and asparagus have come to an end but the flowers will continue till early autumn. The 'Harvesters' have asked me to encourage you to return the punnets to the museum, as keeping a stock of clean empty ones is a big problem.

There have been two minor disappointments; the encarsia parasitic wasps have not been very successful in controlling the white fly in the conservatory. Nick thinks the high temperature may have killed them. Secondly my plea for donations for items to add to the display in the stable resulted in zero. Perhaps the request for equestrian items was too narrow and perhaps not many of 'The Friends' have horses! Widening the request for old garden implements might be a better idea. Again please contact me, not the museum office. Some of you will be pleased that in time the skeleton bandstand on the tennis court lawn will be taken down. Roofing it would have been expensive and as it is constructed of soft wood its life would not be long in that wet area. When dismantled it is hoped that it will have a future in supporting plants at the back of the hot border. Like the donated fruit cage that was cut down small to protect the strawberries it may still have a useful life.

Those of you who admired the wild flowers at the Spring Open Day will see that those areas have been mown. We had very few wild flowers in the grass before Nick came. Just by altering the mowing regime till the flowers have seeded he has transformed those areas. The cheeky young fox has been seen walking along the high wall above the greenhouse and there are more mice. The cold frame is now completed and we are hoping the melons will ripen. The new track lighting for the stable, and new wooden signage boards depicting the beehive area are anticipated.

Will it all happen in time for the Garden Party? Keith who celebrated a special birthday in June (with luncheon on the lawn) has been in party mode for weeks and all the yard doors are in freshly painted 'Reveley Green' We hope for a fine afternoon for you all to come and enjoy the garden.

Madeleine McCormack