Blog – Page 19

The Trainee Gardener: Rebecca Lloyd

Apprentice - Rebecca Since April this year I have had the invaluable opportunity to train for two days per week in the beautiful gardens of Chawton House Library through a placement organised through the Women’s Farm and Garden Association’s ‘Work and Retrain as a Gardener’ (WRAGS) scheme. The scheme offers a chance to train in horticultural skills under the instruction of a head gardener and it was the idea of Chawton’s Head Gardener Alan Bird to introduce the scheme to Chawton House. Receiving training from the Head Gardener in a range of gardening skills, I have assisted with a variety of tasks essential in maintaining the garden – I hope that I have provided some useful extra help!

Learning different skills week by week and seeing the garden change through the seasons from frosty spring mornings to hot summer afternoons with the herbaceous borders in full bloom and Walled Garden bursting with produce, has been an insightful experience.

Walled Garden.jpg The Walled Garden is my favourite part of the gardens. Built in 1818-1822 by Edward Knight, I love the sense of history in the Walled Garden in particular. I am intrigued to think of gardeners past who have worked at Chawton House – fascinating photographs of the garden from the early part of the 20th century can be seen in the shed within the Walled Garden. In recent years the Walled Garden has been developed as an ornamental kitchen garden (also known as a potager) combining vegetables and ornamental plants; espaliered apple trees, herbaceous borders, pretty annuals and roses can be found alongside rows of vegetables, and fruit bushes producing for example delicious raspberries and gooseberries.

Herbaceous border in Walled Garden.jpg During my placement I have been taught how to care for the Library’s gardens including the herbaceous and mixed borders, Rose Garden, and kitchen garden. For example in the spring I helped to plant the borders with additional herbaceous perennials to ensure masses of colour and interest throughout the summer. I’ve also done plenty of weeding and deadheading to help maintain the gardens and have been shown how to prune the Library’s spring and summer flowering shrubs and climbers such as wisteria so that they will give their best. Protected growing is also an element of the WRAGS scheme and I am especially pleased with the zinnia flowers which I sowed from seed in pots – they have made a bright addition to the Library’s summer borders with, for example, their shades of pink contrasting against purple salvia.

Zinnias in Walled Garden.jpg

In the kitchen garden I have learnt how to cultivate the soil, sow and care for fruit and vegetables from leeks to raspberries. I have been intrigued by some of the varieties grown – such as the Crystal Lemon cucumber, a climbing variety cultivated since 1894 with fruit which look similar to yellow apples.

Crystal Lemon cucumbers 2.jpg

The placement has also been especially useful in developing my knowledge of plants and their botanical Latin names. My favourite new plants and trees include the stunning Judas tree (Cersis siliquastrum) which grows against the outside of the Rose Garden’s walls with rosy pink flowers in late spring and Monarda didyma (Bergamot), a herbaceous perennial with aromatic leaves and showy pink flowers in summer.

As a garden open to the public, it is rewarding to see visitors both from all over the world and more locally enjoying the gardens.

My hope is to gain the skills and experience which will enable me to leave my desk behind for good (anyway, for most of the time!) and pursue a career in horticulture. With the benefit of my experience at Chawton House which has helped bring to life the theory learnt during my studies for Royal Horticultural Society exams, I’ve made the first few steps along the way.

By Rebecca Lloyd.

‘… where the road forks, bear left over the bridge and stream. Go past the church. The gates to the Hall, with the lodge house, are next to it. The Lime avenue leads to the Hall. Park outside.’

Brent Eleigh Hall has a history. It is history, situated on the banks of the River Brett near to Lavenham in Suffolk, which is itself in a time warp. The Hall was once the seat of the Shelton family, and since then of Sir Felix Agar in the 19th C.
More recently it was home to Sir David Barran, former Chairman of Shell. It has recently been acquired by the current owners who are in the process of renovating it. Of particular interest to me is that it has a huge Victorian walled kitchen garden consisting of nearly two acres.

I pulled up next to three other parked cars. A sign on the front door steered me to the walled garden… great! Off I trotted following the red brick wall to a gate where I was able to see one of the gardeners, Adrian, busy at work. The walled garden is unusual, having a valley with beds rising up on either side to the West and East walls, which are of different heights. I was told that this was to maximise the light as the East wall is taller. The cold air rolls down the valley and out through the gate in the centre of the North wall.

Soon myself and five other WFGA members were introduced to Merriel Gardiner, the Head Gardener, who has recently been appointed. We were given a tour of the garden on our way to the orchard. Glass houses on the south wall contain peaches and a vine. The garden has been freshly dug awaiting more fruit, vegetables and edible flowering plants. Micro-herbs are also grown. These have become popular, used as a garnish or small salad accompaniment and are literally herb and vegetable seedlings picked for intensity of flavour. The garden and its produce are important to the owners as they supply Novikov Restaurant in Mayfair.

The Hall is impressive. I was to learn that it is believed to have stood on an Elizabethan E plan footprint even though it now looks Georgian. Alterations have been made to the entrance hall and dining room by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1933-34. I was told that he also designed the flamboyant pig house in the kitchen
garden but this was probably a joke, although it must be the most glamorous pig-house in England!

On a guided tour of the gardens I wonder about the jewel of a bothy at the foot of the walled garden which used to sleep the gardeners who were on duty and has a tiny chapel. At the back of the house I see projecting out onto the garden two large wings supporting a grand Tuscan portico. The huge pillars are mimicked by two soaring magnolia grandiflora.

The nearby orchard was planted in the early 1980’s with apple varieties Worcester Pearmain, Egremont Russet, Ashmead’s Kernel and Cox’s Orange Pippin. There is also a row of heavy cropping Concorde pear trees. Adrian talked us through the pruning technique for these non-tip-bearing trees, shortening new growth to around three or four buds, aiming to create an open goblet shape, taking off dead or diseased wood and allowing good air flow. With sharpened tools we set off, inspired to make good progress. The trees had put on a fair bit of growth and so we climbed ladders to reach the higher branches and keep them in check, the top growth reaching about five metres. By the late afternoon we congratulated ourselves on a neat-looking orchard, with a stack of apple wood prunings heaped and ready for the fire.

Now to tackle the lonely Egremont Russet at the back of my garden. Clients …watch out!

See http://novikovrestaurant.co.uk/brenteleigh/about-us/ for interesting information and photographs of the garden as well as news from Merriel

Ceinwen from bonnyborders

Pruning in the Orchard

WRAGS Trainee at Chawton House, Hampshire

The Trainee Gardener: Rebecca Lloyd

Orchard Pruning