A Late July Visit to Harlow Carr, Yorkshire

Last Thursday I visited Harlow Carr, the RHS gardens near Harrogate, Yorkshire.  I have visited this fantastic north east garden many times over the years and with each visit I have always found something new and interesting at which to marvel.  This visit was no exception, it delighted me once again.

The alpine house was full of tiny explosions of colour.

Doesn’t the contrasting red and blue zing with happiness.

In the sub-tropicana garden there was a small glasshouse which houses various tender perennials.

This lovely cobaea scrambled up the back wall

and various potted succulents were set on the surrounding wall tops.

Outside bamboos, bananas and salvias gave a jungle vibe to this area.

Over in the kitchen garden, the raised beds and fruit cages were an excellent demonstration on how to grow produce for the table.

On the opposite side of the garden in the Lakeside Garden, two beds had been sown with annuals, mainly poppies, to attract pollinators. It was wonderful to see so many hoverflies and bees in such a short area.

I wandered about the Sandstone Rock Garden and its two ponds were so green and lush despite the heatwave.

Close by I found some knarled logs covered in moss.

My last port of call around the gardens were the main borders; to me these were the highlight of my visit.  The clipped box pyramids which once stood at the end of each section of bed had been removed and planted elsewhere; now only perennials remained.  The colours and shapes of the flowers and grasses rippled and undulated like a changing sunset; yellows, oranges, red, blue and so on.  At every step there was a photo opportunity.  Each clump consisted of around ten individual plants so together formed one large block of colour and texture.

  

The tones of each colour flowed into one another.

Pollinators were everywhere; here is one I managed to photograph.

I really did have a wonderful day and there is so much to see and so much to marvel at that I cannot wait until my next visit to Harlow Carr.

I will leave you with a few more images I managed to capture.

 

 Happy gardening

 

 

The Great Heatwave of July 2022

We are now in week two of a punishing dry spell when anything living is drained of moisture.  Here in the Tyne Valley my three lawns are so dry that a scrunching noise can be heard when walked on.  I have scattered a general fertiliser on the worse affected lawns namely the front (south facing) and the orchard then given both a good watering.  I hope it will be enough but will not know for sure until this hot weather breaks and we get some rain which will make the grass green up. 

 

I have been regularly watering the borders and the fruit cage, and given the inhabitants of the fruit cage a good feed.  On the south facing side of the garden, the Knautia macedonica and clematis have a bad case of mildew so am spraying both with a mixture of cows milk and water. 

 

The roses, have also suffered in the heat, they have a touch of black spot, I have cut off all the affected leaves, sprayed with Rose Clear then given them a jolly good feed.

 

According to the television lunchtime weather forecast the temperatures should start to drop by the end of the week but alas no mention of rain.

On a happier note, the lavender planted against the house is now in flowering and is covered in bees.  Therefore my next blog will feature the bees that are gracing our garden.

Enjoy the hot weather whilst it lasts.

 

My Solution To Watering Plants Across A One Acre Garden

In order to correctly install an irrigation system to cover a large garden, one has to dig trenches at least 18inches deep (below the frost line), line the bottom of the trench with gravel then lay the pipe, back fill with more gravel then top with soil.  This is too expensive on my limited budget as I will only use the watering system in dry hot spells or when planting anything new.  I have, therefore, installed a cheaper and simpler method in my garden and the instructions for which I have detailed below.

 

1.     First, decide which areas of  the garden require watering in hot weather. Lay cheap standard garden hose to these areas, they are sold in 20, 30 and 40 metre lengths.

 

2.     Dig shallow trenches in the ground only to a depth of 5/6 inches, it is safer to run these trenches between the planting borders and the lawns to avoid cutting through them with a spade.

 

3.     Lay down a bed of sharp first, level and tamp it down so that it is compacted, the hosepipes were then laid on top of the sand, more sand was put on top, levelled then bricks or turf were laid on top. 

I have used brick edging throughout the garden, it serves two purposes, firstly to give a neat edge between herbaceous borders and lawn; and secondly my husband needs only to run the wheels of the lawn mower on top of the bricks without worrying whether the mower in end up in amongst the perennials. Maybe once a month the lawn edges need cutting (where the lawn abuts the brick). It is better if the bricks are laid at the same level of the lawn if not a little below.

The various lengths of hose terminate in the same place near the outside tape.  It is then easy to connect a short length of hose going from the outside tap to the hose ends.

It works as long I remember to turn the outside tap off first before disconnecting any of the hose length, otherwise I get very wet!

 

It works as long I remember to turn the outside tap off first before disconnecting any of the hose length, otherwise I get very wet!
 
I hope this idea is useful to someone or perhaps it might inspire a slightly tweaking.
 
Happy gardening.