Pretty much all the annuals and dahlias are planted and it’s all hands to the pump to keep on top of the weeding and the deadheading so the displays keep flowering. It is calming down now as everything settles down from spring growth madness into a steady summer beauty. I love walking round the garden… Continue Reading
June 2018 – A riot of colour for your borders
We are absolutely in the thick of it here at Helmsley Walled Garden. It’s that stage of the year (I feel sure you’re familiar with it) when everything grows like mad, including the weeds and there are still lots of plants to go in the ground; annuals, dahlias and so on. The ground is like… Continue Reading
May 2018 – Laburnums
Well the sun has finally come out after a very long holiday and we are all pleased to see it here at the Garden. Everything has been so behind but is now thankfully starting to catch up. It always does in the end. One of the highlights of May for me is the flowering of… Continue Reading
April 2018 – Working in the Physic Garden
Well hasn’t the weather been putting a crimp in our gardening year? Here the ground has either been under snow, frozen solid or waterlogged and it has at times been impossible to do any work in the Garden. Still, there has been plenty to do with chitting potatoes, seed sowing and pricking out and potting… Continue Reading
March 2018 – Pruning dogwoods
Well things are really hotting up here, everywhere I look someone is cutting back old herbaceous growth, someone is jet washing benches. The sound of clipping comes from the Garden as all the hedges are trimmed back. I can hear the tapping of a hammer as someone else makes some lovely new planters for the… Continue Reading
February 2018 – Pruning Your Apple Trees
Well hopefully we’ve seen the last of the snow here although it has been useful to have some cold weather. Some plants, including apple trees, need a spell of cold weather to go into dormancy and later to kick-start their flowering process, this is called vernalization. Plants with vernalization requirements need a certain number of… Continue Reading
Helmsley Walled Garden 100 Club Winners in 2017
The 100 Club was launched in October 2012 as a way of raising money to support the work of Helmsley Walled Garden. The money raised by the club will help in the development and maintenance of the garden as well supporting the work done by our horticultural therapy team. They work with local people with… Continue Reading
January 2018 – Early rhubarb
So here we are, new year ahead of us full of possibilities for the garden. In the Garden, we are manuring and digging and pruning apple and pear trees, of which we have over one hundred. We are also cleaning out our terracotta pots and cleansing the greenhouses with sulphur candles to try and get… Continue Reading
December 2017 – Tidying the Garden
Well the wind and the rain and the frost have all duly arrived. The dahlias, cut down by the first frost are all now lifted and being washed and wrapped up ready for overwintering in the Orchid House. Leaves are wet underfoot and plants are dying back, ready to reappear next spring. Although my personal… Continue Reading
