Autumn at RHS Harlow Carr

I've not blogged for ages, lack of time, energy and inspiration being the reasons. I've composed many  blogs in my head whilst out and about, only to forget about them later. This week though I decided to make a bigger effort. I was inspired.

Saturday is my birthday and I was thinking about treats of the going for a day out type. I don't know if it is because my birthday is in October that I so love autumn, the colours, falling leaves, smells of garden bonfires etc. So I decided that we would do an Autumn visit to RHS Harlow Carr, we haven't been since Spring.  There were lots of changes going on, new paths and borders being made which meant that we couldn't walk along some areas.  We didn't mind this as we could still see all the gardens and it was interesting to learn of the plans.

We always check out the kitchen garden first to see how it compares to our allotment. On this visit though I started to wonder why I bother growing vegetables.  There were broad beans and peas--mine have long since finished and I never have any success with growing a late crop of peas. The leeks were a good size, mine are thin and won't be ready to pull for months. Celeriac--I have given up trying to grow it.  The cabbages looked very healthy, much better than mine.  My husband pointed out that the vegetables are better looked after than ours because there are always staff looking after the garden.  We visit our allotment  about two or three times a week in the summer, less often at this time of year. The kitchen garden at Harlow Carr is also very open, no overhanging trees casting shade like our allotment.

We moved on to the greenhouse where there was an amazing display of pumpkins and chillies. There is a really big pumpkin bed in the kitchen garden and they always have a lovely display of them in the greenhouse in the autumn. I don't grow pumpkins on my allotment because I don't have a lot of space. Chillies, well I do try, but this year they haven't done well.

It was time to move on and stop feeling bad about my growing failures, so we had a coffee in the summer house. This is always a good place to stop for a rest.

Nearby in the Alpine House there was plenty of colour from the many fascinating plants. Outside the alpine house was an interesting poster display celebrating 'Dig for Victory'.

We had lunch at the café near the woods, sitting outside watching the birds which get fed well on crumbs from people's sandwiches and cakes. Next stop was the old bath house which had a local artists'  Christmas crafts display.

As we had come to revel in the Autumn colours we headed off into the woods, stopping first to examine some of the sculptures which were part of a sculpture trail.  I like the squirrel.

We spotted a newly developed area at the edge of the woods which was a stumpery and fernery.  I'm always interested to see a stumpery as I have started one in my own garden.

This was a good one, there were little areas with stumps and ferns and other woodland plants and it would be easy for people to get ideas for their own gardens.  I was pleased to see some of the plants which I have used in my little woodland area at home--ferns, hellebores, hardy geraniums, pulmonarias. I must be doing the right thing. I noticed also that the stumps and logs were arranged to look like they were growing out of the woodland bed.  Mine at home have just been plonked down--I can easily rectify that.

Over towards the arboretum we stopped at the bird hide, but there wasn't a bird in sight. Perhaps they were all down at the cafe. The arboretum is a lovely place and as expected there was plenty of lovely colours.  There is a little area through a gate which has been designated a silent space where you can sit and be quiet and still.

Coming out of the arboretum and woods we walked along the streamside for a while.  Here we saw some work being done to improve the streamside.

Harlow Carr suffers a lot from flooding and there are plans to improve other areas of the gardens too. We saw more of the sculpture trail along the streamside. Some of the sculptures were of plants and were very realistic. From a distance I was wondering what sort of plants they were!

It was soon time to go home and we hadn't been around the whole of the gardens. Another day, another season perhaps.

Plant Fair and open gardens

At the weekend Richard and I took some time off from the allotment to visit a Plant and Garden Fair at Browsholme Hall near Clitheroe.  It's an annual event which Helen and I went to last year at this time but didn't get to see all of the gardens.  So this year we were determined to stay longer and see as much of the gardens as we could.

The first priority though was to look at the plant stalls outside and the artisan stalls in the barn. I bought a trollius plant for the bog garden at the allotment, a lovely coppery pink geum called Leonard's Variety and an allium. In the barn were various craft and food stalls, but the one which caught my attention was the lady selling her own British grown flowers.  There were some lovely hand tied bunches and I just had to have one.  It's given me ideas for my own flower growing  in the garden and allotment.

Having spent too much money, we left the plant stalls behind and started off along the garden path. There was a a lot of water  running through the grounds and our first area to look at was a stream area with a bridge, little waterfalls and a pond.  Any water features are of great interest to us at the moment as we have just built a wildlife pond and bog area on the allotment.  I was interested in the planting around the stream and pond. Although it is early in the year yet for much to be in flower, I could see new growth emerging and recognised rodgersia, irises, primula.

The stream went off across the fields and we continued along the path which led towards a woodland area and a big lake (more water).

We walked around the lake stopping to look in the boathouse. 

We didn't have time to wander into the woods, so after walking around the lake we headed back towards the house.  Next to the house is a formal garden area with box edged beds and a fish pond.

 Up some well worn steps and we came to a row of trees which had red bark and some interesting gnarled trunks and branches.  They looked very old.

Browsholme Hall is having another open garden day and plant fair on 5th July for the
National Gardens Scheme, so if you are in the area it's worth a visit.

Another woodland project

 

 When the council cut the trees down at the top of our plot8 allotment last year it looked like it was goodbye to the grandchildrens' woodland den. Their secret hiding place had  gone in one fell swoop of the tree cutters saw. The tree canopy had been raised, the privet hedge was cut back and the elder bushes which had provided little secret places had been cut down to the ground.

I thought they would be upset at having their den demolished but when they saw the results of the chopping down they quite liked the open space which had been created. That was a relief and when I suggested ways that we could make it into a good play area they embraced it all and got stuck in to start the work.

We raked all the debris out of the way to make a path and put some wood chips down. Some of the cut off tree branches made good seats. I managed to make some little planting areas and with the extra light created by the raising of the tree canopy  we should be able to grow some shade and woodland loving plants.

After visiting  RSPB Leighton Moss we had the idea of making another tepee as our previous attempt had been a bit messy. So we scoured the woods across the lane from the allotment and found some good sized tree branches to make a little shelter under the sycamore tree.

 I made a start on planting up the little borders with some rooted plant cuttings  from the garden. I've planted aquilegia, brunnera, foxgloves and hardy geranium. I also put in some tete a tete daffodils, muscari and bluebells. It looks really good, and is usually the first place I head for whenever I arrive on the allotment.  If the grandchildren lose interest in it then I might claim it as my own little space.

Woodland den

On the day of the teachers' strike this week we were looking after our two grandchildren.  When I suggested going to the allotment I got the usual response--"oh yes!" from our grandson who loves going and "oh nooo" from our granddaughter who doesn't.  At my next suggestion, to make a woodland den at  the top of the allotment, all eyes lit up--yes this was much more interesting.

At the top end of plot8 is a slope with a big sycamore tree and some bushes, an elder and a holly.  It's not possible to use the space for growing vegetables or fruit.  The grandchildren always enjoy playing up there, it's a good place to hide and run around, but there are lots of weeds and rubbish- nettles, brambles, glass and plastic.  It wasn't a very safe area for children.  So I've had a plan in mind to make it into a safe area where the children could play and have their own space.

Armed with strong gloves, rubbish bags and secateurs, the children and I set to work clearing the area and cutting back branches.  My 9 year old granddaughter normally has no interest in the allotment, preferring to stay at home and read a book.  So it was good to see her full of enthusiasm for the project and to have her say that it was the best day she had ever spent on the allotment.  I had to admit that I was quite enjoying myself too. 

We managed to clear the nettles, cut back the brambles, trim the holly and clear up most of the rubbish. Under my granddaughter's supervision I cut back overhanging branches to her height and made an archway of branches at the entrance to the woodland, a soft curtain of leaves in the middle to provide a hiding place and a pathway all the way through. As we worked away we thought about what we could do to make the woodland area into a good den.

We got rained off later and after adjourning to the shed for our lunch we went home to make plans.  I got them to think about what they would like to have in their woodland den.

So we now have a list of ideas:

• Make seats out of some of the bricks and planks of wood lying around on the allotment
• Bird feeders in the trees
• Make a bug house
• Make a shelf to put interesting nature finds/treasures
• Make things like mobiles or sculptures out of twigs, stones, pebbles, leaves etc
• Have a rope ladder so they can climb the big tree (Hmm, well maybe granddad can fix something up)
• Have a camouflage awning (this could cost money)
• Make a hideout from long branches like a teepee (we could collect branches from the woods across the lane)

I have to say that I'm quite excited about this project myself, but I'm wondering if adults might not be allowed in there once it's finished. I'll keep you up to date with our progress.