The Globe Physic Garden Senga Bate

Notes from the Little Blue Shed Senga Bate

When the earth takes an in-breath and golden autumn days slowly move toward barebranched winter, short days signal a curtailing of gardening activities. In this particular year, however, RBGE growing activities were stopped in their tracks just as the soil began to warm and a flurry of outdoor sowing and spring planting was about to start. With hopes that Covid-19 would disappear quickly and there would be a return to work in a few weeks, at first it seemed clear that enough preparation had been done on individual student plots, the stockbed, and the Globe Physic Garden to leave them ready for the new season.

Then a few weeks became months and— unable even to enter RBGE —staff, volunteers and students could only peer through the railings and try to determine, from a distance, what might be growing. Eventually, a few key horticulture staff were able to return and begin a concerted drive to tidy up. Grass was cut, edges were tidied, paths were swept.

Our herbs had begun to grow quietly at first. Then, with a rampant joyousness that took one’s breath away, our domesticated wild plants reverted to nature. The seed bank in each plot sprung into life and where there had been bare earth, a myriad of green shoots appeared. There followed a summer of colour and bounty that, sadly, could not be harvested. After a prolonged absence, visiting by appointment allowed a closer look. The herbs that had been gloriously in flower were now preparing to seed. Knowing that Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis), Nettle (Urtica dioica), Plantain (Plantago lanceolata), St John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum), to name but a few, would send out plants far and wide if left to their own devices, the desire to whip out the secateurs and do a little tidying was rather strong!

With only three horticulture staff working in the Demonstration Garden, it was obvious that they would have a great deal to do to keep the whole area in good order. Bearing in mind that our plants are other people’s weeds, it was very difficult for them to know what we would and wouldn’t want removed. But I’m happy to report that a long consultation on a recent, gloomy, Monday afternoon resulted in a grand autumn clear-up of the Globe Physic Garden and student plots. Tremendous thanks are due to Elinor, Callum and Ben for their hard work.

So, with the stockbed now in hand, returning to RBGE to tend the plots will be easier and we can all only hope that this happens sooner rather than later.