GARDENS A plant lover’s garden

This month we’re enjoying an NGS garden near Bourne which is open by appointment only, and which illustrates beautifully why the charity deserves ongoing support from the area’s keen gardeners...

The Plant Lover’s GARDEN

YOUR GARDEN can fulfil many purposes, from serving as a place to enjoy growing, or a way of attracting birdlife and nature, to providing a space to grow your own food, or becoming an essential haven to escape noise and hassle, trading it in for sunshine and tranquility. For this month’s garden owner, though, this plot near Bourne serves as a place to enjoy fresh air and find respite, especially when she’s unable to venture too far from home. The garden also serves to prove why raising money for the NGS is a win-win scenario, allowing gardeners to show off their pride and joy, allowing others to take inspiration and to exchange plants and ideas, providing a great day out for visitors, but also allowing charities to benefit in the process. One such charity is Parkinsons UK, which has been supporting the NGS for 10 years. And 10 years ago, our homeowner received her own Parkinsons diagnosis, at first unfamiliar with the condition but now acutely aware of how important it is to support the organisation, and by extension, the NGS. At the time the couple lived in a period town house and enjoyed curating their plot, but the steps down to the basement garden and the stairs both up to the front door and over the three storeys soon proved inconvenient. And so, the couple moved to their current garden in 2014, a new home near Bourne with a plot completely laid to lawn. It was a chance to create a garden that was a reflection of their own style and their own ideas but also to ensure that it was suitably safe and accessible to accommodate as much time and energy as our homeowner has to devote to it, whilst being able to rest when necessary. >>

>> It’s also worth remembering that the condition Parkinsons can result in tiredness and can impair balance, which can limit the amount of time somebody with the condition can go out, and so a nicely curated garden can create a safe environment in which to enjoy some fresh air. And so it was with a practical approach that the couple considered the creation of their garden. It’s a square plot, flat and southfacing, but with quite a bit of aggregate buried not too far below the top soil. “We’re really not into making life difficult,” says the couple. “We’ve tried to work with the geography of the garden and with the soil we have, and factors like an area being in full sun or shade.” “There’s no point whatsoever fighting against conditions, so if a border is more shaded, we make sure we plant whatever will work in that area.” “Likewise, we’ve chosen quite tight planting schemes to prevent having to spent much time weeding... there’s practically none of that, just a bit of dead-heading in late spring.” “When landscaping the area we’ve tried to make paths all around to ensure that the surface is as level as possible, and we’ve installed raised beds everywhere, elevating the entire level of the garden, which is nicer aesthetically, but also makes it easier to work on for someone with limited mobility.” “Much of our planting is in pots too, which makes it easier to move them around to reconfigure the garden and accommodate more plants. It ensures you can move them to plant them up, clean around them and in the case of some plants which are especially fastgrowing, it keeps them contained and stops them taking over a border.” There are a number of places to sit and enjoy the garden too, each strategically placed to take in a particular view, but also to provide somewhere to sit and rest whilst working in the garden.

The main terrace area has a wind-down canopy providing shade from some pretty potent mid-afternoon sun during our visit, and there’s a dining terrace too, as well as a seat built into the raised beds under a rose arch, not to mention the semi-circular bench

“Much of our planting is in pots, which makes it easier to move them around to reconfigure the garden and accommodate more plants...”

IN THE GARDEN IN JULY...

Jobs to complete and a guide to planting in the summer months

n Keep in the water: Water borders and lawns throughout the summer. It’s best to water at dusk to prevent evaporation and scorching as water droplets will act as a magnifying glass for the sun’s rays. Good quality mulch will help to retain moisture too. n Taking cuttings: Start taking cuttings of tender perennials such as salvias, pelargoniums and penstemons. Plant the last of the half-hardy annuals in their place – cosmos, nicotianas, zinnias and cleomes – for flowers into the middle of autumn. n The flower garden: In your floral borders, deadhead roses, sweet peas and bedding plants. Cut back perennial plants, geraniums, delphiniums etc., and prune wisteria and lupins. Keep an eye out for pests like aphids and treat early. n Planting and sowing: Sow biennials, such as foxgloves, honesty, forget-me-nots and wallflowers, for blooms next year. Sow autumn-flowering bulbs like gladiolus, nerines, cyclamen and begonias. Also at this time sowings of biennials such as foxglove, sweet william, canterbury bells and forget-me-nots can be made for planting out in autumn. n The kitchen garden: Water fruit trees, bushes and tomatoes, sow the last crop of peas and beans for an autumn crop. n The lawn: Look after the lawn with fertiliser, cut regularly and often. Keep grass well watered and if your lawn is looking ‘stressed’ raise the mower to avoid dragging the blades. Investing in a new set of blades or having your existing ones sharpened will help. n Other jobs: Cut lavender for drying. Damp down the greenhouse floor each morning on hot days to increase humidity. Take large-leaved houseplants into the garden and hose them down to clean off dust. Top up bird baths, ponds and water features during hot weather.

around the couple’s mature tree and extending from the house with trellis and clematis.

“We opened the garden to the NGS last year, and it was our first time doing so, not to mention it was when lockdown rules were in place, so we really weren’t sure what to expect,” the couple says. “Both of us prefer to open the garden by arrangement only so we can avoid too many people being here at once and spend more meaningful time with visitors.”

“We’ve been visited by some really nice groups, gardening clubs and U3A groups. All of our visitors have been lovely and we’ve been pleasantly surprised by just how many people are willing to share knowledge, exchange plants and ideas... just generally be a community. When we opened though, the NGS needed a name for the garden.”

“That was a tricky one for us really, and we weren’t really sure what to say. In the end we decided to call ourselves the Plant Lover’s Garden, as we really will only plant what we enjoy looking at and what we’re sure will work well in the garden.” Changing Lives: The NGS

The NGS raised £3m for good causes in 2021, including “The raised bed was first, £525,000 for Marie Curie, £500,000 for Macmillan plant. I use black tags and though we expected it to and £212,000 for which are less visible, and take about three tonnes of soil, Parkinsons UK. white marker for the writing, it actually ended up swallowing no tied with gardener’ twine. We’ve fewer than 22 tonnes. Normally we like plenty of pots all around and again, I to plant in odd numbers and there was a print my own labels for them so I can always slight disagreement as to whether our Silver identify each one. I like to have lots of flowBirch Snow Queens should number five (too ers to pick and take into the house; Gladioli, few!) or seven (too many!) so in the end we Dahlia, Lilies.” deviated from our own rule and planted six. “We’ve tried to make life as easy as possible, Alongside these are Hydrangea Annabelle and really the hardest jobs are mowing the and Agapanthus.” lawns – which all have edging stones to “There are a lot of Hostas too and we’re make achieving neat edges much easier –even trialling a new variety of slug-proof and a twice-yearly cutting of the hedges. and snail-proof which so far has proved quite “Otherwise we think we do a good job of successful!” making the garden as enjoyable and as “We’re also quite thrifty gardeners and so attractive as possible, minimising cost and the obelisks and the pergola with its trellis waste and ensuring something of interest all are all home-made, using very cheap roofing year round.” batons. Growing up these are Clematis The Plant Lover’s Garden is one of the nicest Margaret Hunt, Innocent Blush, Niobe spaces we’ve enjoyed sitting in for a long and Beautiful Bride as well as Wisteria. while. In the distance, school children can be By the house are pots of Sweet Colossus heard enjoying the sunshine, but when the strawberries which are absolutely enormous, bell rings and they return to lessons, it’s and very sweet during the summer. I’m a tranquil space that proves just how lifealways diligent about naming the varieties I enhancing a really good garden can be. n