IN THE GARDEN A beautifully

THERE ARE MANY FLATTERING WORDS to talk about the area in which we live, but tropical is probably not the first one that comes to mind. This summer’s unprecedented heatwave has given the county a rather tropical feel, but nowhere feels quite as tropical at the garden of Julia Madgwick and Mike Ford, located in Bottesford, in the Vale of Belvoir.

The couple’s garden is just as interesting as Mike and Julia themselves, who have a funny anecdote or a hidden story behind just about everything in the garden, like Pablo’s Place... more of that later!

Mike and Julia have been together for 28 years and have lived at their Bottesford home for 26 of those years. Upon their arrival there was the usual rockery, Old English rose varieties and neat lawns. Julia, however, has a fascination for plants and as the couple’s horticulture leaned towards unusual or tropical greenery, slowly the garden gained its unique selling point. “The soil was really very heavy, and one of the secrets to creating a garden that can sustain tropical planting is to ensure good soil health, which we did by adding in sand to facilitate better drainage.” Digging a terrific amount of clay from the soil at the rear of the property to create a patio area, Mick was able to create the first of several beds to the front of the house. The half-acre plot gradually slopes down from rear to front garden, again helping with the drainage. From the late 1990s to 2015, the couple created all of the beds to the front garden, each of which has a quirky nickname from K2 which contains two Trachycarpus fortunei – windmills palms – purchased from a cactus nursery near Spalding. Assisting to extricate the not inconsiderably sized root ball from the ground was a fairly hefty JCB. Another border features succulents and Aloe plants, which naturally enjoy rather more arid conditions than most. However, less than a metre in front is the rainforest border with its climatically very different requirements. When Julia remarked that she wished she could stand among the tree canopy of the area, Mike being a dutiful husband –and an engineer with a penchant for welding – set about making Julia’s dream come true, aided by the discovery of a circular staircase that Mike found for sale and trailered away. Around the staircase he constructed a frame with a viewing platform three metres wide and about five metre tall. From that vantage point, you can look down on the garden enjoy a unique perspective. Mike has also incorporated a bespoke irrigation systems which can recreate rainforest precipitation to keep the border looking lush and green, even amid the recent heatwave. >>

n Plant spring bulbs: This is the month to plant spring bulbs, from crocuses and daffodils to snake’s-head fritillaries. A rule of thumb when planting bulbs is to bury them to double the height of the bulb. n Plant evergreens: Likewise, you can plant evergreen shrubs, like confiders, whilst the soil is sufficiently warm. n Hyacinths: Cheer up your winter this month with some beautifully scented hyacinths. Buy bulbs labelled ‘prepared’ and plant them in early October. n Hedge your bets: Trim your hedges to ensure they’re crisp and tidy for October and the forthcoming winter months. n Look after the lawn: A final hurrah for the lawnmower this month too. Give the grass a final cut and neaten up any edges. Thereafter, get a headstart on spring by booking your mower in for a winter service. Removing fuel – which would otherwise go stale in the tank –sharpening the blades and storing your mower in dry conditions will ensure you look after your investment. n Frost prevention: Insulate outdoor containers using bubble wrap or fleece. It’s a good idea to float a couple of tennis balls in the pond, too, which will move just enough to ensure the water doesn’t freeze in the winter months.

n Tidy up: Before working outdoors becomes too chilly, spend a few days cleaning up. Sweeping and removing moss or algae from paths or stepping stones, sprucing up garden furniture before storing it for the winter months and stripping back dead foliage for the compost heap will all help to get autumn off to a good start. n Composting: It’s better to compost than burn waste. If you do have to create a bonfire though, do make sure there are no sleeping hedgehogs around!

IN THE GARDEN IN OCTOBER

Lots of jobs to complete and a guide to planting this month...

>> Proverbially the devil makes work for idle hands. In fact, it’s more apt to say that he makes work for engineers itching to begin their next project. As well as the garden’s viewing area, Mike also created the garage during the lockdown, and prior to that, their tree house, Pablo’s Place.

Taking inspiration from tropical gardens necessarily means a fascination with other countries and by extension, an inclination to travel abroad.

On one such visit prior to Covid, the couple found themselves in Gran Canaria and came across a sign that read Pablo’s Place. The couple settled in a seating area and ordered dos cafés por favor from a sweet little old lady, who duly obliged.

Pablo’s Place featured a tree house which Julia greatly admired. It was very welcoming, as was the little old lady’s son who joined the couple to politely point out that though his mother had brought them a couple of cups of coffee, the place wasn’t actually open to the public. All concerned found the situation amusing and a friendship ensued. Mike and Julia have returned several times... invited, of course.

Back in Bottesford, Mike again set his engineering skills to good use and during the first lockdown, created Pablo’s Place, homage to its namesake, with an oak tree winding its trunk through the centre and complete with wood burner for the winter and drinks fridge for the warmer months.

Julia’s Room, meanwhile is a pretty potting shed for cooler plants, and The Pig Sty is a heated potting shed suitable for plants which prefer to overwinter in warmer conditions... the place is not, in fact, as untidy as its name would suggest.

The Way Mike Rolls

garden, with tasks inEngineer Mike thought a couple cluding relocating the of interesting items in the garden gardens’ two bananawould look quirky. Julia agreed until she realised he meant ‘items’ trees, Musa maurelii like a 1936 Aveling Barford Road ensete and glauca.Roller... it was a rather larger garden ornament than “There’s a fair bit of work she anticipated! in season, but otherwise the implications for tropical planting really mean good ground structure characterised by free-draining soil.” “We enjoy lots of visitors to the garden who A final structure adjacent to Pablo’s Place are often surprised and impressed that we’ve is a geodesic dome which has its own managed to create a tropical garden right microclimate and is currently home to the here in the East Midlands. We’ve opened for bunches of grapes that Mike is growing, as the NGS for the past decade, including four well as serving as a nursery for young plants, events in August.” cacti and succulents. During our visit, on the last of those NGS During the warmer months the garden is weekends, a steady stream of visitors were alight with hot colours, but even out of enjoying the garden and the couple’s seemseason there’s a range of greenery. Mike ingly encyclopaedic knowledge of their plant reckons we’re heading towards a nice warm species. Keep your fingers crossed for a autumn, which will hopefully mitigate how warm Autumn, and if you’re a part of a local much work there is in store to overwinter the gardening group, do arrange a group visit! n