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

Offering Much Needed Relief for PETS IN PAIN

It’s common for an older dog or cat to experience arthritis or musculoskeletal pain as they age, but it’s not necessary for pets to be in pain. Nupsala Clinic is a new service specialising in working alongside your existing vet as an outreach clinic diagnosing, then managing, arthritis and similar conditions...

Words & Images: Rob Davis.

They say never work with children or animals. The former I think we can all agree with, but as for the latter, Drew Tootal never got the message. After 18 years working in the armed forces, and specifically the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, Drew left the services early this year to set up a new clinic with veterinary wholesaler Nupsala, working alongside your existing vet to serve as an outreach clinic dedicated to the management of arthritis and similar conditions. “Many pets develop musculoskeletal (MSK or orthopaedic) conditions as they age,” says Drew. “More than one in five dogs will develop such a condition, and over 90% of cats over the age of 12 will develop joint or muscle problems too.” Despite being a nation of pet lovers, we’ve come to regard stiffness or mobility problems in ageing pets as inevitable or unresolvable. How often, for example, has someone introduced their dog and declared that they’re ‘an old boy,’ they’ve ‘difficulty getting up’ or they’ve ‘slowed down these days?’ Arthritis is usually the diagnosis and it’s one that’s commonly understood among by owners, but in fact the term is used somewhat ubiquitously across a number of conditions. Achieving an exact diagnosis is a much more nuanced procedure. That’s where Drew and the team come in. They’re looking to work with your existing vet – not to replace them – and to change the way the veterinary industry thinks about arthritis in older pets. Nupsala has been established for 10 years as a veterinary hybrid wholesaler/distributor specialising in the import and supply of medicines to the veterinary industry, and to the equine vet profession. In addition, the company has the use of a range of novel products like hydrogels (joint lubricants) and orthobiologics (substances such as stem cells or Platelet Rich Plasma derived from the animal’s own body and then reintroduced into a joint). Nupsala’s work so far has primarily been in the equestrian field, but Drew and Veterinary Nurses Arianne and Kirsty have established a new clinic for working dogs and pet animals to encourage the use of established equine practices into the small animal world. Furthermore, small animal practices are sometimes reluctant to offer treatments like delivering injections directly into joints, and so Nupsala is keen to make such treatments more commonplace throughout the industry. Drew’s skills usually follow a diagnosis of MSK problems by an existing vet, sharing with that vet the findings of a detailed examination and treatment programme.

Opposite: Drew and working dog Max, are our clinician and patient, as Nupsala, a clinic specialising in musculoskeletal problems in animals. Keen to see him in action, we joined Drew just as Max was brought into the clinic. The clinic opened its doors in May 2022 and quickly attracted interest from those who work with dogs professionally; police dogs, armed forces dogs, guide dogs, dog who work for the border force and so on. Common breeds visiting the clinic include German Shepherds, Retrievers, Pointers, Rottweilers, and terriers... as well as Springer Spaniels like our Max. A working dog with a keen nose, Max is three years old and has worked for the last two years. A Spaniel will typically work until eight years old, and if Max was your pet, chances are you’d consider him lively and happy. But authorities are always super-keen to ensure their animals are in good health, and today, Max is in to check he’s in good orthopaedic condition so his handlers can be sure he’s fit enough to perform his role without experiencing pain. Drew says that there are five stages to arthritis from early onset pain in stage one to stage five where the pain of bone on bone discomfort becomes obvious. The goal of Nupsala is to spot the condition sooner and offer earlier intervention. There’s no cure for arthritis, but it’s a manageable condition, especially when diagnosed sooner and more precisely. To help, Drew utilises goniometry to assess the animal’s range of joint movement, then he places them on a stance analyser to see where they hold their weight at rest. Next it’s time for Max to have a trot on an instrumented treadmill for about 30 seconds at about 8km. Slow motion cameras and sensors can record the action.>>

>> Careful examination – an analysis of his gait – can determine whether he’s putting his paws down evenly, adjusting his gait to compensate for pain and so on. It’s a serious and meticulous examination to which Max is completely oblivious; too busy having fun chasing his ball. Afterwards, he enjoys a walk outside the clinic and Drew examines his gait more informally. It’s important that Max enjoys the process not just ethically but to ensure he presents himself as naturally as possible. The results are in, and Drew goes through his findings with Max’s handlers. Ideally dogs put 60% of their weight on their front paws, and 40% on their hind legs, and evenly onto their left and right hand sides. Max is offloading his weight onto his righthand side, and his tail carriage is biased to one side, suggesting the very early signs of a condition some would consider arthritis, but Drew more specifically determines Max’s problem is likely one known as gracilis muscle contracture. It’s hopefully not serious, and Max can still work, but being spotted early allows for intervention both to prevent the dog experiencing pain in later life and to ensure he has a full working life span. “We’re really specific in what we look for, but our equipment also allows us to take objective clinical outcome measurements, and to monitor those on an ongoing basis,” says Drew. “Dogs can return every year or two so we can keep an eye on them.” In terms of management, weight loss or lifestyle changes, injectable treatments, or physiotherapy can be prescribed. In Max’s case, it’s likely that Drew will recommend ultrasound therapy to release his musculature and free up his movement. Max has enjoyed impeccable care and a diagnosis which could prevent him being in pain in later life. You’d think he’d be grateful... but being a spaniel, he’s too busy having fun! n

Arthritis in Older Pets

Arthritis occurs in about 20% of older dogs and in over 90% of older cats. Nupsala Clinic is a dedicated MSK (musculoskeletal) facility, which works alongside your existing veterinary practice to help diagnose and manage the condition.

Arthritis in Pets: Ten Early Warning Signs

How can you tell if your pet has arthritis or is developing the condition? Below are the top 10 signs to look out for. Early intervention and management can offer a better quality of life and save your cat or dog from experiencing pain or discomfort. If in any doubt, take your animal to the vet for an examination...

n A Warm Welcome? Your pet isn’t as exuberant as normal, not able to rise so quickly and run towards you. n Altered Gait? Putting more weight on the unaffected limbs and appearing rigid. n Getting Up Easily? Your pet may struggle to get up after lying down or appear stiff, finding it difficult to get up and down stairs. n Loss of Appetite? Depending on the amount and type of pain your pet is in, he may go off food. n Alone Time? Your pets may want to go off by himself more, particularly to sleep. n Weight Gain: Your pet may spend more time resting which can lead to weight gain. n Stiffness: Especially after exercise and prolonged periods of rest; your pet may also adopt a ‘bunny hopping’ movement. n Muscle Wastage: There may be reduction in the size of the muscle) in the affected limb because the pet is using it less, or at least putting less weight on it. n Licking? Your pet will lick at the underlying painful joint. n Irritability: Like us humans when we’re in pain, your pet is irritable and may snap or bite when approached or handled, particularly if the petting or handling is increasing their pain.