It is truly amazing what a difference a few months can make. I’m not talking about the change of the seasons from early spring to early summertime, but the changes here at Reveley Lodge caused by the Coronavirus situation.
The gardens have gone from being open five days a week to seven, from having a lovely team of volunteers assisting in the garden to none and from a modest number of people coming to see the garden each day to 7-800 people coming through the garden weekly!
It has been a great pleasure to the gardening team to have literally hundreds of people discovering the garden each week for the first time. Although that has brought a few challenges like the lawns taking a lot more heavy wear and tear than usual.
And it has been frustrating to me to have to cover over so many of the beds, in the garden with leaf mould, rather than planting out with lots of colour, scent and interestingly shaped leaves to offer our visitors. But needs must as they say, as we literally couldn’t do it all this year.
The Rose Garden is looking very good after we gave the roses a harder than usual prune to reshape many of the plants. A few of our eagle-eyed regulars had noticed and commented on how hard the roses were pruned this year. Many of the plants had developed some truly ugly and unhealthy forms and now their frameworks are looking so much better and we are reaping the rewards for all that extra work in January.
Anyway back to the present and this summer we have been focusing on the Vegetable and Cut Flower Garden. Here we have managed to complete the creation of the new beds but the steps and edging will have to follow later on as time allows.
Some of our new visitors will have no idea of the changes that we have brought into the Vegetable and Cut Flower Garden over the past two years, but others have been enjoying watching the development of the project. Many people have offered kind words of encouragement as they have been seeing things take shape.
As I am sure you are aware, many people have recently been picking up the trowel for the first time or have gone rummaging for their trowel for the first time in a long time – discovering or rediscovering the joys of gardening.
Lesley and I have had many questions fielded to us regarding plants and methods and sometimes just people keen to share their newfound pleasure with us and share what is happening in their own gardens. Which is great!
Lastly just to let you know, we have a new member of the gardening team. If you try to have a chat with him, he doesn’t say much to be honest, but he has proved to be rather popular, with photos of him going literally all over the world! I don’t think Lesley or I have ever been asked for a photo at Reveley, and we just can’t understand why?!
Enjoy your summer, Rory.
