Tag: horticulture
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Digging
Digging. An activity I have traditionally quite enjoyed for the pleasure of physical exercise and that I have regularly undertaken on my plot, which is ridden with perennial weeds (couch grass, bindweed, creeping buttercup). It is also an activity I started to question when studying soil for my level 3 exams, the reason being it…
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Cane management and training
Berries of the Rubus genus cross liberally, and today we learnt how to deal with blackberries (R. fruticosus) and its hybrids, some of which I have tried to research in more details… a mammoth task, I suppose because in the search for the better berry, yielding more and more disease resistant – or even the…
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Learning, weeding and improvising
The Herb Garden at Wisley is a lovely little area that opened back in 2003 and where my colleague experiments with planting of old and novel herbs, some of which are used in the restaurants on site (they share some of the recipes online that might be interesting). The area is divided by use of…
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Three Counties Orchard Conference
As my dissertation for this year’s traineeship will be on orchards, my colleagues suggested I attend the Three Counties Orchard Conference with them, and a very interesting day it was as a range of stakeholders in top fruit production, from conservation to commercial, presented to us. An introduction to the UK orchard scene by John…
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The strawberry beds
As part of the continuous improvement and renovation of the Fruit Gardens, the strawberry area beside the fruit stock beds has been transformed, and new permanent raised beds have replaced the metal benches and compost bags. I have helped in this development over the last couple of monhts. The design was agreed before my arrival,…
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Tractors!
My first tractor and trailer I first drove a tractor, with a trailer, on 24th May 2013. And, for some curious reason, I really really loved it. Since then, I have driven two other tractors: a middle sized one with trailer, and (quite a lot of) a ride-on mower. Compact Kubota with mowing deck Old mid-size agricultural John Deere Over the last…
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Tree planting “the RHS way”
“The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the next best time is now” unknown Growing a tree is a long term investment, often a conspicuous one, so you want to ensure it will thrive and perform its function in the garden by planting it in the appropriate way. It is a fact…
About Me
M.Paola Andreoni
I got the first allotment in 2007 (in the UK) and started growing my own food for the first time. Learning as I went along was not enough, so I studied some horticulture. I am striving to abide by organic principles. Brexit gave me a new life in the Netherlands, and two new plots by a nature reserve.
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