Tag: Wisley
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Grafting
Back in January, I was asked one morning to join a colleague, who was going to collect scion material in the orchard. Under the aegis of the fruit specialist at RHS garden Wisley, the collection gets regularly propagated to renew old plants and to replace sickly and dead ones (I helped before with the gooseberries).…
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Coppicing and Coppice Crafts
That is the title of a book I borrowed from the library to learn a bit more about coppicing, as back in February I joined my colleague on a trip to the RHS coppice in Wisley village to cut some hazel for sticks, and fell in love with the magic of the place, albeit slightly…
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It’s because of the dry spell!
Today I’ve been pruning Prunus (plums and cherries) for the first time since I’ve been here. To be precise, Prunus avium, or cherry trees, and P. domestica, the plums. To be even more precise, the plants I’m referring to here are P. avium ‘Sunburst’, P. domestica ‘Opal’ and ‘Blue Tit’ ; and this last was flowering…
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Indoors trained vines – part 2: spring
… go to part part 1: winter Buds breaking on a spur As I was saying, now that’s spring, I have spent a couple of days training the new shoots, born out of the embryonic buds, to the wires that will help bear the weight of their large and perfect-looking grapes. How can I impress…
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One day in charge of the Model Fruit Garden
The team leader was away today, so I was left in charge of the whole of the Model Fruit Garden, with a long to-do list to keep me busy: pot up, in clay pot, a new pear tree (find pot and compost) water the trees pots and the strawberries in the polytunnel take the bracken…
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Indoors trained vines – part 1: winter
After tending to Vitis ‘Muscat of Alexadria’ as one of the first things when I arrived back in September, I have spent more time in the greenhouse, tending to the very demanding crops that indoors vines are. After all grapes are picked, the greenhouse’s vents were opened, so the chill coming in stimulates leaf drop…
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Direct sowing in the Cottage Garden
Daffodils and crocuses (rhubarb at the back) I had not been in the Cottage Garden for over a month (time does fly!), and the last time I was there it was mainly about tidying up: picking leaves, cutting back herbaceous perennials’ stems, mulching. I did keep an eye on it since, though, and albeit the…

