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This time of year in so many ways is one of the most colourful times, mostly hot fiery shades from the clearest of yellows through to the deepest of purplish reds, and that’s just the autumn foliage. This however can vary greatly from year to year depending very much upon the temperatures and the ground...
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Woke up wondering if I had maybe missed summer this morning – the cool nip of autumn is very much upon us and we are busy collecting fallen leaves already from the trees off the paths in the garden. All the autumn fruit is looking delicious too…there are lots of blackberries in our boundary hedges, so...
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This week at Harlow Carr has been another busy one, the weather has been rather good, and with all children getting in free this month the garden has been very busy. Even so all teams across the garden seem to be managing well and are all on top of their work making sure that everything is looking tip...
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Well the sun has got his hat on and it's all kicking off here at Harlow Carr !! In terms of planting of course! All teams have been steady at it this week, getting out all those lovely tender plants that have been nurtured from tiny seeds and cuttings started months ago. Last year we had a fantastic...
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Well, it’s certainly a soggy end to the week today…the mowers have been put away and we are catching up on our cuttings of our salvias and pricking out scores of seedlings under cover! Busy week….there are not enough hours in the day at the moment to keep on top of the weeds springing up with the recent...
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What a sunny warm week it has been, you can almost watch the narcissus and tulips unfolding into flower as they enjoy longer hours of daylight. The hellebores too have been gently nodding their heads for one and all to enjoy, it really does lift your spirits after what seemed like a long winter. It has...
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The spring sunshine certainly made a difference to the garden this week, not least because the gardeners were able to strip off their thermals and bask in the warm sunshine! The gorgeously scented Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ is still surprising visitors in the scented garden – a must have winter...
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One moment I was on the snowy slopes of Les Correz in the French Alps bathed in glorious sunshine, skiing ……..the next, in the woodland at Harlow Carr marvelling how a few days warmth has breathed colour and life back into one of my favourite areas of the garden,(well, apart from the main borders!)....
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What a change in the weather since I last wrote the blog on the 6 th Feb, then we were ankle deep in snow, whilst this week it’s been a good 8 degrees warmer and we’ve had some lovely heart warming sunshine. Tom and I have been working hard on our Island beds this week; lifting and dividing plants from...
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Mud, mud glorious mud! The team this week has been well and truly caked in Harlow Carr’s finest clay soil. The new productive area has been in full swing with everyone lending a hand to get the area ready for the new raised beds arriving next week. This included planting the rest of the Malus hedge on...
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Over the last few weeks here at Harlow Carr some big changes have been occurring. First was the relocation of the Kitchen Garden to a site below the new Alpine House, including the creation of a new ‘3x3m' fruit plot and edible hedge! Next was the relocation of the planting from one side of the Rose...
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What with Santa and the Reindeer turning up last Saturday, and all the festive snow and ice this week, the Harlow Carr garden has taken on a magical glow of Christmas! We have taken advantage of our heated glasshouse to catch up with our propagation work, picking over and removing all rotting leaves...
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This week our woodland and development team have been up to something a bit different! Expert Willow Weaver Phil Bradley was brought in to teach our team the technique of Willow Spiling, an old traditional method for retaining stream banks. The erosion to the streamside here at Harlow Carr has been a...
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This cold snap is a good chance to dig out those favourite woolly hats and gloves and get some soil cultivation done in the garden. The frost is a great help in breaking up the soil particles in some of the wetter areas of the garden which we are busy developing for next year. My team has been working...
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It's been fascinating watching the new Alpine House developing, now the area around it is being landscaped. A network of paths is being created around newly created raised beds leading towards the site of the new kitchen garden. The idea is to incorporate some rockwork into the walling in the raised...
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