It always brings a smile to my face when my non-gardening friends ask earnestly, “what do you all do in the winter?”
Over the last two weeks we have experienced some fine and settled weather, quite a boon for us in the South West; so we felt this was a good opportunity for us to update and improve the Herb Garden. This garden was originally completed in 1992 and has been in need of a facelift for a couple of years now.
The main structural element of the garden, the low growing box hedges had become infected with box blight, so this was the spur for us to revamp the garden; with the beds empty we have been able to do some soil cultivations to try to lighten our heavy clay soil. It was a big decision to scrap the box hedging, but the very wet conditions over the year encouraged the spread of this particular disease, there is no way of controlling it by chemical means, so we decided to use another subject for the hedges. We wanted an evergreen hedge so we have opted for Ilex crenata ‘Green Hedge’, a very slow growing holly that lends itself well to tight clipping.
Over this winter I’m looking forward to putting a wish list together of the herbs that we found difficult to grow at Rosemoor because of our heavy soil. Hopefully with the improvement to the soil we shall be able to add to our range of herbs next year.
Blog by Philip Scott, Supervisor - Decorative and Nursery.