Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4

Week 1

General
Removed fencing and posts from All Year Round Garden as it continues its transformation into the Tranquil Garden.

Reduced watering of indoor plants but still watering outdoor containers due to lack of rain.

Started to treat outdoor furniture and chicken coop that will be outside for the winter.

Labelled all the different DAHLIA varieties before  the frosts blacken them.

Reduced frequency of grass mowing.

Allotment
Washed tunnels inside and out with pressure washer.

Dug trench and filled with rotted manure ready for next year's SWEET PEAS.

Nursery
Collecting seeds from around the gardens from a wide range of perennial plants.

Collecting cuttings of PARAHEBE, PENSTEMON, OSTEOSPERMUM and VIOLAS.

Parterre
Dug manure into vacant beds.

Glass House
Removed PEPPERS, AUBERGINES, and MELON plants and spread spent compost on the allotment.

Washed greenhouse inside and out with a pressure washer and then put new capillary matting on the benches.

Week 2

General
Drained pond in the Formal Knot Garden, removed all edging slabs and subsiding foundations and then put in a new foundation and relaid slabs.

Cleaned the pond whilst it was empty.

All potted and planted tender plants were taken from all garden areas and bought into a frost-free greenhouse.

All unblemished APPLES and PEARS were harvested, bagged and stored in our cool dark store.

All damaged fruit was shared out as it will not store so needs to be used.

Allotment
Rough digging of bare soil.

Removed MARROW and SQUASH plants and stored vegetables.

Elizabethan Vegetable Garden
Digging empty beds.

Tidying herb bed.

Cottage Garden
Cut down CARDOONS.

Reclaim Garden
Planted SPRING CABBAGE 'Durham Elf', 'Mastergreen' and 'Peter'.

Glass House
Browsing through seed catalogues and selecting varieties for next season.

Saved seeds from TOMATO 'Fabloneystryj', kept some and sent rest to HDRA.

Week 3

General
Checked POTATOES in store and removed any bad ones.

Netting was placed over ponds near trees to catch falling leaves.

Plants requiring it, such as BAY TREES, were wrapped with horticultural fleece as winter protection.

Raking up fallen leaves from all areas on a daily basis.

Cleaning and painting garden fences and sheds.

Measured all rotten or broken edging that needs replacing.

Allotment
Removed PUMPKINS and dug over vacant ground.

Removed bottom leaves from all BRUSSELS SPROUTS.

Harvested all RUNNER BEANS before frosts.

Sown PEA 'Douce Provence Winter Hardy' and protected against birds with chicken wire.

Planted SPRING CABBAGE 'Mastergreen', 'April', 'Peter', 'Pixie' and 'Durham Elf'.

Parterre
Cleaning between brick paving.

Sown BROAD BEAN 'Aquadulce Claudia'.

Glass House
Planted TREE ONION sets in trays.

Turned out and saved tubers of POTATO 'Highland Burgande Red' and 'Shetland Black' that had been grown in large pots, from micropropagated plants, to be used as next year's seed potato.

Multi sown in modules SPINACH 'Tetona'; CARROT 'Amsterdam Forcing 3'; SWISS CChard 'Bright Lights'; ONION 'Wolf' and 'Walla Walla Sweet'; BEETROOT 'Globe 2' and SALAD ONION 'Guardsman'.

Sown SWEET PEA 'Liane Marie', Albutt Blue' and 'Cupani'.

Week 4

General
Repaired some worn grass areas with turf.

Leaf clearing and collecting for leaf bins.

Pruned and tied in roses growing through trees.

Bought into a frost free tunnel all pumps from water features that are not 90cm (3') deep as they may freeze and become damaged.

Continuing all woodwork repairs and treating fences and furniture.

Replacing any damaged bricks and paving slabs.

Pruned any tall border ROSES and BUDDLEJA by half prior to a hard prune in spring, thus limiting any wind damage through the winter.

Completely emptied the Pond and Stream, divided overgrown plants, repaired any holes then replanted and refilled with water.

Now they have been blackened by the frosts all DAHLIAS have been lifted, tubers washed and the stems cut back hard before brining into the greenhouse to dry off.

Started aerating the lawns by using a fork and then brushing in sharp sand - this is only done on the badly compacted areas.

Allotment
Cut off RUNNER BEANS at ground level leaving roots in the ground.

Shredding ASPARAGUS ferns before putting onto compost heap.

Started to dig the RUNNER BEAN trench for next year.

Harvested all BEETROOT, CARROTS and TURNIPS and stored in containers filled with moist sharp sand in our fruit and vegetable store.

Harvested all CELERIAC and stored in large containers filled with forest bark.

Nursery
Dividing and potting up plants - HEMEROCALLIS, POTENTILLA, GEUM and PULMONARIA.

Dividing and potting TROLLIUS AND GERANIUMS.

Parterre
Removed frost damaged FRENCH and AFRICAN MARIGOLDS and AUBERGINES.

Manured and dug over empty beds.

Planted SPRING CABBAGE 'Mastergreen'.

Elizabethan Vegetable Garden
Topped up ASPARAGUS bed that was renovated last year with compost as the soil had sunk considerably.

Reclaim Garden
Planted SPRING CABBAGE 'Mastergreen' and 'April'.

Ornamental Kitchen Garden
Planted SPRING CABBAGE 'Durham Elf'.

Glass House
Removed SWEET POTATOES 'Beauregard' from the tub they were growing in and saved tubers for planting next year.  Also took cuttings from top growth to root for planting out next year.

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4

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