Gardening Work during July and August 2024

This is what we achieved in the Storey Gardens during July and August 2024:

• Mowing the grass with a push mower and cutting round the edges of the paths with hand shears.
• Recording plants in flower
• Weeding the borders and the Hollygon.
• Thinning out overcrowded plants particularly montbretia that was overcrowding a rose and geraniums.
• General deadheading.
• Beans were planted but apart from the shrimp beans the slugs destroyed the young plants.
• More of the fruit trees have been weeded round and mulched. 
• Filling up the water butt by the plant sale area.
• Weeding and mulching around the raspberry and blackcurrant bushes.
• Harvesting the black and red currants.
• Pruning and training the espalier apple trees.
• Planting out some new plants grown from seed including Devil’s bit scabious and Angelica gigas.
• Summer pruning of the apple and pear trees and pruning some of the plum trees.
• Cutting back shrubs, for example bay and shrub honeysuckle.
• In late August the wildflower meadow was strimmed by the Council Grounds Maintenance Team and volunteers helped rake up the long grass.  Prior to this yellow rattle seeds were collected and sieved.
• The cut wildflower areas have been divided into sections on a garden plan. Work has started scraping off grass to expose bare earth and sow the yellow rattle seeds.

Wildlife sightings and a list of some of the plants in flower during July and August are reported in a separate post on the Nature blog, click here for the details.

Below is a photo gallery of some of the work.  Click on an image to enlarge.