Hi all, went for a trip out today to Barnsdale Gardens, this was the home of Geoff Hamilton, and where most of the filming for Gardeners World took place before Geoff's untimely death 10 years ago
The photos were taken by auntie Pauline - you know her better as paulines7 :D
We had a great day despite a little rain, plenty of little gazebos to shelter in. Really enjoyed the allotments section of the gardens, never realised how big the average allotment is! :o
Hope you enjoy the photos - if not it's paulines fault!
Ooooh you lucky people, I have wanted to visit for years now but haven't got there yet. The photos are lovely and make me want to go even more... Thank you. T.
Hi Prink. Glad you had a great day. I relly like pic no 2. You can let Pauline off the hook, pics are great.
Lorna.
They do some interesting one day or morning courses kathi, wanna come along to one with me? Got my eye on composting and four season harvest later in the year :D
Hi SS, Would be very interested in the four season harvest course, will PM you later for more info etc.
Kathi
good way to spend the day ;D
Here they are!
Click on 'courses' and scroll down - year round gardening on 14 October :) (the website is currently wrong, but will be corrected soon lol)
http://www.barnsdalegardens.co.uk/ie-index.html
Thank you for that information Sarah! I'm a great admirer of Geoff Hamilton and would love to visit his gardens some time. Silly thing is I hadn't realised how close they are to Kettering when my grandchildren lived there. Now of course they've moved to Edinburgh ::) Oh well can't say I miss the drive - doing the whole length of the M6 is not really my idea of fun motoring. ;)
I have to admit that although I had heard of Geoff Hamilton, I had not realised that Gardener's World was filmed primarily in one place nor that the gardens were open to the public. It was abeautiful place, and well worth the visit............strangely enough it is exactly 10 years on Sunday since Geoff's death...........it doesn't seem half that long, and both Pauline and I were suprised!
Yes, they are having a bean feast to celebrate :D and publishing a new book. They sell lovely postcards of GH among the blooms too ::)
Lovely photos, prink13 - & Pauline - it is a beautiful place, isn't it? I've seen several lots of photos of Barnsdale recently, & they've all been different - there is so much to see. I went last month & was amazed everything was so lush & green despite the heatwave. My pics are on Photobucket if anyone is interested: http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f164/JulietMontague/Rutland%20Gardens/ (there are quite a lot of them if you've not got broadband, though I don't think any of them are very big).
Geoff's gardens are nearer to us than I thought must pay a visit. My niece wants to train to be a gardener or sum such, I wonder if they do those sorts of courses.
As she could get there no problems. Any body know ???
Not sure how they train gardeners these days. :)
Juliet I loved your phots too, Barnsdale is a place I would love to visit, Geoff Hamilton is my Guru. After he had his heart attack and made the Paradise Gardens and then died when he had finished, it was as if he was given the chance to show us Paradise before he went. I know I am a silly romantic old fool but I loved that series and still strive to make my own paradise. My garden is so precious to me.
Thanks for the photos, I am going to show them to OH tonight in the hope that we can visit soon.
T.
Lovely photos Juliet. I am sure Prink and I missed a few of the gardens you photographed and some were out of bounds or being revamped. It was pouring with rain for half the time we were there and we were diving for cover.
Here is another picture of that beautiful prunus. :D
Tulippa - I never saw the Geoff Hamilton programmes - got into gardening much more recently - but I can see from the gardens why everyone thinks he was so great. The town paradise garden was the one I liked best (as you can tell from the number of photos I took of it!) - it is just fabulous.
Pauline - sorry to hear you got wet & missed some bits of the gardens - but that is a good excuse to go back! That prunus is a gorgeous tree, isn't it? There are some of those at Anglesey Abbey, near where I live & I keep going to admire them. I'm planning to move house soon & hoping to buy one for my new garden - I have a long wish-list, but it's got to be near the top!
I'm going on a short course tomorrow evening (Thursday) on 'Vegetables in Containers' - will report back!
Had a great evening with 7 other people at Barnsdale. Two hours with Nick Hamilton (son of Geoff). Some new ideas, and plenty of reassurance about the way A4a-ers generally recommend growing ;). Excellent course, I'd recommend to anyone in driving distance - two participants included it as part of their hols in Huntingdon!
Highlights:
Almost anything can be grown in a container
All peas are sown in squarey guttering, and block the ends with flowerpots on their side
All lettuce in modules, not outside any more
Spuds and parsnips are harvested and 'clamped' in a trench outdoors so they can be dug up when the soil is frozen
'Containerising' includes harvesting e.g. beet and carrot and putting them in sand in pots indoors
Multi-sow onions, leeks, beets, carrot, turnip - for harvesting young
For hanging baskets - tumbler toms, French beans, Runner beans
Grow squash upwards (EJ's squash arbour got a mention!!)
Grow companion plant in containers - nasturtium, marigold, limananthes - and a mix of veg e.g. lettuce around the toms - but watch for different feeding needs. If the tom goes in a ring culture pot, tom feed can go in there and the lettuce around the edges of the bigger pot don't get unnecessary feed
When potting toms, put the support string in before the compost (d'oh!)
Cut old copper c.h. tanks in half and use them as anti-slug containers :o
Carrots, parsnips, lettuce, spinach, beetroot, spuds will do OK in partial shade
Grow cucurbits up trellis with established flowers - they grow them with roses ::)
Grow Jerusalem Artichokes in pots to avoid spread!
Overwintering containers:
Endive (will also do well outdoors)
Lettuce sown in succession all winter - will grow on kitchen windowsill (recommended varieties Fristina, Valdor)
Spuds in frost free greenhouse for Christmas
Carrots and beet now in a frost free greenhouse (Parmex, Chantenay red cored; Pronto, Boltardy)
Not recommended:
Globe artichoke - too big
Brassica - take too long in pot doing nowt
Ideas for next year:
The Hot Box (filled with fresh horse manure and covered in compost) yields new spuds on Easter Day when most of us are planting ours :o, then a home for e.g. melons outdoors.
Pond and a pile of rocks in a shady spot for frogs and toads
Quote of the evening:
'Nick, what do you do with all the vegetables you grow?'
'We eat them'
;D ;D ;D
Thanks for the report ss - has given me a few more things to put on my list.
Glad that you had a good session.
Thanks SS really must get myself up
there I'm sure its not too far from me.
:D :D :D