Some extra volunteer help in Feb 2012

We had some extra help over half term this month when one of our garden volunteers, Alice, brought her two children in to get signed up to help her uncover the path in The West Garden. Ella and Katie both worked really hard while they were volunteering in the garden with us. They were a great addition to our team and very enthusiastic about their finds when clearing the path. Many thanks, girls.

February at Chastleton Garden 2012

February has been a month of snow and snowdrops at Chastleton. Early Feb saw a covering of snow and some hard frost, but the end of the month has had much milder, almost balmy temps. The snowdrops around the garden have been glorious this year and I have become a rather obsessive enthusiast of the little, white flowers.

Some of the many snowdrops in The Wilderness area of the garden.

Snowdrops

Some of the garden volunteers met with me to have their picture taken for the garden exhibition, which is due for completion in the next few weeks. The exhibition will be housed, with the expanded garden produce and plant stall, in the stables.

The gardener and some of the garden volunteers.

Some of the garden volunteers came in to the garden on Feb 14th to be involved in the Trust national spring flower count. This was great fun and revealed 28 varieties of plant out in flower in the garden on that day and got us working on our identification of plants.

Jane, Julie and Jean doing the Feb 14th flower count.

Some other activities that have been going on in the garden this month have been:-

-giving external talks to local gardening and history groups

-propagation and watering training for volunteers

-working on the herb garden designs

-continuing with restoration and conservation work in the West Garden, Best Garden, Kitchen Garden and Wilderness.

-Treatment of fairy rings on the croquet lawns

-fruit tree pruning

-chitting potatoes and planting out onion sets (non-heat treated)

-tidying and preparing the garden for opening

-finalising details of the garden exhibition and new stall.

-clearing dead wood from the Box topiaries

-recruiting new volunteers

-repairing the Victorian ornamental posts and chains at the front of the house

-re-doing the visitors' path from the car park to the house

-clearing out the dovecote

-pruning and feeding roses

-feeding fruit trees and plants

-three volunteer pre-season meetings

-etc

We look forward to lots of exciting plans in March and opening for the new season on March 10th.