Today I had a bonus day off work in lieu of all the overtime I've been doing lately, so since Amanda had the day off as well, we decided to make a trip to Wisley, being that we could get in free with my RHS membership. (Of course, the 2-hour journey there and back, the train fare, the v.expensive bus fare, lunch and the obligatory trip to the plant shop did add to the cost of the day somewhat).
Initially we were a little disappointed - after all, this is not the right time of year to be going to visit gardens, and a lot of the plants were still asleep or just beginning to bud up. But we did find some attractions, like the Glasshouse with its fabulous collection of orchids, which in a way made up for the lack of other flowers outside. We spent much time faffing about in here, photographing the flowers and sniffing at the flowering jasmines.
The fruit and veg section was also quite inspiring - again, most of the fruit trees were still asleep but it was great to have a good look at fans and cordons and espaliers and dream about one day having trees that would follow these shapes. The varieties of trees available were also quite amazing - the orchard where every second tree was a different variety of apple makes you realise how narrow and mean the choice in supermarkets is. I was happy to see that the Wisley Beurre Hardy pear trees were also still asleep, so maybe mine isn't dead, just sleeping. The berry collection made us wonder if instead of the "let it grow" method we have previously adopted, whether we should be following the Wisley example of tying up the raspberry canes to some sort of structure.
Initially we were a little disappointed - after all, this is not the right time of year to be going to visit gardens, and a lot of the plants were still asleep or just beginning to bud up. But we did find some attractions, like the Glasshouse with its fabulous collection of orchids, which in a way made up for the lack of other flowers outside. We spent much time faffing about in here, photographing the flowers and sniffing at the flowering jasmines.
The fruit and veg section was also quite inspiring - again, most of the fruit trees were still asleep but it was great to have a good look at fans and cordons and espaliers and dream about one day having trees that would follow these shapes. The varieties of trees available were also quite amazing - the orchard where every second tree was a different variety of apple makes you realise how narrow and mean the choice in supermarkets is. I was happy to see that the Wisley Beurre Hardy pear trees were also still asleep, so maybe mine isn't dead, just sleeping. The berry collection made us wonder if instead of the "let it grow" method we have previously adopted, whether we should be following the Wisley example of tying up the raspberry canes to some sort of structure. And of course it made me long for a much bigger piece of land to grow things on!
We got out lightly from the plant shop - one asparagus crown and two strawberry plants each. We have four different strawberry varieties between us (mine are Honeoye and Pegasus), so that at the end of the year when we've got established runners, we can swap and have all four. A bargain. And plants from Wisley come with a two year guarantee (if we could be bothered to pay the train and bus fare to get back down there again for a £1.50 strawberry plant?)
I was feeling quite a bit inspired when I got home, so I earthed up some more seed trays and planted some more seeds: celeriac, echinacea, rudbeckia and ageratum. And a few more of those chilli seeds that have been lying about.
The lovely people and Thompson and Morgan have sent me a voucher for £5 to spend on items in their limited choice catalogue. I got this same offer last year and never did anything with it but this year I'm going to take advantage. I've shortlisted five types of seeds to consider: achillea, purple sprouting broccoli, scarlet kale, sweetcorn and cucumber (now I've discovered I can eat cucumber after all - so long as it's peeled). Of course I will end up spending more than £5! But that's the magic of the special offer I suppose.
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