THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Walk in the Woods
During the month of May the Tree Council are promoting ‘Walk in the Woods’ – encouraging people to go out …
Furzelea, Essex, NGS
Today Modern Mint visited another garden in Essex that was open for the NGS (last week was Ulting Wick.) The garden is designed and looked after by owner of the house Avril and her husband, who nowadays is chief pruner – for example, on this lovely yew ‘blob’… how we love to see shapes like these (especially next to a wilder or more chaotic planting…!) Imagine cloud pruning this (yew is forgiving, should you get it wrong!) What a fun days work, a physical and mental exercise, training your patience and your creative eye… if the shears you used for cloud pruning …
Val Bourne’s 5 Golden Rules of Planting
For those of you who missed the Gardens Illustrated piece, here are five pieces of advice by ‘Natural Gardener’ Val Bourne. You can’t go far wrong if you stay close to these… 1) Plant diversely and densely – using trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, ferns, bulbs and grasses. 2) Have flowers throughout the year – particularly early on, to help sustain bumble and solitary bees. 3) Only grow what suits your soil and enhances your setting. 4) Only grow plants that are worth a place in your garden. 5) Put your plants in the right place – this basic approach helps avoid disease. The …
Jump Over The Moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlwoh4uliAI The video features Monty Don visiting different gardens in South Africa. If you watch a short section from 26-30 minutes you will see him with a man named Donovan, who has a garden called L’il Eden in Cape Town. “I see myself as an artist…” Donovan says, “… I come to my garden, I experiment, I play around with the rocks… it’s always changing.” The garden is also used to run a project introducing children to the pleasures of gardening. Donovan has a very clear idea of what his garden does for people, and what his role is to the …