Easter Special  2012 Friday 6th April – Tuesday 10 th April (4 nights) 

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Autumn sees a big change in the garden. The beginning is still full of promise for colourful flowers while towards the end the dull hues of autumnal colours come to the fore. Autumn is a very busy time for the gardener. There are many jobs that need to be carried out before the onset of winter. The garden needs to be put to bed and preparation made to ensure successful spring and summer displays next year. 

In the garden berries and changing leaf colour start to replace the bright summer flowers. Seed pods start to ripen and split, spreading seed throughout the garden to have a chance of growing next year. Enjoy growing Humulus lupulus on an upright structure to see the hops as they form. Add extra interest to the borders by planting the small floriferous bedding chrysanthemums to create domes of colour to the garden.

Heathers are often at their best in autumn especially the Daboecia family of heathers whose colourful bell shaped flowers hang from the plant. They need to be planted in acid soil so use them in containers full of ericaceous soil if your soil is neutral or alkaline.

Lift any tender fuchsias that have been growing in the ground and place them inside in a frost-free place. Do not worry when the leaves fall off, as this is natural. When the temperatures warm up next spring and watering is increased you will get earlier and healthier plants for your garden.

The seed of some annuals like sweet peas are best sown at this time of year for early flowers next year.  Card toilet roll centres are great for sowing sweet peas in, so start saving them now!

Start to take hardwood cuttings of shrubs and roses to root over the next twelve months.

Finish harvesting any fruit from the trees such as apples and pears. Wrap the fruit in brown paper and store in wooden boxes.

Divide herbaceous perennials to increase stock but also to keep the plants vigorous. Discard the tired centre part of rosette forming plants if necessary and replant the healthier outer parts to grow on.

By far the most important job in the garden in autumn is to look forward to next spring using bulbs. There is an enormous choice available to the gardener nowadays. There are bulbs for any part of the garden whether it is in open ground or in containers.

Bulbs are often sold in large boxes after they are collected from the fields. Most of the bad bulbs are taken out but there will still be some damaged or diseased bulbs that will escape the checking process. Check the bulbs you choose carefully making sure that there is no bruising or holes in them which may be harbouring disease or insects. They should be firm to touch. Tulip bulbs should ideally have their tunics (skin) on them. By paying attention to flowering times you can have a continuous display from February through to May so get out there and take advantage of the beautiful autumn days and prepare your garden for next spring.

To come back twice from a goal down and a player sent off showed great courage. As soon as the penalty shoot-out took place I knew that Japan had the spirit to win.

Congratulations again!

The weather was fine and many people enjoyed visiting the garden which was in full flower. The garden contains many roses along with an extensive variety of herbaceous perennials. There were two plants that caused the most attention.

The first was the giant foxtail lilies (Eremurus Robustus) which towered above the borders despite growing completely in the wrong conditions. The second plant of interest was another bulb. Allium christophii, with its star clustered flowerhead emerging from the herbaceous underplanting.

Combined with tea and delicious cake (including my favourite, carrot cake!) the totals raised was:

￡1,684.15 for Support Dogs
￡1,571.33 for Help for Heroes and
￡1,550.00 for the Ropsley village Church
totalling ￡4,805.48 over the course of the weekend.

Mr Turner says huge thank you to everyone that helped in so many ways and also to those that donated and attended.

For more open gardens see the National Garden Scheme website http://www.ngs.org.uk/

Our thoughts are with the Japanese people at this terrible time.

Today, we launched the Japanese side of our website under our new .jp domain. It is hoped that it will be easier for Japanese people to find us more easily with this new domain. When we have grasped the idea of new technology we will produce regular news reports about what we are doing and what gardening events are happening in the U.K. so please keep a look out for this.

This is a special news article to let you know that Russ's book has been re-launched in Japan in a new format. This new format went on sale today. Unfortunately Russ is unable to travel the distance to Japan for the re-launch because of his back but hopes that the book will continue to be useful for Japanese amateur gardeners.

We are delighted to announce our updated website. We hope that you enjoy it and decide to become members of our new 'British Garden & Lifestyle Club'. By being a member of this club you will receive a regular online magazine covering gardening, aromatherapy, English cooking and other British lifestyle pursuits. This will replace our news section on the website.

We have just moved into our new home in Lincolnshire which we hope to welcome many visitors in the future. It is from here that we will carry on our gardening business. Russ has damaged his back so will be out of action for the immediate future.

We are pleased to announce the publishing of Russ's second book in Japan again through Shufunotomo Company Ltd on 1st of November 2000. Russ's second book 'Small Garden Plan' looks at the various styles of gardens and how to create them. It gives advice on the various things that are helpful in designing a small garden and is backed up by images, illustrations as well as text. The body of the work was carried out during Russ's regular articles in Plus1 Living magazine where different designs were created and built for various readers’ gardens. It will be available in stores from 1st November 2000.

Just before our return to England we would like to thank everybody who has made us feel so welcome during our time in Japan both in business and pleasure. We will never forget this increadible experience and it is with sadness that we leave but excitement at our new stage in life. Hopefully you will continue to keep in contact with us.

Patricia and I have decided that it is time for us to return to England after many enjoyable years in Japan. As well as continuing to design gardens we hope that we can welcome many Japanese visitors to our home in future wherever we settle.

We are pleased to announce Russ's latest gardening course at Mitsukoshi Bunka Centre which will start in late September. For more details please contact Mitsukoshi Bunka Centre, Nihombashi, Tokyo.

There will be a chance for all residents of Chiyoda-ku to pay a visit to the British Embassy compound on Saturday 22nd May. Please come along and see the work we have done on the gardens.

The gardening activities carried out in each section was part of Russ's regular articles in Plus1 Living magazine at a reader's garden.

Copies will be available throughout stores in Japan as well as as online directly from our website. If you would like to make it a gift for a friend or loved one Russ is quite happy to sign and include a personal message inside the book.