{"id":4834,"date":"2021-03-13T14:47:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-13T13:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/?p=4834"},"modified":"2021-03-13T14:47:05","modified_gmt":"2021-03-13T13:47:05","slug":"making-the-best-of-what-you-have-by-benjamin-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/?p=4834","title":{"rendered":"Making the Best of What You Have, by Benjamin Pope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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On 10th<\/sup> March 2021 Grayshott Gardeners held the latest in their series of Zoom lectures.  This time it was Ben Pope who brightened up our evening, with a virtual tour around the beautiful garden where he is Head Gardener, and some valuable lessons to help us make the most of our own spaces.  It certainly took our minds off the howling winds outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To set the scene, Ben showed us round the garden he curates.\u00a0 It has a romantic style, but is careful to make sure it sits sympathetically in its Sussex landscape, whilst making the most of the borrowed views.\u00a0 The periphery of the garden is less formally planted than the beds near the house, helping the garden to seep out into the countryside.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben explained how much focus he and his team put on extending the season in the flower borders \u2013 using a combination of spring bulbs, herbaceous perennials and frothy annuals to make sure there is colour and interest from February to November.  The garden has many distinct areas, so to make it hang together they choose \u201csignature\u201d plants to repeat throughout the space to give a sense of coherence.  They also use topiary and hedges to cleverly link the architecture with the planting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben then drew out some key principles that we can all use to make the most of our own gardens.  To start he urged us to take time to understand our own site and soil \u2013 and to appreciate the problems and opportunities that both bring.  And then to extend that to really knowing the plants we are going to use \u2013 not just when they are in flower, but how they behave before and after.  This knowledge provides a sound basis for creating harmonious plant partnerships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make maintenance a pleasure not a chore, by tackling a job before it becomes too big.\u00a0 It really is true that \u201ca stitch in time saves nine\u201d in a garden.\u00a0 And get ideas and inspiration from other people, visiting gardens and speaking to fellow gardeners (of course that\u2019s what GG is so good for \u2013 when we can finally meet up again).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all love getting produce from our gardens, but grow like an artist.\u00a0 Mix up ornamentals with vegetables to give a lovely effect.\u00a0 And finally take time \u2013 to stop and look, to take notes and to think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the most important lesson of the evening?\u00a0 Mistakes are great lessons!\u00a0 Don\u2019t let the things that don\u2019t work out make you afraid to have another go, putting your new found experience into practice.\u00a0 That\u2019s what will turn us all into great gardeners \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On 10th March 2021 Grayshott Gardeners held the latest in their series of Zoom lectures.  This time it was Ben Pope who brightened up our evening, with a virtual tour around the beautiful garden where he is Head Gardener, and some valuable lessons to help us make the most of our own spaces.  It certainly … Continue reading Making the Best of What You Have, by Benjamin Pope<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-club-lectures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4834"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4842,"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4834\/revisions\/4842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}