Our Garden team is much smaller at this time of year and spent quite a lot of time during December with our Production Team as we became innundated with orders from bars using our gins in delicious cocktails and from our online customers as well as getting large export orders ready for the New Year. But with Dry January having its usual affect on our online sales, our Head Gardener Erika has had time to pen her regular blog ...
The Secret Garden was blanketed in a layer of ice and snow during the first two weeks of January. A walk around the Garden revealed our biodiversity and gave clues to many of the garden's shy inhabitants. There were small footprints in the snow everywhere. Birds, rabbits, deer and paw prints from our two resident cats.
The Glasshouse is already showing signs of early spring. There are snow drops flowering, bulbs peeking out of the soil and seeds germinating. We are working on pruning the shrubs and trees in there - making room for spring to arrive.
Jobs this month include pruning fruit trees and berry shrubs. We'll focus on our apple and pear trees in the Garden and in the Glasshouse, as well as the gooseberry and currant bushes. Pruning apple and pear trees are done while the trees are dormant, so it needs to get done before March when the buds start to swell. The blosson from the trees is a key ingredient in our seasonal Summer Gin.
The aim with pruning is to produce new productive growth and to open up the canopy to let light in and invite a healthy air circulation to prevent disease. We always start by removing dead, damaged, diseased or crossing branches. Then, we shorten the previous year’s growth by a quarter to increase the production of fruiting spurs.
Here you can see how old growth is taken out of the centre of the blackcurrants (we have pink, red and black currants in this bed) and previous year’s shoots are shortened on the gooseberry and red currant bushes. We are hoping for a bumper crop this year - I believe plans are afoot to introduce a new spirit.
Well, this blog has been a lovely break from the cold out there in the Garden 🥶🥶🥶 - but I'd better get back to it. See you next month 👋🏻
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