The Garden At York Gate Has Closed For The Winter

Even though the garden is becoming ever more popular, and we are seeing increased visitor numbers, it is time to close for the winter, put the garden to bed and prepare for 2024. This includes jobs such as cutting all the borders down and finishing off any remaining hedges and topiary, and we can now start doing some of the major hard landscaping tasks we have planned.
Whilst we don’t wish to change any of the heritage hard landscaping within the garden, it is as important to look after and maintain this side of things in keeping with the Spencer family’s legacy as it is in the way we plant up the garden.

For example, there are a number of paths in the garden that are not accessible to wheelchair users or anybody pushing a pram. Where we can slightly widen a path or level a paving slab here and there, we will. We are also planning on lifting and re-laying some areas of paving within the pinetum and the paved garden where the existing paving slabs are becoming more uneven due to subsidence and the movement of tree roots.

There are a number of annual jobs that we're planning on undertaking such as re-gravelling some of the paths and lifting some edging stones that are starting to disappear below the earth.

There's also a couple of exciting jobs in the pipeline for this winter too. In the centre of the garden we have the canal which is a long thin waterlily pond with goldfish and golden orfe. At one end of the canal is a dolphin fountain (which to me actually looks more like a fish spitting water from its mouth!) – this keeps the water well aerated for its inhabitants. I plan on building a large planter at the far end of the canal that will sit about an inch under the water's surface. This will be built out of breeze blocks and capped with stone flags so if you look at it from the surface you will only see the stone. I'm not too worried as even if you did see the odd bit of breeze block, after about a week or so of being underwater, they will soon become a slimy green colour.

The purpose of this planter is so I can plant up lots of fantastic marginal plants that I normally can't grow in the canal because it is almost a metre and a half deep. I have a plant called American pickerel weed (Pontederia) that has got far too big and out of scale for the orchard pond that it currently resides in, and I'm convinced it will look fantastic and be more in keeping with the canal. Surrounding the pickerel weed I will use a carpet of shallow water marginals such as water mint and monkey flower (Mimulus). These plants will trail out into the water creating not only cover for the goldfish, but a more dynamic habitat for any other native pond animals that live in the canal, such as newts and aquatic invertebrates.

Perhaps the most exciting job we will be doing whilst the garden is closed is a total revamp of the White Garden. Senior gardener Tom, who looks after this along with many other garden rooms at York Gate, has come up with a fantastic new plan to revitalise it. We will be lifting all the perennials out of the garden and dividing and splitting them. Some will be going back in; others Tom has decided to remove entirely. We will then level the ground and add a thick layer of mulch of our own homemade compost and some well-rotted manure from the horse field over the road.

Tom also has a plan to romanticise the White Garden by adding more roses and winter interest in the way of exciting shrubs. I won't give too much away - you'll have to just come and visit the revamped White Garden in the new year to see how it has got on!
As for your own garden, there are plenty of potentially duller, but still important, jobs that need doing – such as pressure washing the paving or covering and protecting your garden ornaments and furniture that might be damaged by the cold weather. Here at York Gate, we use the closed period to pressure wash and treat all the wooden benches throughout the garden and nursery.

And finally, as any gardener knows, leaf mould is one of the most wonderful things you could have in the garden. So, one job I would recommend this winter in your own garden is to collect up your leaves and keep them in a leaf mould bay made of wire or even in an old compost bag with added holes, stored behind your garage or shed. Our dedicated team of volunteers have already been collecting up every last leaf that has fallen in the garden into our large leaf bays. We use it as a mulch through the woodland areas, but we also add it to compost for woodland plants and anything that likes a bit of extra moisture.