| What is it about the very name
Lost Gardens of Heligan that conjures up a wistful sigh - even if
you've never been there the name still evokes atmosphere, making you
want to go. The Lost Gardens are probably the most popular and most
visited gardens in the UK.
How many gardens are there?
Let's see. The Productive Gardens, because they are within the
walled garden (reminders of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson
Burnett?), would have given produce all year round as they do now
also in glasshouses. Here you will find fruit with its origins from
all over the world. Also in the Northern Gardens are the Pleasure
Grounds designed to keep you entranced and amused and superbly alive
at every corner as you come across summerhouses, rocky
ravines, the wishing well and grotto not to mention the trees and
shrubs you will find on your way round the paths.
There is the Jungle - plants
from what seems like every corner of the globe reaching out and
claiming their stake on their bit of ground. Walk the boardwalk and
pretend you are really in a jungle while exotic plants lure you ever
forward in this gorge with its own microclimate.
You should visit their super
web site to
find out more about the various areas to explore, their Whole Tree
Policy, Food and Farming interests, their hide and wildlife project
and more - I think you won't be able to resist a visit to the
wonderful Lost Gardens of Heligan.
Heligan was the seat of the
Tremayne family for more than 400 years (the estate was purchased by
Sampson Tremayne in 1569). Various members of the family worked
enthusiastically creating the most magical fairytale of gardens. In
1916 the house was used by the War Department as a convalescent
home. The family returned to the house after the war. Many of the
estate workers had fallen in the battle fields and staff was harder
to come by. So then the family tenanted the house out. The tenants
(family friends) were unable to keep up the whole estate and the
grounds became forgotten. In 1943 American soldiers were billeted at
the house and it deteriorated some more. In 1970 the house was sold
off as private flats. The gardens remained in their dormant state
till awoken in 1990 by Tim Smith (who conceived the idea of the
Eden
Project) and friends came together with John Willis of the Tremaynes
who had just inherited the gardens. Fortunately they were entranced
by what it could be and had vision and now the lost gardens are no
longer lost but have been restored to their former glory where we
can all enjoy their pleasures.
| An article by Tom
Petherick:
Author: Tom Petherick
Article:
The Secrets of the Lost Gardens of Heligan by Tom Petherick
My time at The Lost Gardens of Heligan (http://www.dancing-bee.com)
began in the autumn of 1993 when the restoration was
in its infancy. I had just come back from a lengthy
trip to India where I was helping
on another restoration project, this
time a redundant coffee estate which had fallen badly
into
disrepair. The garden at Heligan was also in a very poor
condition but plenty of work had been done by the time I
arrived
and gardening, rather than slashing and burning, was all set
to
get under way.
The vegetable garden had been cleared of
all the undergrowth
that had engulfed it over some 70 years of abandonment.
Following that a great deal of it had been sown with
potatoes,
ostensibly to 'clear the ground'. An interesting concept
this
and one that I have never quite been the right side of. The
process assumes that the ground has already been cleared of
perennial weeds because the only weeds that ridging up will
clear are annual ones, perennials such as docks and or
nettles
will only re-root and possible multiply if chopped up.
Once the potatoes were lifted that autumn
the process of
planning the gardening came into view. Today the vegetable
garden is worked on a six course rotation but back then we
started with only four courses. Plot One was potatoes with
winter brassicas in the same year, Plot Two was roots such
as
carrots and parsnips, Plot Three was legumes i.e. peas and
beans
and Plot Four was miscellaneous including summer brassicas
and
onions. All the crops moved on one plot each year roots
following on from potatoes and so on.
The purpose of rotation is twofold - to keep plants in the
same
family together and therefore break the cycle of soil borne
pests and diseases and to build soil fertility adding the
correct nutrition for each crop at the right time. The
practice
has been in use since agriculture began and it works. So for
example let's take the profile of Plot One over four years.
It
has potatoes in the first year and these are gross feeders
and
require liberal dosings of well rotted manure. As such the
ground is dug over and the organic matter is added. After
the
potatoes are harvested the ground is raked over and the
winter
brassicas are planted. Whilst the potatoes have used up most
of
the nitrogen supplied by the organic matter there will be
just
enough left for the cabbages and kales which follow on. When
planting these it is important to remember that the ground
should be firm, especially for cauliflowers and brussels
sprouts. The next year is the turn of the carrots and
parsnips.
By the time the brassicas come out there is not too much
nitrogen left in the soil which is perfect for these
straight
growing root crops. What they like best of all is a sandy
soil
without large stones.
In the third year the plot has its nitrogen replaced by the
leguminous crops in the shape of peas and beans. To me it
has
always been one of the great miracles of nature how a plant
can
take atmospheric nitrogen, store it in bacteria which is
held
ion nodules on the plant's roots and release it to nourish
itself and other plants around it. Astonishing but that is
what
peas and beans do and when you dig up a broad bean or runner
bean plant at the end of the season you will see the funny
pink
wart like growths in which the nitrogen is found.
The fourth in line are the miscellaneous crops that don't
fit in
such as spinaches and chards, onions, summer brassicas and
oddities such as celery and celeriac. Today at Heligan there
are
six courses to the rotation and the plot would get onions
after
the legumes and then be trench dug with manure added for
pumpkins and squashes, the miscellaneous following these.
So the rotational aspect of managing the vegetable garden at
Heligan continues to this day and the results are a
testament to
the old fashioned system of growing in rotation. The garden
is
almost entirely organic, apart from one systemic fungicide
used
to counteract potato blight on the main crop potatoes and
there
are no herbicides or pesticides used at all.
It is the same with the flower gardens and the borders. They
too
are managed organically with the emphasis on soil fertility
and
correct nutrition. For annual cut flowers too much nitrogen
will
lead to lots of lush leaf growth and not too much in the way
of
flower but for perennial plants which are bigger and older
there
is definitely a considerable nutritional requirement and the
use
of winter and spring mulches in the form of compost is
widespread.
About the author:
Tom Petherick is a renowned head gardener and writer with
years
of experience and passion creating some of the finest
gardens in
England
http://www.dancing-bee.com The
Lost Gardens of Heligan |
|
