November Gardening

Gardening Volunteer Frances tidying the borders under the pear arch

Beningbrough  is closed to the public on weekdays at this time of year, but the work goes on and when I arrived this morning, on a very grey November day, a cheery sight greeted me, which I really wanted to share with you. The gates to the Walled Garden were open wide and it was a hive of industry in there! The first person I saw was gardening volunteer Frances working on the borders under the pear arch. It's a full time job at the moment clearning away the plants that have finished, so the ones going strong can be seen in all their glory. Frances comes in to Beningbrough once a week to help the gardening team.

Gardening Volunteer Fred tending grape vines in the Walled Garden

Then I had a chat with another volunteer, Fred who was cutting back the grape vines at the entrance to the Walled Garden. He explained that this particular vine is grown mainly as an interesting divider, but the grapes it produces aren't actually bad at all. We tried them - very small, but with a taste which isn't unpleasant. Fred has just been on holiday to California and visited the vineyards there, so he's back with lots of grape growing tips. One thing he'll be doing next season is removing a lot of the leaves from the vine here during summer, so that the grapes can benefit from the sun (we do the same with our apple trees) and the visitors will be able to see the grapes better too!