The Queen's Compost Heap

Whenever my husband and I get back to England, my dad always takes us out in the car and enjoys showing Eric the England that I grew up in.

On a visit a couple of years ago, we went to Windsor Great Park, near the town of Windsor, not far from where my parents live.

I could probably do several posts on the park (and probably will) because it was such a central part of my growing up.  I used to hike there, ride horses there, go for picnics there, there are polo fields, a Deer Park, the Valley Gardens, Savill Gardens and Virginia Water.  It's an absolute paradise for gardeners, which may have contributed to my love of gardening.

 The Long Ride, Windsor Great Park

But today, since this is primarily my gardening blog, I thought I would start by showing you the Queen's Compost Heap and brush pile!

The park covers 2020 hectares with a mix of formal avenues, such as the famous "Long Walk" which stretches from The Copper Horse statue on Snow Hill all the way to Windsor Castle, seen in the distance in the photo above, as well as open grasslands, woodland and gardens.

With all those woods and parkland to take care of, there's sure to be plenty of brush and compost materials.

Don't believe me?  Check out the piles in the photo below! Any gardener would be green with envy!

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

November in the Garden

When I lived in England, I was always accustomed to seeing butterflies floating about the garden in June, July and August.

In fact I remember earlier this year, being rather despondent at the lack of butterflies in the garden.

I should have remembered that our prime butterfly month is October, and often in to November and beyond.

The garden was ready for them too -- the Vitex, which has bloomed only sporadically all summer, now has quite a few lovely sprays of booms on it.  Just in time to feed this hungry visitor.

We still have some blooms on the tropical milkweed too, but in most cases, the leaves have been eaten by voracious caterpillars.

This photo was actually taken several days ago.  When I went back out to see how he was doing, there was no sign of him.  Then later in the day, I sat down on the patio and noticed this underneath the small table on the patio.

Is it him?  I'll never know, but I'm looking forward to keeping a close eye on it while it goes through its transformation.

And elsewhere around the garden, the milkweed is making preparations for next year.

The brush pile in the utility corner was getting out of hand, so I knew I first needed to tackle the compost bin, which has been more or less ignored most of the year, with the exception of the occasional "stir".

I wasn't sure how much, if any, good compost we would have but was very pleasantly surprised to find the bottom half of the bin filled with dark, moist, rich compost.

I dug out several inches worth and added it to the vegetable beds, in readiness for next year.  Then I got out the "Yard Butler" and mixed up what remained in there and encouraged it to move down ground level to replace what I had just removed.

This provided a few inches of space at the top, so I was able to spend a happy afternoon using our chipper/shredder to shred spent annuals, shrub and tree trimmings and leaves.

There is still some work to be done on the brush pile (while still leaving some to shelter the local wildlife) but it's been steadily raining all day today, so I won't be shredding anything until it dries out.


Maybe next week....


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.