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<\/p>\nHenrietta\u2019s ebullient planting might seem artlessly natural, as if it\u2019s happened entirely on its own, but the skill is judging the tipping point and maintaining the balance between wildness and control, attention and neglect: \u2018It\u2019s always a dance with nature, but getting the soil humming and full of life was the priority.\u2019<\/p>\n
A particular challenge was the creation of the productive garden on what had been a hard, compacted pony paddock. The composts, natural fertilisers (nutrient-rich soil brews made from comfrey and nettles) and a regime of broad forking to aerate the soil have all played a part. Repeated sowings of green manures (buckwheat, phacelia and mustard) have been the way forward in recent years. \u2018These manures feed the soil while aerating it with their roots, at the same time as suppressing weeds. We rarely go out without a handful of seeds in our pockets to chuck on bare corners \u2013 they do all the work for us,\u2019 adds Bridget.<\/p>\n
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Picking Cosmos bipinnatus \u2018Purity\u2019 in the cutting garden.<\/p>\n
Dean Hearne<\/p>\n
Now bursting with life and health, and full of worms, the beds erupt each spring<\/a> with a joyful productive mix of flowers, fruit and vegetables, grown together in four large box-edged beds. Favourites for cutting include Rosa \u2018Royal Jubilee\u2019 and R. \u2018The Lark Ascending\u2019, Paeonia \u2018Coral Charm\u2019, sweet peas from the hazel wigwams and, later, masses of luxuriant dahlias. Nepeta \u2018Six Hills Giant\u2019 is planted under the gooseberries to hide the fruit from the birds, though Henrietta is keen to stress that a third of what she grows goes back to nature. The birds get the teasels and rosehips (species roses such as Rosa \u2018Amy Robsart\u2019, R. \u2018Dupontii\u2019, and R. \u2018Stanwell Perpetual\u2019 are grown in the long grass). Nettles are allowed to romp through the adjacent laid hedge, and valerian and comfrey are given plenty of valuable growing space, as they\u2019re crucial for the natural fertilisers.<\/p>\n Recently, by complete chance, Henrietta came across a copy of William Carnsew of Bokelly\u2019s diary from the late 1500s, which charts the yearly rhythms of life on the farm. He writes of his garden, of planting trees<\/a>, of growing hops and quinces, and he goes on to describe making \u2018sandridges of dung\u2019 and of taking \u2018the shelly sand\u2019 from nearby beaches for spreading on his soil. How pleased he would be that the tradition of resilient husbandry at Bokelly continues to flourish to this day.<\/p>\n