www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk Thursday, August 6,2015 32 I CUTHEROEADV ERTISERSTIME S Thursday,August6,2015
www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk VALLEY GARDENING
-M H D F T f l^ F E M U K fc lu o C E
^
FACEBOOK.COM/ADVERUSERTIMES ©CLITHADVERTISERx
The planning that goes into • winning an RHS gold medal
L
medallists again at Tatton Park Flower Show. The hard work has paid off, but it isn’t just all about having
A
© a look around the nursery the week before to see what is in flower. It’ is all in the planning and the planning starts now for next year. So let’s have alookat what’sin-
’ ■ volved at the nursery towards winning medals at the flower shows. There a 12 month plans in ac tion for the shows especially with growing all the plants for •
• them ourselves; This is not just the sale plants but all the 1,000-plus plants that go on the displays are from the sale batches as well. We sell large batches of Cro- cosmias, Astilbes, Monardas, -
Spotlight
fter lots of biting of fingernails and hard work we can now proudly say we are RHS gold
Achilleas, Phlox plus many others. Some get the Chelsea chop in May to delay the flowering and also reduce the growth height so customers buy plants in bud rather than in full bloom along with the fact that short er plants they take up less space in transit. We also pot up the cuttings making saleable plants for the following year. With the Astilbes we are dividing and potting these as we speak so the crowns can swell and pro duce flower buds for next year, the Achill'eas and Crocosmias then get propagated in the spring then the wait is on for them to grow and flower ready for July.
. With the display plants we pot on larger Hostas and Heucheras into the polytunnel to speed lip the development to make them bigger. The other display plants all come out of the sale batches, some may be late so they go into the tunnel to speed them up, and some may be coming on too - fast so they get moved down to the river to slow them down.
Then a few days before the show we can pick out the array of plants that are timed just right, some batches missed the show display this year due to it being two weeks later than last year which makes a big difference! For the display we go down on Saturday, four days before the show, to drop off the display
Jobs to do....
FORCE NARCISSI! Available to buy now, you can pot
these up and grow them inside to be in with a chance of having them in flower by Christmas. November is the normal time to plant them outside for spring . flowering.
PRUNE RASPBERRIES Now is the time to prune the old
fruited stems of raspberries down to ground level. This helps the plant put
. more energy into producing stronger' canes for nextyear.
TAKE CUTTINGS OF TENDER PERENNIALS Penstemmons and some Salvias
are too tender to overwinter in our wet northern climate, so take cut- ‘
IT’S TIME TO GET
OUT IN THE GARDEN AND GET CRACKING WITH THOSE
MUST-DO JOBS... BUT WHICH ONES?
HERE JOHN FOLEY SETSOUTWHAT
NEEDS DOING AND WHEN, AND HOW TO GO ABOUT IT
tings off established plants now, keep them in a sheltered place over Winter and plant them out again in the Spring.
TRIM BOX HEDGES If you have a box hedge, give it a
clip over now just after its new shoots have emerged to keep it in good shape
and looking smart over the Winter . months.
PRUNE ANDTRAIN PYRACAN- THA
Now they have finished growing
you can lightly prune and train in long shoots of Pyracantha to tidy up the plant
WEEDING! Keep on top of those small seeding
weeds like annual meadow grass, wil low herb and bittercress. If you don't they will lay hundreds of seeds ready to pop next year!
plants, then oh Sunday, Mon day and Tuesday we put the display together, all the plants carefully placed and tidied to perfection keeping sun lov ers together and shade lovers around the pond we create. Between the pots we used bags stuffed with newspaper and top it off with bark then stand back with our fingers crossed
while we getjudged. This year it all paid off again with us getting agold medal. It really is in the planning and potting. Putting the stand to gether is the fun bit along with selling plants and meeting customers old and new. The next one is Southport in three weeks so fingers crossed for lots offlowers!
Q&A
HERE YOU CAN SEND IN AND FIND OUTTHE ANSWERS
TO ANY GARDENING PROBLEMS
CAN I CUT BACK MY ASTILBES AFTER FLOWERING? You can remove the old flower stems, however they do look very attractive in the Autumn with the frost on. If it hasn't flowered as much as normal then treat it to a dig up and replant keeping the pieces from around the edge as
on our
Julie Magee reviews her experience of the Ribble Valley’s Cloudspotting Festival FEATURE
I C l l s
loudspotting at Gisburn Forest is a unique family friendly festival like no other that
I’ve ever been to. Staged at Stephen Park,
it cocoons festival goers in a magical bubble which im mediately erases the stresses and strains of daily life. Now in its third year at
Gisburn Forest, the music and arts festival started out at the legendary riverside pub The Aspinall Arms at Mittoninthe summer of 2011. Moving to the
form at. A number of them commented that it was their favourite festival of the sum mer.
' “There were some magical
moments- things you can’t plan for - and many of those were created by members of the audience who get so in volved with the event. . “Our volunteers and the
staff at the Forestry Commis sion deserve a lot of thanks as their hard work has really ‘ helped identify Cloudspot ting as something unique on the festival circuit.” Unique it certainly is,
‘At Cloudspotting
these have more vigour. Make sure to water it in well and remember Astilbes like sun or shade anda normal or wet soil.
SHOULD I FEED MY HANGING BASKETS? Most certainly! Hanging baskets can struggle when they aren’t watered regularly as there is a lot of growth in a small space when you think about it, but to help make them have the wow factor put a splash of tomato feed in with your water as this contains potash which helps encourage flowers,so you won’t get tomatoes butyou will get lots of blooms. Also make sure your baskets are getting at least half a day of sun and it you have chance every other week spend a moment dead heading them to stop seed production and encour age flowering energy.
CAN I MOVE MY CORN-
. FLOWERS? The Centaureas that flower in May
do look a bit tatty now, it’s best to cut them back after floweringand
you get a fresh flush of growth, if you've not cut them back yet you can do it nowand then divide them and move them, water in well with splash of tomato feed and watch; the cracking displays of flower nextyear.
This is one of my favourite leaves all the way up the perennials with flowers
Ithasattractivegreen
H olden C lough N ursery | i A O / OFF
_ stem then its topped off
very similar to an Aster but with attractiveblue daisy its not ioo% mildew resist- flowers all the way through ant.
until September, great for long easy colour.
©
www.holdencloughnursery.com
I U / © ■ .VOUCHER : , (,GETSOMESUA3 IER COLOUR!!’’ .
. Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer ‘ VALID UNTIL 31/8/15» : J GETiNTpUCH ,
' HOLDEN, BOLTON-BY-BOWLAND, BB74PF .
+HOLDEN CLOUGH NURSERY, •
Tel.01200447615(7days) +EMAIL INFO@HOLDENCLOUGH-
nursery.co.uk ~ -
wwwJioldencloughnunery.com
01200447615 1 if Ezra FurmanandTheBoyfriendsheadlinethefesth/al'smainstageonSunday. Photo by KristienCooper.(s)
remote forested location two years later ena bled the festival to stretch its limbs a little. It has since developed creative partnerships with other like- minded organisations and there is now a much wider programme of Arts in addi tion to eclectic live music. And what a combination!
there is something for everyone and every age’
taking a mere 20 minutes todrivetothe site, via Bolton- by-Bowland, as opposedtothe hours of driv ing required to reach a lot
The result is a festival which manages to provide some- tmng for everyone, every age. One of the festival’s organ
isers Matt Evans explained: “Every year has seen the fes tival grow and develop and this was the best year yet. “The longer we have been
at it the more our partner ships have matured and that was reflected in the quality and range of activities that families enjoyed. “The production on our
music stages reached a new level and all our artists found it a fabulous festival to per-
of other festivals. Plunging into the deep dark depths of the vast borough that is the Ribble Valley the excitement was palpable in the car from my party - which consisted of myself and my eight-year-old daughter Ruby, school friend Abigail Bywater (eight) and her brother Henry (six) along with their mum Marie. Cries of “are we nearly
there yet” from the children ensued until the green ex panse that is Gisburn Forest came into view in the dis tance. A mecca for cyclists and nature lovers, Gisburn Forest, has regrettably not been on my radar for several years. I’ve previously been mountain biking there and maybe enjoyed the odd pic nic, but since having Ruby, it is not somewhere that has offered much appeal.
RubyMageeandHenryBywaterreadytojointhelanternprocession.(s) I realised how much of
an oversight on my part this has been as soon as I set foot upon the site. There’s anamplecarpark,
new modern toilet facilities, a children’s play area, activity centre and until recently, the “Forest Hub” cafe which cur rently is without a manager. And all this set in acres of gorgeous Ribble Valley coun tryside and surrounded by Gisburn Forest. What a gem. Cloudspotting itself is set
in the fields around these fa cilities which helped to make it one of the most comforta-- ble festivals I’ve ever been to. There were fresh water
taps, the Village Store by the
Lawn Stage selling a selec tion of essential camping ac cessories plus Cloudspotting and some limited edition band merchandise. In addition, there were
numerous Porta loos scat tered around the main camping field, but when the nights drew in and those extra home comforts were needed it was great to be able to use a “proper” toilet in the activity centre and slouch on a settee in the Attic Cin ema room. An eclectic mix of films were shown over the weekend from cult horror flick “An American Were wolf in London” to family films such as “The Book of Life”. Also in The Attic, which provided a welcome respite from sitting in the tent or bn the grass, singer/song- writer, music teacher and gig promoter Baxter Rhodes staged a contemporary song writing workshop and drum ming circle. There was then a showcase of acts from his Red Rose Acoustic Club during which we managed to catch two-piece act The Broux and the great vocals of its female singer in a fare intimate gig. At Cloudspotting there is
something for everyone and every age. The days, as well as evenings, are filled with music from alternative and established music acts play ing on the two stages. - There were also presen
tations from touring family . theatre, interactive arts, mu sic workshops, themed arts and crafts, a selection of food and drink stalls plus a selec tion of ales in the beer tent, topped with late night DJs.
Abigail Bywater (pushing) and Ruby Magee pickupafestival wheel barrow to transport our camping gear to the car. (s)
There were many high
lights musically-both the “Ragamuffins”, who per- formedasafullbandforthe first time at Cloudspotting, and Clitheroe band “Good Foxy” on the main stage on Friday evening set the tone of the festival. Saturday’s highlight music wise was “The Earlies” who headlined onthemainstagewhileEzra Furman and The Boyfriends were a real coup for the festi val headlining on Sunday. Attending a festival with
children it was impossible to take in all the music acts, more often than not they were background music while we indulged the kids as they immersed themselves in Cloudspotting’s huge crea tive activity programme on The Village Green. In the Cloud Cuckoo Land
tent activities were deliv ered by The Bureau Centre for Arts from Blackburn and their talented bunch of art enthusiasts from across Lancashire. These activities were continued in the Bow- land Explorers Tent. During the weekend, Ru
by, Abigail and Henry learnt how to bind a book, make a flick book, design and print a T-shirt, make several badges, create jewellery including an ambulet using natural ma terials from the forest, and make clay creatures, to name
just a few of the activities they enjoyed. One of the highlights of
the children’s programme was making a lantern and then taking part in an early evening lantern walk through the Gisburn Forest accompanied by stories from
the festival’s resident sto ryteller. For older children, there was a DJ work shop which took place away from the bar in the beer tent. In the forest’s Woodland
Yurt, as well as story time session?, alternative ac tivities included Gong Yoga which was developed specifi cally for the festival by Soul HarmonyYoga. For the more active festi
val goers Playhappy Promo tions had created a short walking trail. You could even hire a bike ifyou’d had to
’ leave yours at home. When I asked the children
what their favourite parts of the festival had been, Ruby said: “I enjoyed the park and lantern walk, but my favour ite thing was the cinema where we watched ‘The Book of Life’ and ‘Labyrinth’. It was nice and comfy and warm in there and I liked listening to the bands in there too.” Abigail, meanwhile, said:
“Cloudspotting was amaz ing! I eqjoyed the Cloud Cuckoo Land tent in which. we did a variety of arts and crafts. In particular I liked making the lanterns for the woodland walk. When we were on the walk we listened to a story. Then we stayed for creepy stories and I told one!” Henry added: “At Clouds
potting I had lots offun. My best bits were arts and crafts, the explorers tent and having crepes with a grasshopper! Give it a try next year 1 ” So for a family friendly
festival which ticks all the boxes for all ages groups make sure you check out Cloudspotting next year.
CUTHER0EADVERT1SER&TIMES I 33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29
