After a good rainy day, we’re back to sunshine with a slightly chilly breeze – perfect seasonal weather for April, which seems strange as it’s so unexpected.
A local farmer has put some sheep on the Rumwoldstow meadow. Lambs! We can hear the baaing from the monastery garden.
In the orchard, the apple trees are coming into bloom, the pears are developing, and the cherry is in flower.
Today we have the first proper rain for over a month – how suddenly we went from flood to drought! As the Rumwoldstow garden is made of raised beds, it’s especially important that they receive all the rain they can. So I pottered down the lane in my dressing gown, wellies and waterproof this morning and slipped out most of the roof shingles on the shade garden’s sun hat. I’ll put them back when it’s sunny again.
Later in the morning, a box of plants arrived in the mail, containing two perennial cauliflowers (a variety developed in 1928, so not historic, but certainly heritage) and a valerian plant which I have planted in the last empty end space. It’s at the north end of the shady bed so will get quite a lot of sunshine.
Valeriana officinalis has a long history as a herbal medicine though I don’t think there’s much evidence for its use as a ‘sleeping tablet’. It certainly didn’t do anything for me, though I do have insomnia at a heroic level – I must have put a lot of points into it, though I’ve no idea why.
The seventeenth century astrological botanist Nicholas Culpeper thought the plant was “under the influence of Mercury, and therefore hath a warming faculty.” He recommended both herb and root, and said that “the root boiled with liquorice, raisons and aniseed is good for those troubled with cough. Also, it is of special value against the plague, the decoction thereof being drunk and the root smelled. The green herb being bruised and applied to the head taketh away pain and pricking thereof.
The south west corner of the main Rumwoldstow garden being shaded by the cloister much of the time, I planted it with shade-loving plants such as sweet woodruff and white horehound. However, as spring draws on, it’s clear that they’ll be exposed to full sunlight for several hours in the middle of the day, which I assume won’t be good for them. So with Al’s help I foraged for materials and built them a little roof.
As you can see in the photo below, the sun is just starting to touch the plants around noon, in mid-April, so they’ll need shading from around this time of year onwards. I cut hazel rods from the hedge which was coppiced two years ago (918), and set four rods with forks into the soil, then laid two long straight rods across.
The next step was to cut roof shingles out of old fence panelling and drill a hole in each to hold a peg cut from hazel. These were laid on the horizontal rods, with additional rods then bound on top to keep them from blowing off.
I used garden twine to fix the upper rods and also to bind the corners and add diagonal bracing underneath to give the structure more lateral stability.
Shingles can be slipped out and rearranged to vary the amount of light that gets through.
In midsummer I may add more shingles to keep the plants cool, but for now this looks like a light woodland effect as the leaves start to grow. In the autumn, I will remove all the shingles and store them indoors.
After last year’s drought and the almost total lack of blossom or fruit from the orchard (3 medlars, 3 damsons total), it’s delightful to see plenty of flowers and fruit setting. First off, the new plum and damsons all seem to have fruit set, though the Shropshire Prune damson is looking more prolific than the Fairleigh damson.
We didn’t photograph the old plum tree or the Fairleigh damson, but both have had some flowers and look like setting some fruit.
The cherry tree was planted by the previous owners and bore a label saying it was bought at Morrisons. It’s never done very well as the ground is too damp and there’s not enough light, but it’s survived so gets to stay and do its thing.
Our medlar looks lively and has flower buds.
Likewise the quince:
Moving on to the pears, both look to have set plenty of fruit, the Louise Bonne of Jersey more, but given I don’t remember the Uvedale’s St Germain flowering at all before, I’m happy enough.
Despite the plague currently scouring the land (remember it’s 2020 in modern time), we managed to hold an Easter convocation at Rumwoldstow. Perhaps it was a little lacking in diversity, but we tried to make up for it in enthusiasm!
Wassail and Easter joy to all, despite the dark times. Let us be kind to each other as Jesus Christ teaches.
It is the 11th day of April, 920 AD, and the trees in the orchard are doing well. They have been in the ground almost two years now, having been planted in May of 918, and have survived two years of drought and an attack by cows (after which we built the protective cages). The fruit harvest of 919 comprised six damsons and three medlars – we hope for better this year after a very wet winter and some good spring sunshine.
The two pear trees are both in flower. The Uvedale is a Warden pear and I haven’t seen it flower before, so to see clusters of white blossom is very exciting, and it’s great to see that the two pear trees are in bloom together so the Louise Bonne should be able to pollinate the Uvedale as intended. What is a Warden pear like you ask? Well I don’t really know either but I hope to find out this year.
The two new apple trees are in bud. The Hambeldon Deux Ans was brutally munched by cows in 918 and has been splinted up, and is growing! I hope that this year it will grow taller than its protector again. It has one visible cluster of blossom, which is one more than last year.
The Wyken Pippin is in good shape and looks like it’ll have a fair amount of blossom.
The old apple tree that was here already, is a much better shape now that it’s been pruned back for a couple of years – it had one long branch like a bridge trying to escape the leilandii (now wonderfully truncated) and reach the light.
The damsons and plums have all flowered well and are nearly over, with what I hope are proto-fruits forming. The old, established plum tree is looking a bit better than last year – it gave a bumper harvest in 918 but was almost defunct in 919 with no fruit at all.
The quince and medlar have plenty of leaves but no flowers – I hope they’ll get round to it later!
Last but not least is the white poplar we put in down where the land floods, to add back some height and because it’s a lovely native tree. It’s budding well.
I walked over the meadow which after 6 months of being half a metre underwater as often as not, is still thin on grass, covered in silt and smells like the Essex coast. But I saw one cuckoo flower plant!
Today being the 9th of April it is the feast day of St Materiana, or Madryn. Materiana was a princess of the 5th century, the eldest of three daughters of King Vortimer the Blessed, who, after her father’s death, ruled over Gwent with her husband Prince Ynyr.
We did receive this day a message from our blessed sister Wynflaed, who sent us a gift of borage seeds. We are most grateful as this plant does not grow in the countryside, and it can be used to great good effect to benefit both spirit and body.
Yesterday we received a collection of iris Germanica corms via courier, which will add greatly to the beauty of the Rumwoldstow garden.
I did also move some plants from less clement areas of the gardens, into better situations. There is now a wild garlic plant in the shady quadrant of the formal garden, and I have moved a skirret plant grown from seed last year, into the bed dug by Brother Julian. Despite my care, a piece of root broke off and so brother Alf and I ate it as the first harvest! The flavour is pleasant, somewhat resembling carrot or parsnip but with a slight tang of its own.
Planting of the monastery garden continues with a delivery of plants from the National Herb Centre, and a few which were transplanted from my main garden. On this day the third of April 920 AD, Cyneswithe rejoices and contemplates the life of Saint Mary of Egypt, whose life is celebrated on the first of April. Mary lives a most stimulating life. After years of debauchery she repented of her evil ways and was eventually buried with the aid of a passing lion.
Sun
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Rosa Gallica Officinalis
Achillea millefolium (yarrow)
Coriander
Anethum graviolens (dill)
Marjoram
Chamaemelum nobile “flore plenum” (Double chamomile)
Thymus serpyllum Russetings (Thyme Russetings)
Cornflower
Tanacetum balsamita (Alecost / costmary)
Mustard red frills
Fennel
Lovage
Peony
Part shade
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Petroselinum crispum “french” (parsley)
Fragaria vesca (Alpine strawberry)
Rumex acetosa (broad leaved sorrel)
Viola mixed
Inula helenium (Elecampane) tall, sun or part shade
Viola tricolor (heartsease)
Pot marigold, sun or part shade
Primula vulgaris
Shade
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Hellebore black double
Galium odoratum (sweet woodruff)
Marrubium vulgare (white horehound)
Primula veris (cowslip)
I have left gaps for the iris germanica and madonna lilies that are on order. I need some large shade-tolerant plant for the last big empty space – not sure what that would be yet, there are various plants I can’t source just now but I’m not sure which are shady.
I will infill with other plants as the season goes on, but it’s a good start! Rumwaldstow is going green!
It is the 27th of March and the monastery garden is finally ready for planting, after a winter of unprecedented rain – the Cherwell meadow has been flooded on and off since October last year!
Brother Julian has worked tirelessly to repair Green Street, the lane that runs north from the monastery gate. The wall is his work also, and he almost single-handedly cleared the site for the monastery garden.
Brother Alf and Sister Cyneswith have overseen the building of the garden beds inside the old Roman fort and on this day the feast of St Rupert1, we planted the garden’s first plant, a fennel plant.2
Bishop Godfrid sent a message to Sister Cyneswithe commending Rumwaldstow for our work towards the glory of the church.
