Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2014 | Page 57

GARDENING

Matt Noyce is head gardener
at Quarr Abbey, and is
responsible for the 200 acres
of gardens, pastureland,
vegetable plot and private
woodland on the estate.

Busy - but worth the effort
T

his summer seemed to have an
early start, but now there’s well and
truly a ‘nip’ in the air and on go the
layers as we head into the next season.
We are now coming out of what has
been our busiest season to date. We
hoped the disturbance during the
recent Heritage Lottery Fund works
wouldn’t put visitors off coming to the
Abbey and sure enough it didn’t. The
woodland walk and hide are now open
for all to enjoy. Mainly using oak and
poplar timber from the estate, the hide
has been a joy to build and the walk
has accumulated many hours of
volunteer time from keen individuals
and groups. We look forward to
rolling out the Quarr Explorer Kit
soon, to accompany the walk. The
poultry project has been a rewarding
experience for all involved and now
has happy rescued hens enjoying the
freedom to roam in our orchards. The
new Farm Shop building has been
completed and will be an outlet for
our produce and estate products.
We are also enjoying the new
bridleway surface through the estate
provided by the Local Sustainable
Transport Fund. This now provides a

smooth, level surface through the estate
from Fishbourne to our boundary gate
in Binstead.
There are still many other projects that
are being carried out presently and the
new orchard and meadow is one of them.
It will soon be planted as the weather
becomes more favourable. October
through to December are usually the best
months to plant bare-root and rootballed
trees and shrubs, but the planting season
can be extended into winter and even

early spring if the weather is suitable. The
planting of container grown trees isn’t
so restricted to certain times of year but
may require more care and watering if
planted in warmer, drier months. Other
jobs around the Quarr Abbey gardens at
the moment include continuing to collect
up the apple and pear crop, preparing
the roses for winter with a light prune to
prevent damage to the roots through ‘wind
rock’ and beginning the annual process of
collecting up the autumnal leaves.
In the veg plot we have been celebrating a
bountiful harvest and a superb growing
year. Most fruits and vegetables did
very well with some being exceptional:
one of our brandywine tomatoes
reached a corking 849g! The mulberry
tree within the cloister garden has been
laden with berries for what seems like
months and the wild forage around
the estate such as blackberries and
elderberries has been fantastic, much
to the enjoyment of the local wildlife.
The bees have also been working
overtime with a whopping 500lbs
of honey produced from the Quarr
hives. We can safely say, ours have
been busy bees!
Pictures by Matt Noyce
www.visitilife.com

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