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vegetables and salads rotate, whilst the artichoke and asparagus beds remain stable. The challenge here, Ed says, is ‘finding ways of making the garden less labour intensive, to cut down on weeding’.
Height comes from fruit trees espaliered on iron rods supported by elm posts on either side of paths while the scheme is further defined by rows of step-over apples: 742 trees have been planted thus far, many of them Scottish varieties. ‘All the posts are made from elm produced on the estate,’ said Ed, ‘as it is more durable than oak, which tends to rot.’ The 89 newly-planted apple trees, plus 60 cherry trees and 50 pear trees, add natural structure and architectural winter interest.
Zara, who happily admits that she, like so many of us ‘wasn’t really interested until I had my own garden and then it was a steep learning curve’, drew inspiration from garden visiting. West Dean and Parham House were particularly influential, as was Floors
Castle. Now very much ‘hands on’ she spends hours weeding, sowing, pruning and picking alongside a team of five gardeners and some trained volunteers. ‘There is something to be said about not being trained because you don’t have a rule book,’ she laughs. ‘Ed chooses the vegetables, we talk things over and discuss things like the cut flowers.’
Gardening on such a large scale means that items for discussion refer to the 100,000 plants grown from seed annually of which there are 250 different varieties, including nine different kinds of lettuce.
Currently the plan is to bring in more plants for winter interest, with the Autumn-flowering cherries, Prunus subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’, high on the list. Although the emphasis is on production a new herbaceous border is planned either side of the central path; the route originally taken by the Dukes of Richmond and Gordon on their way to church. The spire of Gordon Chapel is clearly visible over the wall.
‘The challenge is getting the balance between the ornamental and the productive,’ explains Ed. ‘It is a learning process because it is such a new garden that it takes time to work it all out. But no one else is doing anything on this scale.’