“Supports hardly show once plants cover them”
4 WILLOW WIGWAMS
These wigwams for sweet peas and borlotti beans are made by Jane and Alison in situ in March, using long sticks of willow with whippy lengths wound round them. They last four seasons before they need replacing. “Occasionally they take root, sprouting a wild hairdo of shoots,” Jane says, “but I cut them off and weave them in further down.” Globe artichokes disguise the dying foliage of tulips as they fade.
5 CLIMBING BEANS
Jane doesn’t have access to any free hazel supplies, but there is plenty of willow on their land. A double row of uprights is buried firmly into the soil to support runner beans, held with a cross bar at the top and interwoven with whippier lengths at the base for the young plants to get hold of. “They soon get the idea and scramble up the poles,” Jane explains. Crops in the raised beds include rainbow chard, beetroot, French and borlotti beans, plus parsley all year round.
6 BROAD BEAN NETTING
In the vegetable garden – source of much inspiration for Jane’s cooking – broad beans and peas get a helping hand with galvanized rabbit netting. It is wired onto a set of sturdy steel fencing pins. “If we didn’t have these to hand, we would probably just use more willow for the uprights,” Jane says.
7 EARLY RHUBARB
Terracotta rhubarb forcers encourage an early crop of blanched stems that can be harvested about eight weeks after covering. The growth here was so vigorous, it pushed the lid off the forcer before Jane noticed, but the stems are still sweet, pink and tender.
The garden at Hetton House, Wooler, Northumberland, is open to groups by appointment (01668 215421; janelovett.com).