Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2013 | Page 79

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.

All set for a very busy year
How time flies. I have been at Quarr
Abbey for over a year and have now
seen a full round of seasons. Much has
happened in that time and looking at
the diary, this year already looks like it
will prove to be a busy one. With light
levels and temperatures increasing,
things are starting to stir.
Our Heritage Lottery Fund plans
will be materialising early this year.
Over the course of the project we are
looking forward to improvements
to Quarr Abbey buildings; the ruins
will be examined and sympathetically
repaired and there will be alterations
made to improve our vehicular access
and pathways. On top of this, there
will be new elements of landscape
design incorporated in to the existing
scene.
With the sowing season upon us,
I have been spending time putting
together our growing plan for this
year. We are incorporating the needs
and wishes of the Quarr chefs and the
farm shop, by tailoring the crop list, to
make sure that we grow varieties that
will not only taste great when they are
used in the kitchen but also varieties

that will add a bit of interest. More
Heritage and unusual varieties will
definitely be appearing in our farm
shop again this year.
Around the estate we have been
busy bramble bashing and crown
lifting tree limbs along and above our
paths, reinstating damaged fences and

removing fallen tree debris from the
woodland walks. Good, wholesome
work to keep you warm! The basal
sucker growth from around the lime
trees has been removed along with the
advancing ivy heading up the trunks.
The wisteria has been temporarily

tamed by pruning the present years
long tendrils back to two to three buds
for its winter prune, its whippy green
shoots will need to be pruned to five
or six leaves again in late summer after
it has flowered.
The vegetable plot has benefited
from its usual, generous helping
of soil improver. By leaving a layer
of nutrient rich compost on the
surface to break down slightly and
then rotovate in when the soil isn’t
too puggy (wet and sticky), reduces
the potential of damaging the soil
structure. We’re already keeping an
eye on and removing emerging weeds
to keep on top of them, especially the
perennial ones. The fruit trees have
had their winter prune, cleaned out
of any poor and weak limbs or any
rogue skyward ‘scaffold’ branches.
They were then given a good feed to
set them up for the growing season.
A few gaps have appeared in the
orchard where trees have failed, so we
are replanting with some local island
varieties such as Howgate Wonder, Sir
John Thorneycroft and Isle of Wight
Russet.
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