Gardening Committee October meeting

Here is a report from the Ben Jonson House Group representative on the estate gardening committee:
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I attended the GAG committee meeting last week, and a subsequent tour of the Ben Jonson/Breton garden areas yesterday.

The GAG started with a tour of the Thomas Moore Gardens, in the company of Jake Tibbetts (City of London Gardens) and Paul Bandassari (Head Gardener in Barbican Grounds)

Key Points raised:

• The Lawns in Thomas Moore have been scarified twice, which is the first time this has been done in many year. The lawn has recovered after hot summer. There were objections to the watering, as this was seen as unnecessary. Paul B will therefore switch off lawn watering, if possible, next year.
• The Thomas Moore/Mountjoy open space will be used as a open potting area for gardening team. This will enable them to reuse more plants and keep costs down.
• Nigel Dunn (who designed the new planted area of Dry Gardens has done several educational sessions with the gardeners and volunteers. However, a general 'Meet the gardeners day' has not been arranged yet, most House Reps wanted this to take place in summer. Hopefully, this will take place in Spring. Jake Tibbetts to arrange.
• Flower beds around BJ and Breton House have been updated and weeded over the summer - much improved
• The BHS would like more people to join the Society and attend their events - membership details on the British Horticultural Soc website
• Group Inspections -these have been done by each house, 6-monthly for 18 months (I do the BJ inspection with Breton House (Jo Rodgers) and Cromwell Tower. Generally it was noted that not much planting has been done over that period, and the beds look pretty much the same. We queried whether this was due to lack of staff, the difficult summer, or because of the forthcoming resurfacing and replanting of the BJ/Breton area in 2019 (with the drainage works). Paul Bandassari said that their budget was tight, but the gardening team was the same size as always, and in fact they had brought in some short term staff for assistance over the summer. The conditions this summer had been very challenging for the gardening team over all the estate. Moisture had been the largest problem, but they had managed to keep most of the plants alive. Paul is aware of the upcoming redevelopment of the BJ Highwalk, but this has not influenced the work put into the area. They are making sure all the beds are kept green and as tidy as possible, but new plants will not be put in - as they would be removed in the redevelopment.
• The Speed Garden replanting has not taken place this summer. It may go ahead next spring, but this is dependent on budget allocation.
• The barbican lake will require draining and de-silting shortly. This is a new item on the estate agenda, and money will need to be found from the budget to cover it.
• Barbican at 50 - is anything being done in the gardens to celebrate this? The RCC did not want to spend any money on this event, and the City of London has nothing in its budget for it either. The Arts Centre will be having additional tours and events. Money will need to be raised from corporate donations etc if anything extensive is to take place. The BA is looking into this.

Jo Rodgers and I had an Inspection Tour of the Ben Jonson and Breton House flower beds with Paul Bandessari yesterday. We looked in close detail at the work done on the lawns and flower beds in the area. Paul's team has done a lot of work to keep them green over the summer. Some areas will need a lot of pruning to remove dead branches after the dry spell. Paul restated that the forthcoming redevelopment of the Ben Jonson High Walk, removal of Yellow Shed etc has not affected the attention to the existing plants in the area. But no new ones will be planted as this would be a waste of time and money if they are to be removed in the next year or so. He is working to improve the soil and drainage in all the larger beds, which will keep them green.

We discussed the overhauling of two beds near to Breton house, and the removal of the wooden flower boxes on the Ben Jonson High Walk. We also would like to see the removal of the netting on thee sides of the towers on Ben Jonson High Walk, as the plants do not survive well there, and many residents would like to see the towers return to their unadorned state! This will need to be discussed at committee level and with the House Committees.