Nymans: Ed Ikins green gardening

Posted:12 October 2012

With the rain pattering (what’s new?) on the roof of the Garden House, Ed Ikin described “green gardening” at Nymans, the National Trust garden he heads near Handcross, West Sussex. Many of the methods he has established to ensure as much sustainability as possible are on a grand scale, but there were plenty of worthwhile tips for more modest gardens.

Nymans is not a garden set in the aspic of its heyday, but continues to develop the work of its originators. It is blessed with a perfect soil Ph, and many different growing areas from shady woods to sheltered, well-drained and frost-free beds, so that the gardeners can experiment with new schemes when the old plantings of trees and woody shrubs get past their best. Unfortunately, having tempted us with photos of a newly-cleared border and tender trees wrapped up for the winter, Ed had no pictures of the transformation to show us!

Incorporating water-gathering techniques from the Netherlands, rechargeable tools from France, and waste digesters from Sweden, the regime at Nymans is certainly eclectic. Most of it based on proven scientific evidence. However, Ed is not opposed to doing what he does because he also finds it “just works for us”. He talked about comfrey tea, green manures, and the soil food web with its essential mix of beneficial fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and (good) nematodes.

We went over the ideal proportions for making a hot compost (2 parts woody to 1 part green stuff, and moist but not wet) and reminded that this can be achieved in just a metre-square compost bay, especially if you have two bays for turning. The trick is to save up and store woody and green compost separately and only mix when you have enough to raise temperatures quickly. (Owners of tiny Brighton gardens sighed regretfully at this point!) Ed also showed us the results of an experiment with petunias to restrict watering without harming the plants. It may not seem relevant this past summer, but watering in the evening only, using only 25% of the usual amount, gave a slightly smaller plant but profuse flowers. He showed that plants in borders also adapt to being watered at increasingly wide intervals by bolstering their root systems and even, incredibly, above ground, narrowing leaf blades and shortening gaps between buds.

Ed said that Nymans, with its late summer plantings, would still be good to look at for the next few weeks. There is plenty of information available about the sustainable gardening practised there, though not all visitors are interested in this aspect and will expect to find an attractive, tidy, filly-functioning National Trust garden on show, irrespective of the methods used to achieve this. But if you see a gardener wandering round with a backpack spray, remember that it is likely to be comfrey tea, not a toxic, environmentally unfriendly mix.

Our very own Garden House compost bins

Words: our thanks to Julia Widdows

Photo of Nymans compost bins: VDuBourdieu©2011