Richard Davis, GM of Leiths at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, shares his stories of the fourth floor garden:
Up
on the fourth floor of The QEII Conference Centre, facing the Poets’
meeting rooms are two garden courtyards about 4m x 2.5m. It’s a spot
perfect for growing herbs and vegetables. In a previous life it was
planted with ornamental plants but this year Team QE2 formed a garden
party and occupied the plots.
The team, headed by me and Martin
Litherland, QEII’s Event Operations Manager got together and planned our
attack. We marked out plots and invited donations. Sue Etherington
donated a couple of courgette plants nurtured in her greenhouse, whilst
Martin created a nursery in his office to grow plants including
tomatoes, lettuce and sunflowers.
The frost passed and we
started planting – herbs on the South plot including thyme, lavender,
oregano and sage and the vegetables and fruit on the North. A
competition was set up for the tallest sunflower.
So why did we
become all horticultural? It just seemed like an opportunity not to be
missed; it has been great for team spirit, it’s something that we can
shout about and be proud of, and (perhaps best of all) we get to eat
some fine produce.
The
raspberry bush, being already mature, was the first to bear fruit. And
how sweet was the taste of success. Next to flourish were some lettuces
but then we were attacked by hundreds of starving caterpillars –
Vapourer Moth ones to be precise. Fortunately we were able to keep them
at bay through diligent removal.
The courgettes and tomatoes both
flourished giving plenty of produce. The root vegetables faired
reasonably well; carrots were a little disappointing, the beetroots were
pretty good, the broad beans were a disappointment but the champions
were the courgettes and pumpkins.
The pumpkins are growing 40ft
over the roof of one garden to the next. We will be making pumpkin soup
to have at Halloween with the staff carving them too – with a prize for
the best one.
So what have we learnt? The soil wasn’t the best so
we will add some good multi compost for next year. And we now know when
and where the sun bathes the plot best.
We are looking forward
to pulling the parsnips at Christmas – they should be a delightful
addition to the turkey. We are now tidying the plot and preparing it for
winter. But come next spring we will be up and running again for round
two!
Any comments? Email sarah@mashmedia.net
