Restoring a Victorian Woodland Garden

Restoring Victorian woodland garden in Yorkshire

By Roger Ranson

Soil aeration is playing a role in restoring a woodland garden at Brodsworth Hall and Gardens, near Doncaster, where Heritage Lottery funding is helping to bring a classic Victorian garden back to its former glory.

Suffolk aeration specialists C & P Soilcare worked with landscape contractors G & P Plevey of Doncaster on the half-acre woodland garden where beds were cleared of unwanted self-set trees, weeded, paths laid and shrubs planted, and new turf was put down, providing an opportunity for the 50,000 visiting public to enjoy the restored amenity feature.

Remedial work to break up compaction and improve surface drainage was carried out, using deep soil aeration and injecting nutrient rich seaweed kelp into the fissures created by the process. The seaweed expands when moist, increasing the soil's water reserves in the crucial rooting zone.

John Warren, general manager of C & P Soilcare, of Nedging, Suffolk, says that as well as eliminating wet spots, the aeration technique has significant benefits in encouraging healthy root growth of plants, and particularly shrubs and trees.

Peter Gordon-Smith, general manager at Brodsworth Hall, says the work on the woodland garden is part of a current five-year restoration project at the property which was gifted to English Heritage in 1990.

Soilcare, which is based at Nedging, near Ipswich, was set up in 1991 by the Chaplin family to tackle problems in drainage and plant growth caused by compaction and poor soil structure. Its Terralift and deep drill services, including use of a seaweed mix injected into soil fissures, help prevent water logging and encourage healthy root growth of turf, trees and shrubs.

For information please contact: John Warren Tel: 01449 741012,(C & P Soilcare Ltd) or Gary Plevey on Tel:01302 327311(G & P Plevey)