03/08/2026
A busy, hot and very dry July!!
450,000 seed!!? Though I must admit, we didn’t count every single one! The wildflower meadow in front on Malleny House has looked fantastic this year. A mixture of common spotted orchids, buttercup, yarrow, oxeye daisy and so much more growing away happily. An important plant in this mix is yellow rattle. Hemiparasitic on many plants, mostly grasses, it reduces grass growth allowing wildflowers to thrive. It grows so well that we can harvest the seed for use elsewhere and still leave enough for next year’s meadow. Our volunteers collected 1.6kg of seed this year, which roughly equates to the above number.
July has been a busy month in the garden, with the very dry hot weather being the biggest challenge. Many plants are wilting with the lack of water. To responsibly conserve water, our general policy in the garden is to only target key plants with irrigation. We don’t water the grass or herbaceous plants; both will bounce back after a bit of rain. Deeper rooted shrubs are generally ok, but a few have needed a bit of irrigation. We do target the rose collection for a single annual soak to 50cm deep with a plant feed. Plants surrounding the roses don’t get watered, they need to fend for themselves. Hotter, drier summers will make irrigation a bigger challenge in coming years. We hope for some rain in August.
Elsewhere in the estate, our new composting facility has been completed, with the addition of more covered bays and a 5000-litre rainwater tank. The increased capacity will allow us to process our green waste into compost much more efficiently, producing good quality compost to feed the garden and aid water retention in the soil. The rainwater tank will aid irrigation of the veg garden and the immediate area.
We also welcomed two volunteer groups form JP Morgan who helped control and clear some Salmonberry and brambles from our woodland garden. Salmonberry is a bit like a giant raspberry, but a bit of a thug and smothers more desirable plants. As a non-native plant, it’s best to have it removed. Difficult for us to do this without their help, so a huge thank you for everyone’s time.
NTS Great Pumpkin Weigh-off 2026 update; Our champion pumpkin plants are continuing grow rapidly. Small pumpkins are beginning to develop. In a few weeks’ time we will select a single pumpkin on each plant to focus all its energy into one giant pumpkin. More updates to follow!!
Volunteers make an enormous difference to the National Trust for Scotland and there are many benefits to volunteering with the Trust. If you, or someone you know, would like to volunteer with us, please get in touch at [email protected].
