31 May Developing The Garden At “The Berkshires”
Turning a paddock into a garden
Chapter One – Discovering the original garden At “The Berkshires”
Last week on one of our sparkling Autumn days I was reminded of how far we have come in creating the garden at “The Berkshires”. I was driving back up to the garden from the green waste burn pile in the paddock when I glanced up to our hillside where the house and garden are located. It was in this exact spot that we parked our car in the paddock and took our first step onto the ground that would become part of our farm “The Berkshires”. I remember that first day as being bitterly cold and foggy. It was in this spot that I looked across the paddock at the line of mature Peppercorn trees growing down the hillside. (See before and after photos below) I immediately thought to myself at the time, Peppercorns are not indigenous to Australia, they can’t have self seeded in that pattern, someone a very long time ago must have planted those tree there. We went to investigate and found that not only was there a row of Peppercorns growing in the middle of what then was a paddock full of an Oats crop but there was a second row of Peppercorns next to them and they were planted out in line with each other. Despite the paddock grasses being more than waist high and the tree’s canopy being completely overgrown I could tell that they would have been planted out as an avenue. The space between the trees on that first day was impenetrable, it was like a jungle with the tall pasture grasses growing up to merge in with the lower Peppercorn branches. Some of which were weeping down so far that they had hit the ground – grown roots and then a new tree was growing up. The Peppercorns had been left untouched for so long they had naturally started to propagate themselves with aerial layering. This wild avenue of Peppercorns intrigued me and after we bought the block I set about to learn more. You can see in the before and after photos below what the hillside looked like originally to how it looks now the house is nestled into the hillside and the garden anchors it to the ground giving it the feel that it has always been there.
We discovered from neighbours that the Peppercorn avenue 100 years ago had been part of the original driveway up to the site where the first house was. On that first day we were able to wander around the old garden or at least what was left of it and the ruins of the wooden cottage. There were lots of treasures to be found with the original garden, mainly trees that had been planted more than 80 years ago.
There was a group of Sugar Gums (indigenous to South Australia) Kurrajongs, more Peppercorns, Almonds, White Cedars and Apples (all of which unfortunately had reverted back to their root stocks). Further down the hill side we discovered an Almond Orchard, Citrus trees, a Corella Pear, rambling Wisteria trellis, Figs and a Quince.
Once we purchased the property out aim was protect and maintain these trees that had been planted by the previous owners, who had owned the property for five generations. It was their legacy and we wanted to preserve the trees.
I knew my first garden task was to reconnect the avenue of Peppercorns to the main house. We did this by reinstating the main driveway from the front entrance through three paddocks to the bottom of the avenue of Peppercorns. This became the northern boundary and the front entrance of the garden. We then had to do some major selective pruning on the avenue of Peppercorns to make way for the driveway through the centre. Opening up access and views through the avenue of Peppercorns was a memorable experience. Whilst I loved the untamed nature of the overgrown Peppercorns avenue, moving forward we also had to consider access to the house and the risk of bushfire in the area. I also kept reminding myself that these trees had been planted for a purpose and we were restoring them back to having this purpose. The four of us spent a day with chainsaws, pruning saw, loppers and secateurs trying to tame back the wandering canopies of these beauties. We filled countless trailers and utes with their branches and foliage. The pepper like scent from the peppercorn leaves wafted around us all day as we snipped, squashed and lifted their foliage from the trees to the utes.
By the end of the day we had uncovered a pathway through the centre of the trees and we also selectively under pruned the canopies of the Peppercorns so that we could mow underneath. We did this under pruning very carefully as we didn’t want to take away too many branches so that they could keep their lovely weeping habit typical of the species. We didn’t want to tame them too much! By late in the afternoon we were able to have a clear view through the arching branches from one end of the avenue to the other. It was a rewarding day and the first step in rebuilding a garden at “The Berkshires”. A wander down the driveway through the avenue of Peppercorns is still today one of my favourite places to walk especially at sunset when the light catches the shadows of the hanging Peppercorn branches. Being under the canopies of these stately trees always gives me a sense of appreciation that whoever planted these trees didn’t do it for themselves they planted them for future generations to enjoy. I can honestly say that they are appreciated and give the total garden today a sense of place. I know that when my nieces were little and even my young son today have all picked up on this sense of place and character that these trees create. Whenever the children play down on the driveway they all imagined that magical creatures lived in the hollows of the Peppercorn trunks or within their leafy canopies.
Stay tuned for the next blog post in the series of Developing a Garden at “The Berkshires”.
