Settling into life at Cliff Bank

The bones of the nursery are really starting to come together, and the different areas are taking shape. It has been a fine balance prioritising which areas need the work in this first year, with much to do and a very ambitious eye on opening next April. Our biggest task has been clearing the land and Shane aka ‘The diggerman’ has been our saviour. Fuelled with piping hot Yorkshire tea and bacon sarnies he has transformed Cliff Bank with his trusty 4-tonne excavator. I knew we were onto a winner in the early stages when he picked up a 7cm pot containing a Dactylorhiza and popped it in my hand with the digger bucket like he was passing me a chocolate digestive at tea break. A truly skilled man, the digger is an extension of his limbs, it has been a pleasure to watch. The working and sales area are now a blank canvass that we can build upon and the carpark is finished giving us so much more room, mainly to fill with plants before we get the stock areas sorted.

The plant army is also growing steadily, and I’m still splitting some early flowering perennials with the weather being so mild. One of my favourite, front of the border perennials, Veronica gentianoides and its white form V. ‘Tissington White’, are still happily putting out new roots. It’s also very pleasing to see new roots and shoots growing on the Paris quadifolia split in the summer, a great native woodlander that should be more readily available.

It has not been without challenges over the last few weeks as the daylight has dwindled, and the rain has fallen. My energy has ebbed and flowed like many gardeners at the end of a long summer, but the small victories and gentle progress is keeping me going. I will be happy when the first polytunnel skin goes on in the next week or so, so I can get some of the younger plants out of the wet weather and also somewhere dry to work through the winter. The little, old, very well-ventilated greenhouse has made the transition from tomato house to seedling and cuttings zone, with many things growing on in cell trays to be potted up in the early spring.

The view a top of the mound humorously named ‘Preston’s Pike’ by Laura has become a great spot of reflection and gives a completely different perspective of the nursery. It consists of all the spoil and rubbish from clearing the site and will eventually become some sort of elevated landform looking over the nursery garden. The view down the Wharfedale valley towards Harewood is also looking particularly stunning with the autumn colour, long may the leaves cling on.

Our first venture is also nearly upon us, to get people to know that Cliff Bank Nursery will be trading again and to start generating a little income, we are going to be selling locally grown Christmas Trees and making some lovely teasel themed wreaths. If you live close by and want to get a sneak peek of the site before the spring and want to support us, we’ll be open from Saturday 26^th November and Wed-Sun from then until 18^th December.

As always when I sit down to write there seems to be much left untold; apple juice pressing, sweet pea sowing, piggy updates, building gates and new chicken enclosures etc, but I hope these ramblings give you an insight into the life that is unfolding down here at Cliff Bank. A labour of love that is deeply satisfying. 

Enjoy the remaining autumn colour as it hangs on in the mild weather,

Ben