A Garden Tour for the Bedford Garden Club
The gardens are constantly changing - anyone who comes to visit always sees something new.
Most of the private garden tours at my farm are conducted in the spring and early summer - I host a select few every year. Yesterday, I welcomed a lovely group of 25 fellow members from the Bedford Garden Club right here in Bedford, New York. I walked them through my gardens and allées, showed them my pool and orchard, introduced them to some of my animals, and served delicious refreshments on my terrace parterre.
Here are a few photos, enjoy.
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- The day started overcast with thunderous showers, but the weather did clear up enough for our afternoon Cantitoe Corners garden tour. Here is my terrace just outside my Winter House kitchen.
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- My housekeeper, Enma Sandoval, picked fresh flowers from the gardens earlier in the morning.
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- I like to vary garden tour routes. This tour began down at my stable courtyard. This view is looking east down my Boxwood Allée. Do you know what the big pot is in the middle? It’s a giant iron sugar kettle. Sugar kettles were used on 19th century Louisiana plantations for the production of sugar. Sugar cane was placed in the large, spherical vessels and cooked down to make syrup. Because they could withstand such high heat, they were also used for cooking. I have several others around the farm and love to use them for fire pits.
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- I walked the group through the vegetable garden. They admired the growing brassicas. Everything is doing so well.
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- Right now, the shelling peas, snap peas and edible pea pods are perfect for picking.
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- And what a difference a few days make – some of the broccoli heads are double the size after last week. We’ve had a lot of rain, sun, and heat – it’s all done well for my gardens.
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- The cabbages are also looking so beautiful. Here is one of my Savoy cabbages – so perfectly shaped. Savoy cabbage is a versatile cabbage, similar to green cabbage but a bit milder and sweeter, with leaves that are looser and more ruffled.
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- I walked the group past what I call the “ancient” apple trees. These are original to the farm and continue to produce an abundance of fruit every year.
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- Next was my sunken Summer House garden. This garden was just a blank dirt space when I created it. The focal point was the one original giant ginkgo tree in the distance. Over time, I planted American and English boxwood, smaller ginkgo trees, smoke bushes, Siberian weeping pea shrubs, peonies, hostas, lilies, alliums, etc.
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- All my potted tropical plants are now displayed all around the farm. These agaves are lined up on the Summer House terrace.
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- I always serve refreshments during my tours. It’s a nice break for my guests and a good time to answer any questions they may have about my farm.
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- For this gathering, I planned a number of small bites – all prepared by Chef Molly Wenk who has helped me with a number of other events and cooking shoots over the years. These are cheese straws. Perhaps you’ve made some – the recipe is in my 100th book, MARTHA: THE COOKBOOK.
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- I also served another personal favorite – potatoes with a dollop of crème fraîche and topped with caviar.
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- And, I served deviled eggs – also a recipe from MARTHA: THE COOKBOOK. And of course, eggs from my wonderful and productive hens.
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- We also ate bits of this Stilton cheese. Stilton is an English blue cheese, which has Penicillium roqueforti added to create the characteristic smell and taste. And believe me, this cheese is utterly fantastic with my Brown-Butter Shortbread Cookies, also in MARTHA: THE COOKBOOK.
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- It was so nice to meet everyone in the group and talk about our favorite topic, gardening.
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- After our refreshments, we walked down the carriage road. On the upright granite posts of my long and winding pergola, I planted clematis in a palette of blue-flowering cultivars. Every year they give a vivid floral display.
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- But here are the first blooms of the next pergola transformation. Soon this pergola garden will be filled with gorgeous orange tiger lilies.
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- After the pergola – the pool. Here, the group learned about the staddle stones at the far end, which were originally used in the 17th and 18th centuries as support bases for granaries, hayricks, and game larders. They typically looked like giant stone mushrooms, but mine are square – a more rare and unique version.
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- And finally a stroll down the Boxwood Allée before leaving. It was a fun tour with a very fun, enthusiastic, and curious group of dedicated gardeners. Happy first weekend of summer.
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