Out of a jam
Not one to give up in the face of adversity, tough clay soil didn’t put Judy Farncombe off growing her own produce and making fruity wonders for her whole family
Judy Farncombe was always a fan of growing lots of different types of fruit and flowers at her home in Surrey. However, when moving home in 1993, she discovered that she would have to become a rose fanatic – and quickly – as the sticky clay soil was good for little else. Her garden now abounds with roses bushes, roses climbing up trees and trained against walls.
“Clay can be a dispiriting growing medium,” sighs Judy. “We can also grow day lilies; and lots of fruit, both hard and soft, thrives in clay though. So those walls not covered with roses now have grapevines on them; we have a fruit cage with red and blackcurrants, two miniature cherry trees and one miniature plum tree (newly planted). There are also fruit trees outside the cage: one eating apple (James Grieves), a cooking apple tree and four pear cordons.”
Blackthorn trees also lean over her wall from the neighbour’s garden, and lend themselves to the creation of sloe gin – “my mother-in-law’s favourite tipple,” grins Judy.
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