Over the past few years there’s no doubt that new gardeners have been budding across the country, having discovered their love for gardening during the numerous lockdowns we faced.
One such garden that continues to amaze are the Grade II-listed 8-acre ground that surround Deal’s own Walmer Castle, managed by Head Gardener Philip Oostenbrink and his dedicated team of four.
We caught up with Philip to find out more about the extensive work that goes into keeping the gardens pristine and what projects local readers and volunteers might be able to get involved in.
Philip has been the Head Gardener at Walmer Castle since June 2020, having moved from his five-and-a-half year long post at Canterbury Cathedral and explained that gardening has always been in his blood: “I’ve never even considered anything else, my grandmother was a keen gardener, and my father and uncle were keen gardeners too.
“One of my neighbours was a Head Gardener of a hospital, we’ve just always had gardens and I’ve always been obsessed with plants, I think that’s the main thing; I enjoy planting up things, growing and collecting plants.”
Philip’s journey actually started at a horticultural college in the Netherlands, before moving onto higher education and becoming a teacher of horticulture at a secondary school where he remained for eight-and-a-half years before moving to the UK in 2008 and becoming a self-employed gardener.
Prior to starting his work as Head Gardener in June 2020, Philip also started working on his newly released book ‘The Jungle Garden’ which he spoke to us about explaining: “It’s called the Jungle Garden and it’s a theme I really want to incorporate in the dry moat at Walmer.
“It’s about plants with a great jungle feel, this dense growth, big leaves, diversity of colours with different shades and to really get this dense effect in the existing borders around the castle in the moat. I’ve started creating this jungle garden, but that’s what the book is about, how to combine foliage with loads of different examples of jungle gardens.
“The moat was one of the reasons I really wanted the job, it was very underused and I really want to spend more time and energy on that.”
Philip explained that a senior gardener from his team of four has been digging up the moat and it’s now ready to be replanted and, although it hasn’t been replanted yet, it has already seen an improvement.
Although Philip still gets his hands muddy, he explains that around 50-75% of his day is taken up with admin work, and that his team of four can make decisions on what their designated area needs and his role entails overseeing larger projects, such as the moat and reinstating the original plan to the Queen’s Mother Garden, whilst trying to steer the garden where himself and English Heritage want the garden to go.