Privet And Confidential

Dahlia Labour

2012-02-26T09:10:00.000Z

A very quiet garden awaited us on Saturday, no lumbering Bisto, manic Shandy, or laconic Giles, just us three girls, the backbone of the work force! It was time to pot up the dahlia tubers, a boring and time consuming job but made bearable by our companionship. I often think we are like modern land army girls, we work hard but have a lot of laughs along the way. We had the task completed by lunchtime and when Lady Halena came along later she counted the pots at 192 and calculated it would have taken a single worker ten hours to achieve. There's a lot to be said for girl power!

"Honest good humour is the oil and the wine of a merry meeting, and there is no jovial companionship equal to that where the jokes are rather small and laughter abundant" Washington Irving.

The Shed

2012-02-24T07:53:00.000Z

I finally got around to sorting out the shed on Thursday, no longer will it be a place where unwanted things end up, it is now an organised and functional space. Anything not garden related has been banished to the black hole of Calclutter under the stairs or been disposed of altogether. Actually I had a stroke of luck as I'd just piled everything up at the end of the drive for a future tip run when there was a knock on the door. It was a very well spoken young man asking if we intended to dispose of the pile? He ended up taking the lot including the old guinea pig hutch, three rusty chairs and the old flymo, result! Next I planted my shallots, after careful research I discovered that all the books contradict themselves about how far apart they should go, so I started with the largest spacing and when that resulted in only half the bag being used I decided to squeeze in a few more. Heaven knows what sizes I'll end up with, but nothing ventured nothing gained!
"Cleanliness and order are not matters of instinct, they are matters of education, and like most things you must cultivate a taste for them" Benjamin Disraeli.

Today is a very special day as my parents celebrate their golden wedding anniversary, congratulations Mum and Dad, I hope you have a wonderful day.
"Love is something eternal, the aspect may change, but not the essence" Vincent Van Gogh.

BEFORE

AFTER

Excitement

2012-02-23T07:59:00.003Z

Wind and rain together are my least favourite weather and yesterday was an especially disgusting form of both. When that fine rain gets carried relentlessly by a steady breeze you might as well step fully clothed into the shower, so I cancelled Spofforth and gave the gardening day up as a bad job. Instead I went to the opticians to make a contact lens fitting appointment, now that might not sound very thrilling but it will save me the constant irritation of having my glasses swing off the bridge of my nose when I'm digging! What is thrilling however is an invitation I received whilst at college on Tuesday, it seems my pals have a spare place in their car when they go to the Chelsea flower show in May and they've asked me if I would like to fill it, would I ever! I've always wanted to visit so I leapt at the chance, I'd better start saving up now!
"I live a day at a time. Each day I look for a kernel of excitement. In the morning I say "what is my exciting thing for today?" Then I live the day" Barbara Jordan.

Shrubbery Studies

2012-02-22T07:57:00.000Z

Back to Harlow after half term we were a somewhat depleted class, only seven of us and our tutor Richard, so we pushed the tables together and immersed ourselves in protected cultivation, that's greenhouses to you and I! I hadn't realised how complicated glass house growing could be, getting it right is rather hit and miss, whereas getting it wrong seems to be remarkably easy. I'm beginning to reconsider my wish to own one as they are pricey and very high maint! The afternoon lesson was straight forward, all about shrubs-the definition of which is a multi-stemmed woody perennial which can be deciduous or evergreen, so you can imagine the scope is enormous. To help us identify types and pruning methods we took a stroll around the gardens, but to be honest I find shrubs a bit dull so was much more taken with the irises brightening up the February beds. There just happens to be a small exhibition of botanical art in the foyer of the learning centre where I spotted a fine picture of the very flowers I'd been admiring moments before, so I thought I'd let you compare them too.
"The February sunshine steeps your boughs and tints the buds and swells the leaves within" William C Bryant.

The Old Tennis Court

2012-02-21T07:38:00.000Z

Monday was a day composed of lots of finishing up jobs, like almost all of February that had gone before amalgamated into seven hours. A half hour of pruning the peach trees was followed by yet more tree planting and tractor driving practise. We trooped down to the old tennis court to plant six walnut trees, I'd not been there before and found it a somewhat desolate place with weeds growing through the old court surface, that is where I took the pictures of the old urns that top the walls. Hopefully when Giles has finished the new planting scheme it will be transformed into a nut walk, but that is for future generations to see. He says that in its hey-day it would have been quite a status symbol complete with a revolving summer house to follow the path of the sun, but now it is a bit melancholy and not somewhere I would like work alone. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was haunted like the big house and imagine the ghostly echo of tennis balls reverberating off the walls when no one is around!

"The lawn is pressed by unseen feet, and ghosts return gently at twilight, gently go at dawn, the sad intangible who grieve and yearn" T S Eliot.

A Fear Overcome

2012-02-19T08:34:00.000Z

Every day at Norton Conyers is a remarkable experience but Saturday turned out to be more so than usual. We started with a lesson in how to service the tractor by changing the oil and fuel filters, not something I would normally find enthralling given my aversion to all things mechanical but bizarrely I found it very interesting. The beast being duly looked after we loaded it up with large bags of sapling trees, stakes, guards and tools and set off to plant them in the woods, the only thing was I had to drive! Now I haven't been behind the wheel for over ten years, and never that of a tractor, I've often wondered if I would ever drive again but I managed, and more to the point I absolutely loved it! So I've been on cloud nine ever since and despite having 180 trees to plant the rest of the working day flew by. Come the summer I will be zooming around the estate grass cutting every week, there's no stopping me now!
"Many of our fears are tissue paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them" Brendan Francis

view over the ha-ha

snowdrop carpet in the wild wood

A little last minute instruction..........

.........and away I go!

Don't forget to click on the photos in order to see them displayed in picture box.

Asset Redistribution

2012-02-15T08:37:00.001Z

The schools are off for half term this week, so no college yesterday, just the joy of a trip to the opticians with the children, also no Spofforth today as I'm taking the teenager shopping in Leeds. That will no doubt hurt my wallet, but I suppose I mustn't grumble having spent all last months training allowance on a new compost bin. Here it is in all its glory, I hope my little garden can provide enough green waste to fuel it. I disposed of the plastic darlek in time honoured tradition by placing it at the bottom of the drive with a free to good home sign sellotaped to the lid. It had gone by the time we got back from town, it's amazing the quantity of junk we've off loaded in the same way, saving us inconvenient trips to the tip, just the old guinea pig hutch to go now! Due to curtailed gardening activities this week I'm not sure if I'll blog anymore, but keep your eyes peeled in case something interesting occurs, if not I'll be back on Monday.

"You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give" Kahlil Gibran

NFU DON'T BRING ME FLOWERS..........

2012-02-14T08:01:00.000Z

Well I'm all bonfired out, if I were a boy scout I would have earned my fire making badge ten times over by now. Yesterday was our last day working in the woods and I'm not sorry, it was fun at first but after 25 hours of lumber-jacking, singed eyelashes, eyebrows and hair it's definitely time for a change! At least it was a much nicer day with the countryside looking vibrant again after casting off its icy drabness. Today of course is Valentine's day, that eagerly awaited date in any romantics calendar, it's a good job romantic is an adjective not often heard in this household as Dave is away talking to a load of hairy farmers. No candle lit supper for us thanks to the NFU, just a bleary eyed crumpled Nogger arriving home at 10.30pm, thanks a bunch you guys I reckon you owe me one!

"Who, being loved, is poor?" Oscar Wilde

Meet The Dogs

2012-02-12T09:42:00.000Z

It was a relentless minus five degrees as we started work at NC, so cold it was hard to strike a match to get the fire going, next time I shall bring a fire lighter-cheating I know but we will be warm a bit quicker! I thought it was about time that I introduced a very important member of the team, Bisto, he is a rather portly and aged chocolate Labrador and truth to tell he doesn't smell that great most days, but he takes his role as garden dog very seriously. Imagine his chagrin on Saturday morning as Giles introduced us to his new dog, Shandy, a spritely twelve year old black patterdale terrier inherited from his sadly deceased father only recently. Coming from an elderly owners home, that small dog must have thought she'd died and gone to heaven when introduced to Norton Conyers. Within the first five minutes of being shown the wood she'd flushed out a rabbit and the look on her face was one of pure triumph, that look continued at lunchtime when having ousted Bisto from his customary sleeping blanket she managed to look as though she'd been a garden dog all her life! The look on Bisto's face however was so mournful that I swear he would have been crying if dogs could form tears, Giles stepped in and spreading the blanket out wide made sure there was room for both. I think we are all in for some fun and games with that little dog around and she may even reduce the gardens rabbit population.
"The greatest love is a mothers, then a dogs, then a sweethearts" Polish Proverb

Plenty To Look Forward To

2012-02-10T07:56:00.000Z

Yesterday afternoon was fit for neither man nor beast and I don't think it's due to improve next week, freezing rain that was a new one on me! There is no gardening to be done when the weather is as foul as that, consequently I don't have a lot to tell you about today. Instead I thought I'd share with you the things I've got to look forward to when spring finally breaks. Top of the list is filling up my smart new compost bins, custom built by Mark and Lisa of Greengate Gardening Knaresborough 01423 541687, they are really nice chaps and have done a smashing job, picture to follow when I've tidied up a bit! Then in early March I'm attending a grafting course with the Northern Fruit Group and hope to come away with a couple of heritage apple trees for the back garden. April brings the willow weaving course where I will make a wigwam for my french beans to grow up and then it is Harrogate spring flower show. So maybe I should be grateful for some quiet times now!
"Nobody gets to live life backwards. Look ahead, that is where your future lies" Ann Landers

Winter Reflections

2012-02-09T07:32:00.001Z

As the garden in Spofforth is still under snow I had an unexpected day off on Wednesday, a luxury which bought me an hour back in bed after I'd seen the children off to school. It was also a pleasure to have a spare five minutes to watch the garden birds, although they are very hungry they seem to delight most in having a good drink of clean water in this snowy weather, it reminds me why I bother to defrost it every morning at six o'clock! As I have a little more time I thought I'd compile another slide show of all the winter scenes I've captured recently. Do let me know what you think to them and the blog- my e-mail address is ali@privetandconfidential.com

View Slideshow (Opens in a new window, then hit refresh if slideshow doesn't start automatically).

"Of winter's lifeless world each tree now seems a perfect part; Yet each one holds summer's secret deep down within its heart" Charles G Stater.

A Walk In The Park

2012-02-08T07:26:00.000Z

Just when we thought the RHS course was getting easier, having been lulled into a false sense of security by familiar terms like propagation, Richard our tutor hit us with a really intensive morning full of phrases and techniques we hadn't come across. I mean we've all heard of leaf cuttings before but little did we know there are petiole, lamina, leaf chevrons and squares to contend with, and we have to name examples in Latin for each method. Root cuttings, bulb scales and five different types of layering were next, followed by the piece de resistance grafting and budding with appropriate root stocks to memorise! It made the afternoon session on trees look like a walk in the park, which incidentally is what we all needed at lunch time to clear our heads. Thank goodness it's half term next week, chance to recharge our batteries or catch up with homework!
"Awake thou wintry earth, fling off thy sadness! Fair vernal flowers laugh forth your ancient gladness! Thomas Blackburn.

Rabbit Rave Up

2012-02-07T07:42:00.000Z

The city of Ripon was in festive mood on Monday morning, despite the snowy conditions over the weekend everyone had been hard at work decorating the streets with Union Jack bunting for the Queen's 60 year ascension day, they were also ringing the cathedral bells every hour to celebrate. They weren't the only ones having a party as we discovered when we arrived at NC, it soon became apparent that our little Bugs has invited an awful lot of his friends to join him, there were rabbit tracks all over the garden, far too many for a single bun. The little devils had been having a smashing time nibbling the unguarded apple trees, it was a good job the sweet williams have a fence around them as they've worn a track right around the outside trying to get in. I feel something more forceful will be needed to sort this problem out now. We went back into the woods for the whole day again, logging, chopping, sawing and feeding the the same bonfire that we'd started on Saturday, it was still alight! All in all a fairly exhausting day but working in the sunshine and snow was fun, however I don't think I've ever been so dirty, it was a wonder they let me on the bus to go home!
"In the spring at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt" Margaret Atwood.

Creature Comforts

2012-02-05T08:58:00.000Z

It was with a certain amount of trepidation that I made my way to NC on Saturday morning, it was well documented that heavy snow was expected in the afternoon so I'd made arrangements for Dave to pick me up at 1pm, hopefully before the white stuff really got going. It was another challenging day for being a gardener, bitterly cold with no hope of putting spade to soil so we retreated into the woods to attend to some forestry work. The boys had been hard at work the previous week felling dead trees and overhanging branches so there was plenty of tidying up to do, Giles instructed us to gather up all the brush and make tidy piles for the small creatures of the forest to use for hibernating or nesting. Then we lit a small fire to keep the chill off, I love fires there's something so primordial about them but I think I got a bit close as my eyebrows felt distinctly crispy later on! The morning wound on as we happily worked with no sign of the predicted snow, I was beginning to feel a little bit foolish as 1pm approached and the others were starting to pull my leg, I think they thought I just fancied an afternoon off, but at last, five minutes before Dave was due it finally started to snow, so feeling somewhat vindicated I left them to it and retreated home to some creature comforts of my own. I'm sure the others wouldn't have lingered long either once the big snowflakes started falling, it just remains to be seen whether it is worth going in on Monday, if the snow is still lying there will be little to be done.
"May you always have walls for the wind, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you and all your heart might desire" Irish Blessing.

Snow Business

2012-02-03T07:55:00.000Z

Everyone is anticipating the big snow event tomorrow, will it actually happen this time? I for one hope not as I'll be gardening up at Norton Conyers, on the one hand it would be lovely to see the place during a white out but not so lovely to get stranded there. I've told Dave to keep a watchful eye on things and if it looks like turning problematic he is to come and get me. Looks like yesterdays Candlemas prediction is about to ring true! Not a lot to report on today, our walk was unremarkable which was just as well because I forgot my camera, it was very cold but the one advantage of that is the enormous amount of mud we normally encounter was rock hard. Today's picture is of hazel catkins in Di's orchard, I'm rather pleased with it, I may be sharing some snowy shots with you come Monday. Have a good and safe weekend everyone and if it does snow make sure you get out there and enjoy it!
"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing,wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating, there really is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather" John Ruskin

It's Groundhog Day!

2012-02-02T08:05:00.000Z

I think we managed a top temperature of 3 degrees yesterday and Diana and I found it hard to get going, but we pushed on with some more pruning in the orchard. The first to go under the knife was the beauty bush Kolkwitzia amabilis which had become a tangle of peeling stems, it was quite a battle to cut out the oldest and extract them from the others, Diana says it will be worth seeing in the spring when its blossom lives up to its common name. How eager I am to see all these dead twigs turn into something identifiable! A couple of crab apples were given a trim next, fairly routine stuff really, just cutting the vigorous new growth back by about two thirds, making a slanting cut away from the the chosen out-ward facing bud so that the water drips away from the growth point protecting it from rot. By then Di was getting cold and as she says there is still plenty of time to attend to the other trees so we retired indoors for an early lunch, that enabled me to sneak off early and get some more homework done, no rest for the wicked! Today is Candlemas day, in Christianity this signifies the presentation of Jesus at the temple, in British folklore it was the day that all Christmas decorations were traditionally removed from the house (Imagine coping with the tree that long!), and it is used as a weather prediction day, what else! We are now half way between the solstice and the equinox also. In the good old US of A it is groundhog day which pretty much amounts to the same thing, if said critter pokes his nose out of his burrow, doesn't like the look of the weather and goes back in watch out!
If Candlemas day is clear and bright
winter will have another bite.
If Candlemas day brings cloud and rain

winter is gone and will not come again.

Miracles Do Happen

2012-02-01T07:57:00.000Z

Well miracles really do happen, we've seen the back of another January and this one without the awful weather that the press have been bleating on about, but more exciting than that, they've fixed the heating in our classroom! I think they finally took the hint when we were all sat in our coats last week, anyway the engineer was called and he expected to be there for five minutes but ended up taking all day to correct it, the only problem now is that the ventilation is rather noisy, but we feel it would be churlish to mention it at this point! It's a lot easier to stay focused when you are warm and as the day's lesson on taking cuttings was something we were all fairly familiar with the morning flew by. Back to the dreaded lawns in the afternoon and even that was more interesting as we focused on pests and diseases and wildflower meadows, much more my bag. So I'm feeling a happier bunny in general this week, February admittedly is not a very inspiring month but at least it's short and the days are lengthening more and more, the earth is awakening again!
Pics-Rain spattered euphorbias and fantastic new willow sculpture at Harlow Carr.

"Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle.....a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl. And the anticipation nurtures our dream". Barbara Winkler

Thankful For Small Mercies

2012-01-31T07:31:00.000Z

Today is the last day of January, Hooray! I can't believe I've been working at Norton Conyers for four months already, however I've got a feeling that our run of good weather luck is about to end. Monday was thankfully dry but very damp and chilly and as we were attending to the sort of jobs that aren't as active and warming as some, we were soon perished. Pruning apple trees requires some thought and a lot of stopping and standing back to see where you've missed, I was so cold I was beginning to wish we were doing some digging! If I thought that was bad the afternoon brought a harder task, it was time to tackle the climbing roses, not the easiest job teetering six foot up a ladder trying to juggle hammer, nails, string, and secateurs whilst reaching above and to the side, knees knocking with height discomfort, thank goodness it's only done once a year!

"The unthankful heart discovers no mercies, but let the thankful heart sweep through the day, and as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!" Henry Ward Beecher.

A Horse With No Name

2012-01-29T08:05:00.002Z

I've spoken before about NC being enchanted, but even I had to do a double take when we arrived on Saturday, as standing by the entrance to the south walk was a white horse stood motionless in the earl morning sunshine. Alison and I couldn't resist a closer look so we went to stroke him on the nose out of curiosity, he wore no bridle and was very dirty but seemed calm and friendly, what we hadn't bargained for was him following us into the garden! In the end Derek popped him into the paddock where he appeared to be very comfortable, he almost looks like he's smiling on the photo. Then the jungle drums started to beat as all sorts of people came to see if they knew who he belonged to, all day they came and went but no one claimed him. Eventually it was concluded that he had been turned out and abandoned poor thing, how awful to be a horse that nobody wants, but unfortunately it is becoming more common as the recession bites. We gave him an apple and a bucket of water whilst pondering what would become of him, then Lady Halena got in touch with a niece who has some stables and it has been decided that he shall go there on Sunday, probably for keeps. I do hope everything works out for him as he is such a lovely friendly beast, I've nicknamed him Norton, so fingers crossed for a happy ending. By the way we did do some gardening but the horse story was much more interesting to blog about!
"A dog looks up to a man, a cat looks down on a man, but a patient horse looks man in the eye and sees him as an equal" Winston Churchill.

Waiting Game

2012-01-27T08:13:00.000Z

I was sitting in the kitchen blogging yesterday morning, not having poked my nose outside yet it still being pitch black, the weather forecaster on the radio was painting a bleak picture so I didn't hurry with only the prospect of more housework looming. Surprisingly though by the time I was showered and dressed it was glorious and sunny, so ditching all thoughts of tidying the house Chum and I took our walk and I spent the next few hours in my own garden, when was the last time that happened? I cut back all the soggy and dead plant matter and even managed to dig over the new raised beds, I'm hoping that when the new compost bin goes in there will be plenty of well rotted stuff at the bottom of the old one to mulch everything with. I can't wait to see the back of the plastic darlek, you can't get in to the thing to turn it, I haven't touched it for three years so there's definitely black gold potential. Everything now looks tidy and any over-wintering insects have only been relocated to the heap, now it's time to play the waiting game, this year I must resist the temptation to start sowing too early again!
"To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves" Mahatma Ghandi

A Sense Of Usefulness

2012-01-26T07:18:00.000Z

The ground was wonderfully soft and friable yesterday, so it was the ideal time to turn the compost heap and mulch the raised vegetable beds with this best of soil conditioners. I was more than happy to shoulder the lions share of shovelling and felt a sense of achievement when the job was completed, Diana was thrilled as she admitted it would have taken her about four days to do it alone, still not bad for eighty! Next I dug over a bed that had become over-run with mint, at least it had shallow roots and was easy to pull up, but I bet I've missed some and the damn stuff will be back in the spring if we don't apply some glyphosate. Finally Diana was struggling to remove some very deep caper spurge roots so I flexed my muscles again and managed to dig them out, I felt that I'd been of some real use to her for once. The vegetable beds are now ready for planting up in the spring, I wish my own garden was in such good order, I haven't even started to cut it back yet and there are loads of plants to be divided and moved, just my luck that on my spare day off the weather is abysmal again, I guess I'll get caught up eventually!

"The purpose of life is not to be happy, but to matter, to be productive. to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all" Leo Rosten.( and thereby you gain happiness I think!)

Tuesday Tedium

2012-01-25T07:37:00.000Z

It was a distinctly dull and dreary Tuesday up at Harlow Carr, the rain beat relentlessly at the windows as we started with propagation and seed sowing techniques, spring and new plant life seemed a very long way off indeed. I wouldn't say the topic wasn't interesting just a bit humdrum and mostly common sense, but the RHS are sticklers for stating the obvious so we must learn to do the same. By lunch time we were all frozen as usual but luckily I'd brought in home made soup which hit the spot, sadly any hopes of a pleasant half hour browsing in the bookshop were dashed as it was shut. The afternoon deteriorated further as we started learning about lawns, that was indeed tedious and I'm wondering if I could risk not studying it too closely and just hope it doesn't come up in the exam? All in all a pig of a day with a dodgy car and cranky teenagers too-oh well the only way is up!
"Having decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labour is immense" Arthur Helps
P.S Happy Burn's night to all our Scottish friends
"Gi'e me a spark o' natures fire that's a' the learning I desire" Robert Burns.

Tree Knowledge

2012-01-24T07:39:00.005Z

In a change from the usual routine of getting stuck straight in on Monday morning, Giles, Alison, Nikki and I went for a walk in the woods. Giles has been called away for a few days on family business so he wanted to show us where to plant the remaining hornbeam saplings, and give us a list as long as his arm of other jobs to do whilst he is away! At this point it is interesting to note that all the new trees and shrubs I've mentioned lately are bought with money made from selling logs produced from dead and felled trees on the estate, so it's rather fitting that many of the saplings are planted back into the woods ensuring that there will be magnificent trees for future generations. It was another beautiful morning, almost spring like again with the snowdrops now smothering the woodland floor. As we wandered the conversation turned into a game of ' name that tree', a talent that I'm spectacularly lacking in, I find it difficult enough to do it when they are in leaf let alone in January, I think I will have to do some swatting up if I hope to impress him upon his return. There is no need to embellish upon the days activities any further, just imagine us girls with a wheelbarrow overflowing with trees, spades, stakes and deer guards and you'll get the picture, I'm beginning to be a dab hand at this tree planting lark! the one in today's lower picture is a walnut by the way.
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of ones ignorance" Confusius.

Bugs Is Back

2012-01-22T09:00:00.000Z

We were a woman down on Saturday but the planting continued apace in sunny but blustery conditions at NC. Fagus slyvatica 'Heterophylla, the common beech, Prunus Ttaihaku' the great white cherry, Prunus 'Kursor' with pink blossom, Labernum x watereri 'Vossii', Cornus mas 'Jelico' and finally seventy canes of raspberry Tulameen, phew! The highlight of the day had to be Giles' encounter with the rabbit though, despite us all traipsing noisily through the garden since early morning we hadn't seen hide nor hare of it until it leaped up right in front of his nose and made a quick getaway straight through his legs to the sanctuary of the yew hedge. We must have walked past him fifty times, but sly old Brer kept his head down, of course we all fell about laughing at the expression on Giles' face, I'm getting rather fond of old Bugs but I feel he may be on borrowed time now. Some pictures today of the small beauties that really stand out at this time of the year when the earth is largely barren.
"The most wasted of all days is that in which we have not laughed"
Nicholas Chamfort

Friday Miscellany

2012-01-20T11:03:00.000Z

Not a lot to remark upon today I'm afraid due to the inordinate amount of dratted housework I had to plough through yesterday, I decided to get it all done in one fell swoop in the hope that I could spend my remaining free hours doing something useful, no doubt they will be taken up with homework and research but I don't really mind, it's not as if I'm missing out on good gardening weather. So this post is basically a few photos taken last Sunday when Dave, Chumdog and I took a lovely crisp walk along Abbey Road in Knaresborough, we came across these stunning wood sculptures.
Hope to be more entertaining on Monday!
"Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday" Anon.

Thorn In My Side

2012-01-19T07:42:00.000Z

It's been a thorny old week here on Privet and Confidential, some times things just work out that way. Not that it was Diana's intention to start winter pruning it's just that despite the temperature having risen by about ten degrees the ground was still rock solid and you'd have needed a pick axe to turn the compost heap. We wandered down to the orchard to look at the plants and shrubs that edge the boundaries and tidy them up as necessary, that's when I saw them, no ordinary brambles these but cultivated blackberries Rubus fructicosus 'Russian Giant' with thorns of an appropriate gargantuan size. We wrestled with the wretched things all morning until the old stems had been cut out. I was mightily glad I'd decided to wear my wax jacket that morning as nothing gets through that, but my jeans weren't much protection as I noticed in the bath later on, I'm beginning to look like a pin cushion!

"Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know of no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes the greater is their power to to harm us" Voltaire

Horticultural Highs And Lows

2012-01-18T08:11:00.000Z

Tuesday was a most unremarkable day, just about everything having returned to its normal pattern. Back at Harlow Carr the gardens looked spectacular under their drapery of severe frost, I would much rather have wandered through them than sit through another lesson on fertilisers, more chemistry than horticulture. Still things perked up a bit in the afternoon as we discussed alpines, and with a superb example of an alpine house on site, we took a mini field trip to gaze upon the plants that five minutes earlier had just been names in a text book. The art is all very admiral I'm sure, but to be honest all the tweaking and preening involved is so very Victorian, all very well if you are retired but too time consuming for your average jobbing gardener and don't get me started on auricular theatres! We are moving on again next week to propagation, now there's something more practical to get our teeth into but sadly also lawns, or should that be yawns?
"A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule" Michael pollan

" The least of the work of learning is done in the classroom" Thomas Merton

Goosegogs

2012-01-17T07:38:00.000Z

I never did like gooseberries that much and after yesterday I like them even less, the vicious thorny little *****! My only culinary memory is of school dinner gooseberry pie but Nikki and Alison assure me that the pain is worth it and that these venerable bushes produce the best fruit ever, so maybe I shall have to give them another go come summer. Despite having thorn proof gloves on the evil points still found their way through the odd vulnerable spot and in particular my wrists have suffered, now I know why some gardeners wear gauntlets. The thing with pruning the awful beasties is that you've got to thin out the crown to have a hope of being able to pick the fruit later on, so you have to fight your way in, it makes sense that you find babies under gooseberry bushes as no harm would come to anything protected by those weapons! No hope of any planting as the frost gets deeper and deeper but each and every weed has been turned into a thing of beauty.

"Teachers who inspire know that teaching is like cultivating a garden, and those who would have nothing to do with thorns must never attempt to gather flowers" Anon.
Rest in peace Muffy guinea pig-last of the smalls.

The Joy Of Planting

2012-01-16T06:49:00.000Z

The hardest frost of the winter so far met my eyes at 6am on Saturday so I knew it would be an achingly cold start and an achingly beautiful day at NC. There's not a lot you can do when the ground is like concrete so we turned our attention to some tree maintenance in Crow Wood, although ivy is wonderful for wildlife if it takes hold of a tree it increases its bulk making it more likely to fall victim to high winds, so we removed what we could, it certainly helped us to warm up. By the time we had finished the sun had melted some of the frost sufficiently for us to plant some new specimens around the garden, four plums, Coe's golden drop, president, opal and monsieur hatif, two apricots, hongoarse and tomcot and two apples, howgate wonder and Bleinheim orange. Then thankfully it was time for lunch. I eat like a horse when I'm gardening! Back to the planting afterwards with thirteen whitecurrants white grape, twenty redcurrants rotet, and finally to finish the day forty three Carpinus betulus ,hornbeam to form a new hedge! Quiet a busy day but a real pleasure to be planting again instead of ripping up dead things and tidying up, soon we will be flat out when spring pokes its nose into the garden.

"If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed, if in terms of ten years, plant a tree, if in terms of one hundred years, teach the people. Confucius.

The Book Worm

2012-01-13T07:54:00.000Z

I didn't get up to much yesterday, an hour of studying alpine plants for college, walking Chum of course and then quite a bit of snoozing on the sofa, well I do get up very early all week and have to catch up sometime! The most notable five minutes was spent ordering yet another book from Amazon, they are such incredible value compared to regular shops, much as I love our high street stores no one in their right mind wants to pay full price. I've ordered Sarah Raven's new book on wildflowers, a plush and mighty tome that should retail at £50.00 but I've paid £29.00 a real bargain, and the photography will be stunning. It will be of great help to me as a gardener as almost all of our cultivated plants were bred from native species and there is a section on them in the exam. We are also expected to remember the Latin names for common weeds, know thy enemy! Speaking of such I snapped this daisy Bellis perennis yesterday cheekily flowering in January, that's why weeds are king, they've adapted to make the most of any available growing time.

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends, they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors and the most patient of teachers" Charles W Eliot.

Moment Of Truth

2012-01-12T07:44:00.001Z

It was with a certain amount of trepidation that Diana and I approached the greenhouse yesterday morning, it was finally time to see if the cherry budding had been successful. Way back on the 24th August last year we had attached two new buds to each of eight root stocks, binding them tightly against the hosts phloem tissue in the hope that they would fuse together, now it was time to peel away the wrappings and reveal all. The first four buds had failed so there were long faces all round but after we uncovered them all we think four have taken on one rootstock each and the last has possibly both, of course only time will tell and now we must wait to see if new shoots emerge. Next we checked the stool bed which we had earthed up to produce new roots, this had gone well as the picture proves, each stem being cut off low down with a good portion of growth and them potted up, giving us seven new dwarfing apple root stocks which when grown on for a couple of years can in their turn become hosts to named varieties. It is a privilege to have this knowledge passed on to me and fascinating to experience each stage, the next being grafting which will start in about a month.
"Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success" Dale Carnegie.

All In The Worst Possible Taste

2012-01-11T07:43:00.000Z

We had a change of venue for our first day back at college, not the freezing cold classroom in the Bramall centre but the plush surroundings of Eunice's house with a blazing log fire to keep us warm. Harlow Carr was shut for essential electrical maintenance so Eunice had kindly put us up rather than missing the lesson, we certainly weren't complaining as along with the fire came tea, coffee, home made cakes and cheese and biscuits! So comfortably ensconced we rattled through a rather tedious morning of plant nutrition before starting bedding plants in the afternoon. This was much more fun as our brief was to design a public carpet bedding scheme in the worst possible taste, it being almost impossible to come up with something subtle. Here is our attempt in honour of the Olympics, we might even try selling it to Harrogate borough council!
The other picture is a tiny part of Eunice's huge garden, hush my green eyed monster!
"Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art".

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Enchanted Garden

2012-01-10T07:33:00.000Z

The weather at NC on Monday was astonishingly clement again, so much so that I'm beginning to wonder if the garden is enchanted. Since I started work there back in October we've only had one really unpleasant day and yesterday was certainly not it. There was something about the quality of the light that made me wish I was an artist, I just hope I've been able to capture something of the feeling on my little camera. Even five hours of shovelling and mulching compost was not enough to dampen our spirits and I think you'll agree it makes the borders look very smart. The last couple of hours were spent digging up and re-spacing a box hedge as Giles has extended the herb bed and we had to eek out the plants to cover the extra space, it looks a bit gappy at the moment but I'm sure when they start growing again the spaces will soon fill in. I learn the weather is turning cold again by the end of this week so we've done very well to have finished with the cutting back, we all wait with baited breath to see if work can continue a pace despite the newness of the year.
"The only words that ever satisfied me as describing nature are the terms used in fairy books, charm, spell,enchantment. They express the arbitrariness of the fact and its mystery" G K Chesterton.

Winter Beauties

2012-01-08T10:07:00.000Z

What a relief to return to the rhythm of the garden on Saturday, despite dreading the 6am rise I was still eager to resume normal life and interested to see if three weeks off would take its toll (I was fine). We were exceptionally lucky with the weather which was calm and sunny, the garden birds were singing their hearts out as if it was spring and it certainly felt so as we cleared the southern border. All the herbaceous cutting back has now been completed but there is still some more mulching to do, some hedge laying where the old shed stood and maybe some attention must be paid to the fruit bushes. When these small tasks have been attended to perhaps it will be time to think about some planting and propagating? But I expect I'm jumping the gun in my enthusiasm as I've a feeling we haven't seen the real winter yet, so I shall have to be patient a while longer. Despite it being the cruelest month there are still winter beauties to be found at NC so I'll leave you with a couple of pics- A gorgeous purple Hellebore x hybridus and Chimonanthus fragrans which might not look like much but smells heavenly.
"All human wisdom is summed up in two words-wait and hope" Alexander Dumas.

A Long Road Ahead

2012-01-06T12:09:00.000Z

How lovely it is to see the sun again this morning, it makes all the difference to my mood, or maybe it's just because the children are going back to school on Monday! There were plenty of signs of the recent winds on our walk today as you can see , the first interesting pictures I've taken for ages. Hopefully as I'm back at NC tomorrow there will be many more to come. I read with interest in the gardening column of Saturdays Telegraph that it takes at least eight years to become a proper gardener and then you can only expect a low wage that certainly doesn't reflect the amount of learning and experience gained , oh well I knew I wasn't in it for the money, only seven and a half years left to go!

"When the road ahead seems too long, look back to see how far you've come. For even if the hill before you is steep, the view gives you hope to finish the journey" Daniella Kessler

Tedious Thursday

2012-01-05T08:56:00.000Z

Some days just aren't worth getting out of bed for are they? Yesterday was a classic example, weather awful, more wind and rain, if it carries on like this I simply wont have a lawn left. Walk with Chum hideous, mud wind and rain, photo opportunities nil. The teenager was having a duvet day, enough said. The boy was given some lunch money and told to find somewhere less miserable to play. Ventured out just once in the afternoon as both children wanted their Christmas money out of the building society to squander, building society shut for unknown reason. Next stop Harlow Carr to drop off overdue dvds at their library, library shut even though the return date stated 3rd January. AAARRRGGGHHH! Retired to duvet in the lounge to await the return of spring.
"Rain and wind and wind and rain. Will the summer come again? Rain on houses , on the street, wetting all the peoples feet, though they run with might and main. Rain and wind and wind and rain"
Katherine Mansfield

Winter Wednesday

2012-01-04T09:18:00.000Z

Sorry the blogging has been a bit erratic of late but I find it difficult to summon up the energy when the children are under my feet. Yesterday saw the culmination of the festive season with a family meal out over in St Helens, that of course took up the whole day so no time for deep thought or gardening there. Today I should have been back at Spofforth but the weather has been so awful Diana and I decided to postpone, it's not a good idea to prune apple trees in high wind, someone might lose an eye! I will keep looking for good photo opportunities this week but even that is unlikely when taking Chumdog for a walk needs all my concentration just to stay on my feet what with gales and mud. Normal blogging activity will resume on Monday promise.
P.S Happy birthday Mum xxx
"The pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects it to change , the realist adjusts the sails"
William Arthur Ward

An Upward Turn

2012-01-02T10:42:00.000Z

With the passing of the old year I can feel an improvement in my mood, we are no longer on the slippery slope into winter darkness but are slowly inching toward light and spring. Just as I am one of the first to put up the Christmas decorations I am also the first to take them down which I did yesterday, it is always a cathartic feeling to strip the front room bare of all unnecessary clutter and get back to the business of growth and self improvement which comes with January. The two Christmas trees must now take their chances outside, they have come through their ordeal well and I must now hope they manage to acclimatise quickly before any really cold weather arrives. Elsewhere in the garden small signs of hope are beginning to emerge with every new bulb tip and the new seasons seed catalogues have started to plop onto the doormat with their promise of easily achievable horticultural glory, January is definitely the time for planning and dreaming.
"Oh wind, if winter comes can spring be far behind?" Percy Bysshe Shelley

New Years Eve Musings

2011-12-31T09:38:00.000Z

It's been a mild and blustery December, quite unlike the last few years of ice and snow, filthy weather really I much prefer it cold and crisp. The picture on the left is of the Roman god Janus who is always depicted with two faces, one looking back at the old year and the other toward the new. My year has certainly been an eventful one with many positive changes, i just hope I can sustain the momentum for 2012. Will my vegetable growing plans come to fruition? Will I pass my exams? And what will I do when my trainee ship ends? Only time will tell and I shall take you all along with me on the journey and keep you informed of my successes and inevitable failures! The last picture for this year is a hopeful December rainbow, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"For last years words belong to last years language, and next years words await another voice, and to make an end is to make a beginning" T.S.Eliot

Too Much Of A Good Thing

2011-12-29T09:44:00.000Z

I think it is true that the human condition is always one of dissatisfaction, I am myself a good example of that! Having become desperate for a change of routine before Christmas I can now think of no greater pleasure than escaping into the garden for a few hours of peace, a pity that the weather is so inclement and that there is still so much holiday to endure! Never mind, I have some excellent gardening books I received for Christmas that I can delve into and in the evenings Christmas university challenge and the fabulous adaptation of Great Expectations, where the beauty of Pip far exceeds that of Estella in my opinion! I'll leave you with a picture of my new gardening mug and as I'm not a tea or coffee drinker it is filled with wine! Note to self not to use so many exclamation marks in 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!

"He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool" Albert Camus

Happy Christmas Everyone

2011-12-23T07:42:00.000Z

Well I think I've finally finished the mad run up to the big day, we survived the Marks & Spencer scrum yesterday and I even found time to clean the kitchen. As usual I'm feeling like a wrung out rag with all the rushing around and am anticipating a few quiet days slumped on the sofa watching cheesy films. No gardening will be done, I shall not even read any gardening magazines and I certainly will not be reading through my study notes, although it would be a great time to catch up! All that remains is for me to say that I hope my readers from all corners of the globe have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous and peaceful new year. See you in 2012, but possibly before if my muse demands!
"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas time" Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Brennan

2011-12-22T08:13:00.002Z

Another sign that Dave and I are knocking on a bit is the Christmas present truce, it's nice to have reached the point in your relationship when you don't have to reaffirm your love for each other by buying expensive gifts. We have however treated ourselves to a new music system, it's called the Brennan JB7 and is about the size of a paperback book, this clever little machine stores all your cds and can play them back to you in a completely random pattern, it's so much fun to rediscover all your music again and you never know what's coming on next. The only drawback is that you have to feed all your cds in so it can store the data, so that's what I did yesterday in between making soup, listening to carols on classic FM and doing some more tapestry, very indoors and very domestic!
"My idea is that there is music in the air, music all around us, the world is full of it and you simply take as much as you require" Edward Elgar

Mr Forgetful

2011-12-21T07:50:00.000Z

The boy and teenager have finally broken up from school and they were back in the house for precisely five minutes before they started doing my head in! The boy in particular was requested to locate certain items to bring home from his first term at school, these being a full PE kit with one pair of football boots, one pair of trainers, gum shield and shin pads in a sports bag, two coats, one an extremely expensive superdry one and his only pair of glasses. Unsurprisingly none of them have materialised leaving him coat-less until the 9th of January, but at least he remembered to bring his secret Santa gifts home! I'm going to tough this one out and send him back bearing a letter requesting a full school search before I fork out anymore money, so it is entirely probable that the son will spend the whole of the spring term in detention. If only one could buy extra memory for children as you can for computers! Meanwhile the teenager is going out on her Christmas party which means I shall have to bite my tongue as she leaves wearing a dress which is far too short and heels that are far too high, I can hear the voice of my own dear mother saying the things that I now say to my daughter which must mean I'm now officially middle-aged! How long until term starts again?..............

"Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders" Friedrich Nietzche

Out With The Old

2011-12-20T07:19:00.000Z

Demolishing the old shed seemed to be a fitting way to end the gardening year at NC on Monday. Despite all rickety appearances whoever had built it many years ago had done so to make it last, so we found our work cut out as everything was securely nailed together. Much to my surprise I found that I had a talent for the crowbar and enjoyed prising the wooden boards apart-wanton destruction is fun! Sir James and Lady Halena came along to watch as Dvortek finally removed the last post to enthusiastic applause, then we all retired into the orangery for mince pies courtesy of the Grahams, all very festive. Clearing up continued afterwards in the pouring rain, not a very pleasant couple of hours but when it passed we pruned the redcurrant bushes and fed the debris into another of Derek's roaring bonfires, very welcome on a dreary day. When we all return in January a whole new gardening year awaits but until then we are all very glad of a rest.

"What is without periods of rest shall not endure" Ovid

Feathered Friends

2011-12-18T09:00:00.000Z

A hard frost on Sunday morning meant that the birds were more in evidence in my garden, the blackbird sits on the fence and waits for his breakfast whereas the robin and the wren venture a little closer to the back door, that probably means food is getting scarce. I put out as much food as I can but it is getting so expensive and the garden starlings get the lions share, I make up my own mixture of dried meal worms, suet, grain and peanut bits and hang plenty of fat balls from the lilac,luckily the starlings are messy eaters and enough falls to the floor for the ground feeders, the tits seem to manage even though the stinkers have learnt to feed from the hanger as well. Expensive it may be but watching them brings me a lot of pleasure and I'm hoping they will repay the favour come summer and protect my veggies from the voracious caterpillars!
"Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come"
Chinese proverb

Clutter Clear Out

2011-12-16T07:53:00.000Z

Slowly but surely I'm winning the housework battle, with more time on my hands at the moment the opportunity must be grasped firmly before we're all swept away by a tidal wave of stuff. Yesterday I tackled one of the most daunting areas, the cupboard under the stairs, also known as the black hole of Calcutta, or should that be clutter? Space had to be found for Dave's beloved tool box as he categorically refused to put it in the shed in case of rust, the only things going rusty in my opinion are Dave's DIY skills but sometimes it's better just to keep ones mouth shut! I decided to be ruthless and soon had a car load to take to the local tip, quite why I had felt it necessary to keep a million bags, the old stair-gate and two odd shoes I can't remember but it felt good to regain control, just the rest of the house to sort out before Christmas now!
"The more you have, the more you are occupied. The less you have , the more free you are"
Mother Teresa

Out Of Steam

2011-12-15T07:45:00.000Z

I have completely run out of gardening steam, Mother Nature really does know best and I will bow to her greater power, after all she doesn't let anything much grow in the depths of winter. I only went to Spofforth on Wednesday to see Diana and Brian and take them a little something for Christmas, we did venture outside for half an hour but the wind was bitterly cold with sleet showers so neither of us could sum up the energy for winter pruning, we retreated indoors to chat and eat hot home made soup. Now is definitely the time for hibernation and inside tasks, I picked up my tapestry the other day untouched since last March. So I'm declaring a gardening holiday, after NC on the 19th I shall not be working for three weeks, goodness only knows what I shall find to blog about!

"Winter is a time of promise because there is so little to do, or because you can now and then permit yourself the luxury of thinking so" Stanley Crawford

Festive Foliage Fun

2011-12-14T07:34:00.000Z

The last day of college for 2011 yesterday and we lethargically finished off soils, I don't think any ones heart was really into serious study after a long term, all our thoughts were turning to Christmas and a well earned rest. Lunchtime got us in the festive mood as everyone had brought in a dish, much nicer than the usual cardboard sandwiches! I cheated and bought a cake from Bettys, all good intentions of preparing smoked salmon and horseradish crackers having flown out the window when the school bus had failed to pick the kids up, the road had been closed for repair and some numpty hadn't arranged an alternative bus stop! Anyway the spread looked fabulous and was followed by Richard's fiendish Christmas quiz, lots of cheating and fierce competition, and finally Mark's 'shrub charades', attempting to mime Latin plant names, more exhausting than learning!
"No party is any fun unless seasoned with folly"
Desiderius Erasmus

Murder In The Paddock!

2011-12-13T07:06:00.000Z

There was no sign of the rabbit yesterday morning despite an enthusiastic beating around the garden walls, so we all turned our attention to other things. For Nicky, Alison and myself that meant oiling the benches with linseed, a pleasant task in the sunshine until Derek lit a bonfire which caused clouds of smoke! Dismantling ivy from the old shed which is to be demolished took up the rest of the morning, punctuated by a shocking act of nature witnessed by us all as a stoat took a rabbit in the paddock, amidst lots of squeals the tiny beast finished it off with alacrity but the victim was simply too big for it to move and it was still there when we left. Whether it was our own garden Bugs we can only speculate, but at least it didn't fall to Derek's gun a more fitting end I think.

Pics-the doomed shed, a pity it is to be dismantled but more weddings are being held in the garden and ultimately that means more money for improvements. All gardens no matter how old should have room to evolve.

"God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December"
James Matthew Barrie

A Feast For The Birds

2011-12-11T09:29:00.001Z

It was with some trepidation that I made my way to NC on Saturday, it was to be the first day that just Giles and I were gardening, the girls having gone on a flower sculpture course, pretty soon it will be like that all the time when Alison#1 leaves and Nikky returns to the nursery. It was a very cold morning and the garden was looking beautiful in its frosty white blanket but Giles took pity on me and gave me the peach house to clear out and mulch, a nice inside job until things warmed up a bit. It was delightful to look out and watch the antics of the birds, Giles had left the windfall apples for just such a morning and the field fares, red wings and blackbirds were tucking in with gusto. Next we ventured outside to move four vines, Vitis vinifera 'Purpurea' which we placed next to the apple store door and three others along the warmest south facing wall, in the hope of improving next years crop. The vegetable plot received our attention next getting a good weeding and some compost, the soil in there is beautiful and I can't wait to see what produce we can coax from it in 2012. And so four o' clock was upon us astonishingly quickly, proving that good honest toil passes the time best of anything!
"But what minutes! Count them by sensation and not by calendars and each moment is a day"
Benjamin Disraeli

Still Blowing A Hooley!

2011-12-09T06:34:00.001Z

Thursday was supposed to be WWAFAP (walkies with aunty Fran and Paddy) but having heard the forecast the day before I'd decided to cancel. This turned out to be the right decision as the morning dawned wet and windy with worse to come approaching midday. Chum and I took a desultory spin around the block for appearances sake and called it a day, he was still wet enough to need a good towelling but that's a good thing as he thinks it a marvellous game! Today's picture is of the miserable state of my garden, the lawn has turned into its usual winter quagmire and the new raised beds have been covered with bin bags held down with whatever pots came to hand, this is to suppress the weeds and discourage the pesky neighbourhood cats. It would be easy to be discouraged at this time of year as everything seems beyond redemption but inexorably the seasons will move forward and spring will return. Our yearly miracle!
"From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens-the garden outdoors, the garden of pots and bowls in the house, and the garden of the minds eye"
Katherine S White

Stormy Weather

2011-12-08T07:17:00.001Z

Chum and I set off with a jaunty step in the blinding winter sunshine on Wednesday morning, it was icily cold with a cutting northerly wind but I reckoned we would be OK for a shortish walk. However, as we came to the end of Knox mill lane I glanced over my shoulder and stared straight into the bruised blue-black face of a storm, it had blown up out of nowhere and in the mere ten minutes it took for us to walk home had deluged us with rain and sleet, Chum uncomplainingly accepted going home as a good decision! Mercifully there was no gardening for me that day so I settled myself into the kitchen with carols playing on the radio and contentedly wrapped Christmas presents for the rest of the morning. Sometimes there really is no better place to be than at home and as the forecast is pretty grim for the next couple of days I don't think I will be venturing far, here's hoping Saturday is more promising!
"Take long walks in stormy weather or through deep snows in the fields and woods, if you would keep your spirits up. Deal with brute nature" Henry David Thoreau

Winter Comes To Harlow

2011-12-07T07:24:00.001Z

It was only three weeks ago that we sat outside to eat our lunch at NC, how things have changed. Our college classroom, frigid at the best of times was like sitting in a deep freeze yesterday, as the morning wore on more and more people were slipping away to rescue their coats from the rack in the hope that warmth would be regained but to no avail, I was mightily glad I'd brought soup for lunch! Even so I still ventured outside at lunchtime and found it only marginally colder than inside but very pretty with the remnants of snow nestling in amongst the plants. Our afternoon session continued with hardy annuals, an ironic juxtaposition given that they are sunshine lovers, it was strange to be talking about sunflowers and campanulas given the outside scene arrayed before our eyes. There is only one more lesson now before we break up for Christmas and I must admit the prospect of some time off is very appealing!
"Winter came down to our home, quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow, and we, we were children once again"
Bill Morgan Jr

A very happy birthday to my dad and son George, xx

What's Up Doc?

2011-12-06T07:17:00.001Z

There's a rabbit in the garden, that's not a good thing when it's walled and grows vegetables, of course it must think it's wandered into Eden as we only work there two days per week and for the rest of the time he may do as he will! Anyway war has now been declared and the first hour of Monday morning saw us beating through the borders to flush him out for Derek's gun waiting on the lawn. Three times we spooked him and three times he got away, finally taking refuge in the massive yew hedge where no one will find him. So it remains at stalemate for the moment, rabbit 1, garden 0, I'm secretly rather pleased as I'm rather fond of the beasts, but watch this space! Excitement over for the day we set to work mulching the main border with home made compost, shovelling muck for six hours in the sleet, having lasted through that I'm now sure I can stay the distance!
"A sly rabbit will have three openings to its den" Chinese proverb

The North Wind Doth Blow

2011-12-04T08:45:00.001Z

Saturday was the worst morning yet as I made my way to NC, fond memories of lounging by the stove the previous evening lingered in my mind as I pulled on my waterproofs and left the house at 7.15am. Despite all the layers I was wearing, by the time I got to Ripon I was stone cold, and standing in the north wind waiting for my lift didn't raise my temperature any. But as ever hard work digging the main border soon warmed us up, even through the icy showers that frequently fell. To cheer myself up I teamed up with one of the garden robins, it comes as no surprise that they are Britain's favourite bird being cheery to look at, bold and intelligent. This one soon understood that I was throwing grubs in his direction and by the end of the afternoon he was brave enough to sit at my feet waiting for the next treat. I wonder if I can train him to eat out of my hand?
Today's pic- a cold but sunny winters day at NC.
"The north wind doth blow and we shall have snow, and what will the robin do then poor thing? He'll sit in a barn and keep himself warm and hide his head under his wing, poor thing"

16th century nursery rhyme.

Feeling Festive

2011-12-02T06:50:00.001Z

There was only one thing on my mind yesterday and that was the purchase of our Christmas tree, yes I know it's very early but I love the tree best of all else during the festive season. This year we've gone green, I binned the old fibre optic job last January as it had seen a number of Christmas's and developed a distinct kink at the top, now I've bought a lovely compact Serbian Spruce Picea omorika with roots, which I'm hoping will last us for many years, it also smells delicious. The teenager has a tiny Norway spruce Picea abies for her boudoir and is under strict instructions to draw her curtains every morning so it gets enough light, she may prefer to skulk in the dark but that's no good for a living plant!
"Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, how steadfast are your branches"
Anon

Lumber-Jill

2011-12-01T07:50:00.001Z

The pace of work continues to slow at Spofforth as both Diana and I struggle to find much enthusiasm for tasks as the year draws to its close. There are still many jobs to be done, but quite a long time in which to accomplish them, so we do as much as the weather will allow. Yesterday we removed the moss from the concrete path leading to the greenhouse, a job well done as Diana told me she had slipped and fallen because of it, luckily she was unharmed so we made sure it wouldn't happen again. That got us warmed up a bit and because the sun was out we decided to chop down an ailing mountain ash, Sorbus, although it had once been a lovely tree many branches were dead or dying and succumbing to coral spot. It was my first experience of lumber-jacking and quite good fun as Di has all the right equipment. Once that was down we gave some neighbouring Berberis bushes a good prune and heightened the crown of the holly tree , Ilex, all that chopping amounted to a fairly good potential bonfire and once we've pruned the apple trees we can look forward to a warming blaze on a cold and dull January morning.

"Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience" Ralph Waldo Emmerson
The picture on the left is the doomed tree, not huge I know but not bad to cut ones teeth on!

A Work In Progress

2011-11-30T07:34:00.001Z

Resuming where we left off last week with soils at college, had us all comparing our ph levels and soil texture on Tuesday. Mine being a comfortable loamy sand with a slightly alkaline ph, some others in the class were not so lucky, especially Judith who could have thrown a pot out of her heavy clay sample. I may have the smallest garden in the group but at least the soil is beautiful and stuffed with worms! In the afternoon we continued with plants and teamed up to plan a mixed border with the emphasis on the herbaceous planting. It is a very rough start as you can see, but with a little tweaking for homework we should be able to pull something workable out of it all!
Pics- Harlow Carr beginning to look very bleak.
"If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it" Anon

Rhythmic Gardening

2011-11-29T07:22:00.001Z

Sunday turned out to be a challenging sort of day, we ventured over the M62 to St Helens to see Dave's dad. Predictably the journey was fraught with difficulties, first the wind was strong and gusty causing low speed limits on the motorway, eventually resulting in an ominous looking queue, so we exited to take a short cut only to discover that road was also closed, we ended up in Wigan, so much for time saving! Anyway the upshot of it all was four and a half hours in the car to spend only two hours with George, still it was good to see him looking well. Therefore getting up at six on Monday morning was not a prospect I was looking forward to, but once at NC life and gardening resumed its stress less rhythm, reminding me just why I made the change of jobs in the first place. Progress is definitely being made as you can see from the pics, the peach house border is now finished and we've nearly cleared the main border, uncovering many fat buds as we go, promising a good show for spring.

"When we pay attention to natures music, we find that everything on the earth contributes to its harmony"

Hazrat Inayat Khan

Be It Ever So Humble

2011-11-27T08:23:00.001Z

The weather wasn't so good for gardening on Saturday but because I'd finally managed to buy some waterproof over-trousers I didn't give a fig, rain and wing hardly made me pause as I was toasty warm.
I also got a peak inside NC house as the Grahams needed some furniture moving around so Giles and I popped in to lend a hand. What a rambling old place it is, full of secrets waiting to be discovered, the walls are adorned with old pictures, many of them covered over for protection, but you still get glimpses of ancient Graham ancestors slumbering quietly within antique gilt frames. When compared to my own warm little house it makes me glad I don't have to live there! Gardening wise we tackled cutting back the main herbaceous border, which resulted in armfuls of stuff for the compost heap, that's me standing on top trying to squash it all down, imagine the amount of black gold that will come out of that!

"He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home"

Johann Wolfgang von Goeth

Winter Is Coming

2011-11-25T07:41:00.001Z

There is an air of scurrying about now as peoples thoughts turn towards Christmas, even down in the woods with Chum all the animals seem to be extra busy. The squirrels are almost as thick on the ground as the fallen leaves and so intent on filling their winter larders that Chum nearly managed to catch one, maybe they can feel the cold weather approaching at last. All things in my garden suddenly look dull and damp and I've had a disaster with my violas. Dead-heading them this morning they are in a pitiful state, eaten by slugs, covered in black spots and even infested with aphids. That's the last time I'll buy cheap punnets from B&Q, at the moment I don't think anyone would believe a student of horticulture lived here! Maybe they will revive a bit in the spring, and if they don't at least the bulbs will soon take over.

"And now when comes the calm and mild day, as still such days will come,
To call the squirrel and the bee from out their winter home,
When the sound of dropping nuts is heard, though all the trees are still,
And twinkle in the smokey light the waters of the rill,
The south wind searches for the flowers whose fragrance late he bore,
And sighs to find them in the wood no more.
William Cullen Bryant

Tree Of Life

2011-11-24T08:15:00.001Z

My education in fruit continued on Wednesday when it was time to clear the greenhouse for winter. The two figs, Brunswick and Brown Turkey had finally dropped their leaves so we could have a good tidying and pruning session. The Brunswick which is altogether a neater plant and best for the small garden needed little attention, but the Brown Turkey had burst its pot and proceeded to send new shoots everywhere, you could barely get in through the door, it was time to show it who was boss. I think you'll agree it looks much better. Figs are the earliest domesticated crop known to man and are thought to have been deliberately cultivated 1000 years before cereals, this is because some are parthenocarpic and do not need to be pollinated to produce fruit! After lunch we watched an extraordinary film about the symbiotic relationship between a tiny wasp and the sycamore fig in Africa,it was called the African Queen a natural world programme, I was amazed at the diversity of life just one tree supports. Sometimes it's such a privilege to gain an insight into nature.

Pics- Autumn at Spofforth, the Cotinus tree looking superb, and the Brown Turkey fig before and after.

"Train up your fig tree in the way it should go, and when you are old sit under the shade of it"
Charles Dickens

Two New Topics

2011-11-23T07:43:00.001Z

It seems we're not destined to return to our normal classroom at college just yet, the white board in there resolutely refused to function so we were moved into the smaller classroom next door. As it happens we all liked it much better, so there is talk of raising a petition to see if we can persuade the powers that be to lets us stay, I do hope so as it's much warmer! At last the dreaded botany and design parts of the course are over and we have had two new topics to contemplate, soil, a much broader subject than it sounds and at last some plants. Herbaceous perennials this week. with our homework being to come up with a list of at least 50 for various different seasons, aspects and soils, it will be good fun to trawl through my books to find them, so better get on!

Pics- More autumn colour from Harlow and my new friend, hoping for some Bettys crumbs no doubt!

"Art thou the bird whom man loves best, the pious bird with the scarlet breast, our little English Robin, the bird that comes about our doors when autumn winds are sobbing" William Wordsworth

Aromarama

2011-11-22T07:16:00.001Z

It was a day full of fragrance at NC on Monday as we set to mulching the peony border with shredded twigs. Standing on top of the warm decomposing pile we were bathed in aromatic steam from the eucalyptus wood, not quite as restful as a day at the spa but it smelt just as good! After lunch found us cutting back yet another herbaceous border, this one in front of the peach house and largely overtaken by giant bronze fennel which we thinned down to six or seven plants, not an easy job as we discovered the large tap roots seemed to go down as far as Australia. The aroma of aniseed surrounded us on all sides and almost made us dizzy with its intensity. I'm just glad we didn't have to shift logs, it took the boys a whole day to remove the old tree and now, apart from the stump, you wouldn't know it was ever there.

"Love is like a beautiful flower which I may not touch, but whose fragrance makes the garden a place of delight just the same"
Helen Keller

Pics- just a couple of snaps from around the garden, I especially like the ladybirds huddled together to hibernate.

A Sisyphean Task

2011-11-20T08:11:00.001Z

It was misty and cold Saturday morning at NC, I'd already put my thermal gloves on at the bus stop, but I needn't have worried as Giles had leaf clearing in mind, a job certain to warm anyone up! With rakes and barrows we trooped out to clear the paths and driveways of the big house and I was soon acquainted with the industrial petrol leaf blower, efficient but pretty heavy so us girls took it in turns to save our backs and arms. Boring work it may have been but the farmer had put the tup into his ewes and it was quite amusing to see his antics, getting more and more tired as the day wore on, at one stage he was just stood resting his head on the back of one of his wives! Clearing the leaves turned out to be a full days task, one that we will probably have to repeat next week looking at the amount of leaves still clinging on to the branches. The very end of the afternoon brought high drama as Giles and Derrick who had been attempting to fell one of the dead eucalyptus trees, caught by the severe winter last year, moved in for the last stage. The tree must have been fifty feet high and getting it to fall in the right place and not demolish the wall or farm buildings was no mean feat, but with Lord and Lady Graham and the rest of us looking on that's exactly what they accomplished. I have a sneaking feeling that Mondays first task will involve carrying logs to the barn!

Falling leaves
Hide the path
So quietly.
A haiku by John Bailey

NEWS FLASH- Dave has just given me a beautiful sparkly
diamond engagement ring! I'm not sure we will ever get around to doing the deed, but as a statement of commitment it's very gallant and romantic!

Pear Shaped #2

2011-11-18T07:51:00.001Z

Day two at the pear conference began with an identification talk by Jim Arbury the fruit officer for RHS Wisley, and all I can say is that I'm completely in awe of someone with that much knowledge, and a very nice chap he was too! Next Jim Chapman taught us a lot about perry, which surprisingly is supposed to be still not sparkling like that hideous 70's drink Babycham. After lunch the orchard officer for DEFRA, Chris Wedge, gave us a lecture on biodiversity and how best to preserve it, he pointed out that orchard losses in England stand at 75% since 1950, a truly shocking figure. A point well illustrated by the tale of a recently built housing estate, where the different streets are named after the fruit varieties in the orchard that was bulldozed in order to accommodate the properties! And so the conference drew to a close, it has been the first of its kind since 1885 and has brought together not only British and Scottish fruit growers but also a German delegate and two from Australia, all people committed to raising awareness of this venerable fruit and preserving the orchards in which it is grown.

"It is in my view, the duty of an apple to be crisp and crunchable, but a pear should have such texture as leads to silent consumption"
Edward Bunyard

I just had to include a pic of this wonderful stripey pear called a pysanka, it's not a hoax they really do grow like that!

Pear Shaped

2011-11-17T07:19:00.001Z

For the next two days I will be talking about all things pear, Diana has very kindly paid for us to attend the historic pear conference and yesterday was the opening day. The first speaker, Joan Morgan, a very respected and knowledgeable member of the RHS trial committee, talked us through the history of Pyrus and its development into the fruit we know today. She was an interesting speaker to listen to and obviously one of the leading top fruit experts in the country, during questions afterwards she told us that the oldest living fruit tree in the world is the Endecott pear planted in Salem in 1625! Next came Dr Crispin Hayes, an eco-consultant working in Scotland, who spoke of the alliance between catholic France and Spain in the 12th century which brought the fruit growing tradition to these isles. We then broke for an excellent lunch provided by Bettys and I even managed a little Christmas shopping in the garden centre. The afternoon brought a change of pace with Peter Brears a freelance food historian who proceeded to guide us through 400 years of English pear recipes complete with home made examples, which at the end of the lecture we were invited to eat! Finally we were sent on our way with a glass of perry, everyone eager to resume conversation with new found friends tomorrow.

"Conversation has a kind of charm about it, an insinuating and insidious something that elicits secrets just like love or liquor"
Seneca

Challenges

2011-11-16T07:35:00.001Z

We had a change of venue at college yesterday, instead of the high- tech Bramall learning centre we were in the old bath house tucked away in the bottom corner of Harlow Carr gardens. I think we all liked it better, it was much cosier and lovely to gaze out on the woodland scene surrounding us, watching the small creatures busy gathering their food stores for winter. I'm finding it hard to find much to talk to you about today, college continues to challenge all our memories, the kids continue to challenge my parenting skills and the new bathroom we are having fitted at the moment is testing all my remaining skills, as we deal with a kitchen which is full of sanitary ware! So that's it for now folks I'll just leave you with this lovely November scene from Harlow.

"Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging"
Joseph Campbell

The Trough

2011-11-15T07:53:00.001Z

We had a tough job to tackle on Monday, Giles has been wanting to move the largest of the stone troughs for a while, so we decided to give it a go. First we had to dig out any plants and empty it, not a task for the faint hearted! It was mostly filled with rubble so Nikki and I shovelled and dug the big bits out, throwing the brick fragments into the dumper truck. Finally after about an hour we caught a glimpse of the bottom and carried on until the job was done. Next came the difficult bit, actually moving the thing, I have no idea what it weighs but it took five of us prising and using the roller method used to construct Stone Henge to achieve it, with the tractor pushing from one end before we got it into its new position, probably only twice the length of it from where it was. A full and energetic afternoons work but very satisfying too!

"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself" Henry Ford

A Perfectly Ordinary Day

2011-11-13T08:45:00.001Z

Saturday dawned misty and romantic with the promise of getting better after a whole week of murky gloom. NC was looking its best shrouded in vapour and mystery so I tried to capture the mood on my camera. Work continued to be more of the same, the herbaceous flower borders take a lot of clearing up at this time of year, but it was pleasant toil as the sun evaporated the mist and good to feel the warmth on my back, an unexpected bonus in November. All of a sudden the tranquil mood was shattered by the sound of galloping hooves as a runaway horse shot past the garden entrance, Giles was almost as quick in his response as he set off to find the thrown rider, luckily she was unharmed and the horse it transpired had returned straight back to the stables clever thing! Peace returned to the garden for the rest of the day only punctuated by the excitement of receiving my first pay check and Sir James getting a flat tyre on his push-bike. Altogether a typically ordinary but perfect day!

"Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day"
Anon

Remember

2011-11-11T07:45:00.001Z

Walking with Chum in the woods yesterday it struck me just how lucky we all are to live in this country. We have no greater hardship to moan about but the weather most of the time and even that has its rightful place within the seasons. We should celebrate each month as it comes around and look for the highlights instead of bemoaning the loss of other seasonal delights. When all the flowers are gone, smaller things come to the fore like this beautiful lichen, it caught my eye with its intricate pattern so I looked it up, it is a source of an acid which is used in the production of antibiotics and is also the preferred nesting material of long-tailed tits, I'm glad I stopped for a closer look! The dying autumn foliage also cheers the heart as it glows amber in the dank November light. Making our way home, whether from a walk or a long day at work, each of us can look forward to a safe and comfortable home to return to, taking our ease in front of the fire as the dusk gathers outside. We must therefore remember that were it not for the sacrifice of many other people, our little country might not afford us these privileges.
Today's blog is dedicated to the memory of my grandfathers.

"All we have of freedom, all we use or know, this our fathers bought for us long and long ago"
Rudyard Kipling

Grey Day

2011-11-10T07:56:00.000Z

I'm going to start you all off with a picture of brilliant sunshine today to cheer up those of us that are suffering from SAD, we certainly haven't seen much of the stuff this week and it's a long time until spring! Diana and I felt very much the same yesterday and it's hard to motivate yourself when that's the case. We retreated into the greenhouse and picked the remaining baby figs, they wont ripen any more now so Di will preserve them and serve them with cream, nothing is wasted in this garden.After that we contented ourselves with taking hard wood cuttings of rosemary and black currants and splitting a favourite hardy geranium to move into the front garden come spring. That was about as much as we could bring ourselves to do, so we finished the afternoon with a late lunch and an hour of pouring over next years seed catalogues dreaming of our successes in the new year!

"Tis hard the grey weather, breeds hard English men"

Charles Kingsley

Eggstravaganza

2011-11-09T07:49:00.000Z

Privet and confidential has been on tour again folks so sorry for the lack of blogging yesterday, travelling home doesn't lend itself to inspiration. I was tagging along with Dave to the 2011 egg and poultry industry conference at which he was a speaker, by all accounts the speech went down well but I didn't hear it as I was zenned out in the spa having a facial and manicure, oh the joy of having posh nails again if only for a couple of days! The price of all this beauty treatment was a five hour formal banquet and as I'd already managed to pour a glass of wine over a rather important speaker the night before I was feeling some trepidation. Anyway that too passed off without incident and finished with some really excellent entertainment, 'The Secret Sopranos' who had hidden themselves around the room disguised as waiters or chefs until spontaneously bursting into song, ranging from opera to modern pop classics. Eventually the late nights and being on my best behaviour caught up with me and I retreated to bed, leaving Dave, the original party animal to continue networking!
Pics- the very swanky Marriott Forest of Arden Hotel and a couple of poshed up northerners!

"When arguing with a chicken, a grain of corn is always wrong"

African proverb

A Bit Moist

2011-11-07T08:19:00.000Z

The weather forecasters got it disappointingly wrong on Saturday morning, as soon as we got to NC a steady rain began. We started by digging up the dahlia tubers from the cut flower border and with each step my boots collected more and more mud, it's no wonder the cockneys call them daisy roots, you could have grown a garden in mine! It was still raining after tea break so Giles relented and let us do something a little less muddy. He had brought in three old wire hanging baskets and so sent us out to collect moss with which to line them. Then we dug up clumps of Galanthus snowdrops and convillaria lily of the valley and placed them upside down within the frame, back filling with compost. When turned over the bulbs will grow through the moss creating little woodland mounds which can be used as table decorations at Christmas. It is an old Victorian method and I think they would make lovely presents. As the day wore on I was increasingly looking forward to a hot bath, but at least I survived my first taste of awful weather, only the cold to conquer now!
The foot in the bottom pic is mine, that's one big mushroom!

"Rain is grace, rain is the sky condescending to the earth, without rain there would be no life"
John Updike

"Some people walk in the rain. some people just get wet"
Roger Miller

No!

2011-11-04T07:50:00.000Z

A short post today folks as I'm feeling a bit flat, there's just so much to fit into each day, by the time we got back from the dentist yesterday it was dark and late and the son still hadn't started his homework, so consequently my blogging time was cut short too. We had to see a new dentist as our usual one has retired and quite frankly he had the manner of a gravedigger, it wasn't a confidence boosting visit I can tell you! So I'm quite fed up this morning, the weather is grim, I've got no inspiration and not much to tell you about either, but the quote today sums it all up perfectly, and I did see some beautiful parasol mushrooms by the side of Bilton Youth club. This is probably the last gasp for fungi for this year, but you know me I'll keep on hunting anyway!

"No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, no comfortable feel in any member,

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees

No fruits. no flowers, no leaves, no birds

NOVEMBER!

Thomas Hood

Potential Orchard

2011-11-03T07:59:00.000Z

Diana continues to plan ahead for winter tasks, soon the fig in the greenhouse will have dropped it's leaves and that will enable us to give it a hard prune, freeing up more space for overwintering plants, it has become a bit of a bully recently as you can see. All other unnecessary items we moved out and put neatly in their place in Di's shed which is exactly like her mind, very ordered, she can lay her finger on just about anything if it is needed, I keep hoping some of her order might rub off on me! Strangely enough autumn is a great time for planting things as the earth is still warm enough to encourage root growth, so our next task concerned the stool bed. This is where the root stocks are planted, cut back to the base of the stem which encourages them to produce strong new growth from the base, when earthed up this new growth forms roots and is then used to graft a known variety onto and make a new fruit tree. We planted two M26 (apple), one Gisela and one Colt (cherry), and five St Julien A (plum), that's enough potential to make a whole new orchard!

"Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the key to unlocking our potential"
Winston Churchill

New Beds For November

2011-11-02T07:48:00.001Z

Back at college yesterday we were all infected with half term brain death syndrome, it's not that we don't understand or even not remember what Richard has taught us before it's just that trying to put it all into cohesive sentences is so difficult. Couple that with the new terminology we must grasp each week, transpiration and translocation yesterday, and you can imagine our problem! Still it's early days yet, we've only just finished our first half term and apparently by the end of the year all these things will be tripping off our tongues! Got home in a rush as Mark and Lisa were coming round with my new raised beds, in between fending off kids and pets we decided where they should be placed, it's not set in stone yet, I will live with them for a few days before I make a final decision. Just a little tweaking of height and slope and the turf to take off and they will be ready for the new year.
Pics- the new beds in their possible final place and an enormous birch brown bolete up at Harlow.

"November comes and November goes, with the last red berries and the first white snows"
Elizabeth Coatsworth
Seeing as America have already got the first fall of white stuff, I don't suppose it will be long before that little poem above rings true!

Down To The Lake

2011-11-01T08:07:00.000Z

It was good to get back into gardening mode on Monday, yet again we had really decent weather, in fact it was unseasonably warm for the time of year, many plants in the garden at NC are still flowering their socks off. Look at this beautiful globe artichoke much nicer to admire than to eat in my opinion! At 11 o'clock Helen Warburton the new WRAG coordinator came to pay Alison#1 a visit and as we hadn't met before either I was allowed half an hour off to show her the wood and lake. I hadn't been down there myself since July so it made a nice change, I'm also pleased to report that the wood is stuffed with fungi. I had to take this picture of the lakeside as the maple showed up as bright as a bonfire on a November night and was beautifully reflected in the water. Helen seemed to feel the magic of the place too and went home well satisfied that Giles wasn't going to eat us alive! Just before the light went later that afternoon we took some cuttings of Collutia recta, the bladder senna, simply pushing them into ground, if we get a couple of new plants out of it the time will have been well spent. The originals have been in the garden for well over 100 years and it would be a shame to lose them, so this is a little insurance policy.

"I will arise and go now. for always night and day I hear the lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore"
W B Yeats

Grindstone

2011-10-31T06:40:00.000Z

The only problem with having a few days off is that feeling of nose back to the grindstone when Monday comes around again. Still there are small things to lift the spirit, like the garden being momentarily taken over by long tailed tits, cheeping and chattering like a party of excited school children, they always seem to enjoy life so much! Well today is Halloween but I've not had time to prepare any pumpkin lanterns or decorate the door as I have in previous years.For once I find the prospect of having to answer the door to various ghouls and witches quite horrifying, especially after a long working day at NC, I wonder if I can bribe the teenager to do it for me?

"From ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties and things that go bump in the night, good lord deliver us!"
Scottish saying

A Pocket Full Of Ammonites

2011-10-27T16:40:00.001+01:00

We've had a really full day today and have been out in the fresh air for most of it. Our first activity was taking Chum for a really long walk at Flatts Lane country park, I was hunting for a particular fungus there so if you are of a delicate disposition look away now! This is the very phallic looking stinkhorn, luckily we all have colds so couldn't smell it! Then we made our way back to Redcar beach and found so many ammonites we filled our pockets with them. I call that a very successful day. No more blogging this week folks as we go home tomorrow and I must catch up with the washing and you wont want to read about that! Back on Monday.

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished"

Lao Tzu

Wet Socks

2011-10-26T16:03:00.001+01:00

After a tempestuous night by the sea with torrential rain, thunder and lightening, Wednesday morning dawned bright and soon turned into the sort of day that you don't often get at the end of October. We rose late after a night of quizzing, even the kids stayed in bed until 10am, but we were soon lured out by the promise of a bracing walk along Sandsend beach. The waves were spectacular and since Dave and I didn't have wellies on we left the kids paddling whilst we wandered further along the beach with Chum. A feeling of peace and contentment descended which was only spoilt when we turned around to spot the boy clowning around and obviously getting wet. Upon closer inspection we discovered he was soaked, somewhat annoyed I remarked that we were supposed to be walking around Whitby next, he professed total nonchalance about being uncomfortable and said he would be ok. Every step he took I could hear the water swishing back and forth in his wellies! I had hoped that the days of taking a spare set of clothing with us where ever we went were long gone, but I now realise that logic simply doesn't apply to George, we bought him a new, dry pair of tracksuit pants and socks as soon as we got into Whitby and carried on with our day!

"God created boys, full of spirit and fun, to explore and conquer, to romp and run"

Anon

Foraging For Fossils

2011-10-25T16:42:00.000+01:00

Up very early this am on account of being worried about Chumdog holding on in a strange cottage. Whizzed him down to the beach in the dark and only looked at my watch when I got back, 4.30am, so I went back to bed only to have to do it all again a couple of hours later! As soon as the son emerged at breakfast time I busied myself making a bacon and sausage growler, this didn't go unnoticed by Chum who quickly took advantage of the sons momentarily unguarded sandwich and finished it off for him, normal sort of morning really! Later we all piled into the car on route to Middlesborough to do some shopping, but first we stopped to stretch Chum's legs on Redcar beach. We were surprised to find the water beautifully clear in the rock pools, George spotted a decent sized starfish and then found this exquisite little fossil. Chum really enjoyed splashing in all the puddles too, so we've decided to pay it a longer visit on another day before we go home.

"After a visit to the beach it's hard to believe that we live in a material world"

Pam Shaw

Salty Sea Dog

2011-10-24T17:48:00.000+01:00

Yes I know I've already blogged today but down in the village of Staithes internet access hasn't caught up with the rest of the world yet, so whilst we are here I will blog in the evenings using the pubs wifi. After packing almost the entire house plus the the dog into the car we set off at about 10am and made straight for Saltburn for a long walk. Chum couldn't believe his luck to be at the beach again, I swear he was grinning from ear to ear, mind you we all felt the same, it was good to blow some cobwebs away. Chums excitement didn't fade when we took our first look around Safe Harbour a lovely fisherman's cottage conveniently situated across the road from The Royal George! He joyfully discovered each bedroom in turn until we found the stair gate to keep him out, dogs aren't allowed in the bedrooms in our house! Yet another walk followed and then we gave him his tea, hopefully he will settle down for the evening soon. Here are some of the best pics from today, I really like the Dunsley cottage one because that's definitely a chumdog on there!

"We are tied to the ocean, and when we go back to the sea whether it is to sail or to watch, we are going back from whence we came"

J F Kennedy

Harvest Half Term

2011-10-24T07:29:00.000+01:00

Phew what a busy few days! On Friday Mum, Fran and I took a rare opportunity to walk around Harlow Carr and admire the autumn colours, we especially enjoyed the little display in the summerhouse. At the old bath house we had a sneak preview of the apple festival display as I'm a member of the Northern Fruit Group, it was nice to be able to introduce my family to Diana who was helping to set up the exhibition. Every single apple group in the picture is a different variety and they stretch all around the room. If you have the chance it is well worth a visit this half term and the room smells heavenly! Lunch at Bettys followed of course which made it a very pleasurable outing, it's just a shame we don't manage to do it more often. Norton Conyers was again bathed in sunshine on Saturday which made the task of tying in the raspberry canes very enjoyable, far easier in the warmth than if you have to do it with frozen stiff fingers! The garden was looking so enchanting I took some more pictures to share with you all. Dave picked me up at 4 o'clock and whizzed me home for a quick shower and then we journeyed to the Milton's house in North Ferriby where an evening of live music and good food followed. Many thanks for your hospitality guys and good luck with your new venture, I'll plug it on the blog when you're up and running! Now we are off to the east coast for a few days breathing space so for the rest of the week P&C will be bringing you sultry seascapes!

""one red leaf the last of it's clan, that dances as often as dance it can, hanging so light and hanging so high, on the topmost twig that looks up at the sky"
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

If You Go Down To The Woods Today

2011-10-21T07:10:00.000+01:00

I was up early and out walking Chum yesterday morning, I enjoy it when it's just the two of us down by the river, me rummaging around in the undergrowth looking for mushrooms and Chum enjoying all the new smells and having a dip even on a cool morning like that. Our peace didn't last long however as a red gold streak nearly knocked me flying and proceeded to roll Chum over and over in the mud. You've guessed , it was Mad Paddy Padster who had picked up our scent half a mile away and abandoning his mistress had gone in search of his best friend. I waited for Fran to catch up and as it was such a beautiful day we took a longer walk than normal. I'm glad we did as I spotted this beauty, it's one of the Russulas aptly called The Sickener, if the name doesn't put you off eating one the colour certainly should, red means danger! The other specimen is a member of the Amanita family called The Blusher, the first one I've seen so I'm pleased even if it is a bit nibbled.

"Nature red in tooth and claw"
Alfred Lord Tennyson

Putting The Garden To Bed

2011-10-20T07:49:00.000+01:00

Although cold, Wednesday dawned bright and sunny making me think back over the time I've been helping Diana and Brian with their garden, we have been very lucky with the weather. I can only recall two Wednesdays that have been wet since I started back in April, not bad going really but I suspect that wont be the case for much longer. Anyway we continued with general tidying up, what I call putting the garden to bed, composting the last rather tatty carrots, pulling up the runner beans and courgette plants and giving the raised beds a really good tidy. Diana pruned the blackberry and then we both trimmed the Lonicera hedge. From now on our efforts will be concentrated on rejuvenating the ornamental borders and winter pruning in the orchard. I must just mention a most amazing tree I encountered at Harlow on Tuesday, the Katsura tree Cercidiphyllum japonicum, superb autumn colour and the decaying foliage smells just like burnt toffee, yes really! Very apt for the run up to bonfire night.

"No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face"
John Donne

Enchanting earthstars

2011-10-19T07:21:00.001+01:00

A really cold wind blew us into Tuesday, a marked change with temperatures from the north, we sat and watched the sleety rain from the moderate comfort of the classroom in the Bramall centre. More photosynthesis and respiration study followed, culminating in a group exercise where we had to produce a diagram showing all we had learned in our first half term. Thank goodness we had Hannah on our team with her brilliant drawing skills, I think we managed to come up with something really good, see right. Lunchtime saw Trisha, Hannah and myself off on our usual fungi forage, Harlow Carr seems to have many varied habitats and consequently many different types of toadstool. The days prize finds were these trooping funnel caps, I've left Trish and my fingers in the shot so you can gauge the size, and a first for me a group of beautiful collared earthstars, uncommon enough for me to be excited by the sight of them!

"The days are cold, the nights are long, the north wind sings a doleful song"
Dorothy Wordsworth

Apples again!

2011-10-18T08:04:00.000+01:00

Just when I thought I couldn't stomach another day of apples Giles came up trumps with another few hours of apple harvesting first thing Monday morning. It wasn't so bad though as these apples were destined to be sold to the lady who makes juice and jelly, meaning that as they all go into a big press it didn't really matter if they were a bit bruised, so the Giles Gilbey method of picking was used. He simply climbed into each tree and gave it several vigorous shakes sending us diving for cover as the fruit rained down! We picked up 62 crates full before morning tea break and all that from just three trees! Then it was back to the spring border which truth to tell we are all heartily sick of but which we have at last finished hurrah! After lunch we started to prune the raspberry canes, the three rows of summer fruiting have the old wood cut out and this seasons growth left in to bear next years fruit, the tying in is going to be a long job, probably Saturdays task. the autumn fruiting raspberries are a lot simpler to deal with, you just cut down the whole lot. So that was another day at NC over, I think I'm starting to build up my stamina now as I don't feel quite so tired, I might even make the 10 O'clock news tonight!

"We must give more in order to get more. It is the generous giving of ourselves that produces the generous harvest"
Orison Swett Marden

The Beast

2011-10-17T06:54:00.000+01:00

Saturday got off to a flying start with a magnificent sunrise which had the promise of a beautiful day, I tried to capture it from the top deck of the bus and am quite pleased with the results. It was a bit nippy early on with the first touch of frost this season, but nature didn't let us down and the day became steadily warmer making me peel different layers off around the garden as the morning continued. We started in the greenhouse by picking the remaining tomatoes and removing the spent vines, this created enough space to bring in all the hardy perennials from the plant sales area to overwinter. Then I had my first master-class in grass cutting, no big deal you might think but the petrol mower is a bit of a beast and quite far removed from my little hand push at home. At first it was a bit scary, running away with me at the slightest touch, but after a few practice rows I did manage to carry on and cut all the edges in the garden whilst Nikki zoomed around the large areas on the tractor. My feelings of elation were somewhat dampened on Sunday morning however when all the exertion resulted in a pair of very stiff arms due to the weight of the beast, but I shall have to get used to it as I'll probably be doing it every week next summer!

"I saw old autumn in the misty morn stand shadowless like silence listening to silence"
Thomas Hood

The Wheel

2011-10-14T07:43:00.000+01:00

Catch up day soon came around again this week and not a moment too soon looking at the state of the house. By the time I'd changed all the beds, walked Chum, seen to all the little jobs like making phone calls and ordering school photos, it was 11o'clock and I still hadn't started on my homework. It was quite an enjoyable task though, familiarising myself with the colour wheel and the combinations of plantings that can be arranged around it. I've decided to put it on the blog as nothing else of interest presented itself, no fungi or wildlife sightings to report, just an awful lot of mud. By the way I do apologise for the spelling error on the second piece, but it is only for my own use after all, thank goodness for spell check on Blogger! I actually managed to stay awake long enough to catch the weather forecast last night and it looks like we shall have a decent weekend again, I really must get out into my own garden and cut the hedge, hopefully for the last time this year! Have a good one whatever you are all doing, until Monday.......

"Why do two colours put one next to the other sing? Can one really explain this? No, just as one can never learn how to paint"
Pablo Picasso

"I cannot pretend to be impartial about colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones, and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns"
Winston Churchill

Traffic Black Spot Of The Universe!

2011-10-13T07:48:00.000+01:00

What a wet and dreary day it was yesterday, I strongly suspected that no gardening would tale place at Spofforth, still I went anyway as I secretly hope that Diana and Brian would miss me if I didn't go. We took the opportunity to catch up with a few gardening topics we wished to discuss whilst the rain beat steadily down on the conservatory roof. At about midday it started to brighten up a little so we wandered outside and planted the last two apple trees in the orchard, cutting through the turf and digging each a decent hole. At first I was feeling cold, that hasn't happened for a while, but we soon warmed up with the work and the glow of seeing a job through to it's fruition. By the time we had eaten lunch it was time for me to leave due to our late start, but I almost wish I'd stayed working because it took me nearly two hours to get home. Most of the time was spent waiting for inefficient buses or stuck in traffic, surely no where else in the universe has such abysmal traffic management as Harrogate!!

"Patience is something we admire in the driver behind us and scorn in the one ahead"
Mac McCleary

Pics- just a couple of views of the garden at Spofforth, please forgive the first, with its shiny reflection but it is a photo of a photo that Brian took from the upstairs of the house, you can see the orchard at the very end of the garden running down to the beck. Then just a snap of the beck itself, rising fast with all this rain, I hope it doesn't flood the garden this year as it has done in the past.

Just to let you know Blogger have introduced a new method of viewing any photos, if you click on a picture you will be able to see a better image enhanced by a light box, I think it looks great!

A Distaste For Design

2011-10-12T07:16:00.000+01:00

I'm going to have a bit of a rant today about surveying and being a garden designer, I most certainly am not going to become one. I'd rather stuff my head with the hardest botany than try and make sense of the subject. Before you can even get down to the nitty gritty of plants and how you wish to use them the site survey must be done. This seems to entail measuring things using badly remembered trigonometry, worrying about drains and elevations, and worst of all dealing with customers who will try and short change you at every turn whilst giving you as little useful information as possible, believe me after nearly ten years working in a supermarket I've had a belly full of customers! Admittedly this is the direction in which the money lies but it sounds stressful to me, I'm afraid I wish to pursue a happier if impoverished life pottering about with what really matters, the plants themselves! thank goodness it is only one small part of the course, if I memorise the bare bones I should scrape through the module!

"There is no design without discipline. There is no discipline without intelligence"
Massimo Vignelli

Ladybird Ladybird Fly Away Home

2011-10-11T07:51:00.000+01:00

I left the house with trepidation on Monday at 7.10am, leaving the children in charge of getting themselves off to school without losing the dog or burning the house down, Dave having been given a day pass to go on a jolly to Staithes the day before. I'm pleased to say nothing untoward occurred so I could get stuck in to the days gardening with gusto. Initially the weather was wet and blustery so Giles gave us a cushy number picking peppers in the peach house, but the bullet had to be bitten eventually and we trouped out to the peony border to survey the amount of tidying up ahead of us. That pretty much took care of the rest of the day, as once strimmed, we gathered armfuls of debris for the ever enlarging compost heap, and then tackled de-tangling nettle and bramble roots from amongst the peonies. Unfortunately most of the ladybirds of North Yorkshire had decided to hibernate amongst the plants and it wasn't long before we were covered head to foot with them, I haven't seen so many since that summer back in the seventies when people were sweeping them into piles in the streets, the image above isn't mine I'm afraid but you get my drift!
Best plant discovery yesterday-Lotus hirsustus, nice hairy silver grey leaves, pea-like flowers in summer and ovoid reddish brown seed pods in autumn.
"Ladybugs all dressed in red strolling through the flower bed. If I were tiny just like you, I'd creep among the flowers too"
Maria Fleming

Pics-late season colour on the cut flower border, and gateways and vistas no'4

Autumn Tidy Up Continues

2011-10-10T06:35:00.000+01:00

My second Saturday at NC couldn't have been more different weather wise, it was quite cold early on and I was beginning to regret not putting a long sleeved top on, until we started work that is when I soon warmed up! The first task of the day was clearing the peach house border, many of the plants needed thinning or putting else where. It was a great opportunity to learn the names of a few more specimens, my favourite being Parahebe perfoliata which is a sub shrub with glaucous leaves which surround the stem and produces sprays of blue flowers in spring, an AGM it is a fine looking thing! The only downside to the morning were the midges which drove us mad biting us through our hair, so when the rain came it was almost a relief. We continued with the autumn clear up after lunch in the spring border, steadily removing the weeds and the rotting apples which had fallen from the tree above, the sweet sickly stench is something I don't think I will ever forget. When four o' clock came I was damp, muddy and tired but surprisingly still in love with gardening!

"From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity"
Edvard Munch

Autumn Walk

2011-10-07T08:05:00.001+01:00

Just a short post today folks, as I've run out of energy and inspiration. What a dramatic change in the weather from the start of the week, we must have dropped ten degrees at least. On our walk yesterday Chum and I got buffeted by the wind and then soaked by heavy squalls, it was the sort of day when you get a rainbow every five minutes. By the way Chum is well and truly in the doghouse for raiding the bin bag and devouring three stale cheese muffins yesterday tea time, needless to say he didn't get any dinner after that lot so now thinks that nobody loves him any more! Never mind it's Friday which means the supermarket trip and he always gets a pigs ear after that!). If there were any fungi to be found we didn't see them as all of a sudden the ground is covered by a thick layer of leaves and nuts, all we need now is the first frost and it will really feel like autumn. We took delivery of a load of logs late yesterday so let the weather do what it will!

"Bitter-sweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter"
Carol Bishop Hipps

An Apple A Day

2011-10-06T07:40:00.002+01:00

After weeks of planning it was finally time to plant Diana's grafted apple trees on Wednesday. Luckily we were blessed with a fine day so the soil was nice ans light for me to lift as I am chief digger! Di sorted through her stock setting aside any promised to other people and those she has decided to plant into the bottom orchard, we will probably plant those next week. She chose eight good looking trees for us to plant next to the new fence and we proceeded to settle them into their new home. It was hard work, but very satisfying to see them in place. Brian got busy making rabbit protection but it will probably take him a while to finish, he is nearly ninety after all! Here are the varieties that went in.
Sturma pippin-A Victorian dessert with good keeping qualities.
Braeburn hilwell-A commercial dessert from New Zealand.
Norfolk honey russet-a dessert with a good sweet flavour
Rosemary russet-I couldn't find anything out about this one!
Ashmeads kernel-A very old apple with a drab appearance but a pear drop flavour.
Chivers delight-A dessert sweet juicy and crunchy.
Annie Elizabeth- A culinary apple which keeps its shape when cooked.
Gascoynes scarlet-A dessert which produces a pink juice.
May they thrive and produce many apples!

"The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The next best time is now.
Chinese proverb

Dave spotted this last scene, it makes a lovely picture, I have entitled it 'Retired'!

AWOL

2011-10-05T07:55:00.000+01:00

It was a bit of a shock to walk into class and find a lady sitting in Richard's place yesterday morning. Her name was Jo and she had come to the rescue because Richard had a cold and lost his voice, despite being retired and having just moved into her new home which is mid renovation, she had stepped in for us so we didn't have to miss a lesson-very nice of her. She carried on with the garden design theme covering site analysis and design considerations, showing us the symbols to use when we make plans of our own. She also gave us a little shopping list (it's amazing how many things I've found I just can't live without since staring this course!), circle template, flexi ruler, coloured pencils. geometry set and pigment liners, apparently this is all we need to to become garden designers, although I have a feeling that there is a lot more to it than that!
Pics-Just a couple of beautiful autumn coloured plants from Harlow Carr.

"In garden arrangement as in all other kinds of decorative work, one has not only to acquire the knowledge of what to do, but also to gain some wisdom in perceiving what is well to let alone"

Gertrude Jekyll

Border Patrol

2011-10-04T08:13:00.001+01:00

Day two at NC and we went straight to work clearing and weeding the cut flower border, starting with the sweet peas which have now given of their best, much to Lady Halena's dismay. Never mind for next spring she will have lots of sweet williams to keep her going until the summer. Alyson and Nikki then went off to cut the grass, Alyson with the walk behind petrol mower and Nikki on the tractor, they were trying to get me to have a go but it is an expensive piece of kit and I haven't driven for ten years so I demurred, I will do it though when I'm back driving again! Giles and I then had a break by picking the espaliered pears, they were still hard but he says they can turn in a matter of hours so are best ripened inside. After lunch we cut the pumpkins and placed then in the greenhouse to mature and harden off, each one weighed a ton, I shall have muscles like Popeye by the end of my training! We finished the day by continuing to tidy the herbaceous border, thinning out the self sown seedlings of foxglove and Nonea lutea which are vigorous spiny little devils and removing a fine crop of groundsel. It will be interesting to see just how many weeds return before winter sets in for good.

Pics- A workers tools, pumpkins and vistas and gateways (v&g) number two.

"There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat"

Ralph Waldo Emmerson

The Old Apple Store

2011-10-03T06:25:00.000+01:00

Saturday was the first day of my trainee ship at Norton Conyers and it found me back at work along the iris border. Last July the WRAG girls helped to divide and replant one side of the border and so this time we tidied and cut back the other side, it soon became a very unseasonably warm day but Alyson Nikki and I persisted until the job was done. Alyson and I did have an hour off mid morning when we helped Lady Halena to plant dwarf tulips and violas in the pots in the courtyard, they smelt heavenly in the warm sun. In the afternoon we picked apples, both cookers and eaters, Giles who is by far the tallest amongst us climbed up into the trees and dropped the best fruit for us to catch. These we laid out on the racks in the ancient apple store. We eventually went three stories high which should be plenty for the house to use. All too quickly the day passed but I confess to being relieved when it was time to leave, it had been so hot I was looking forward to a cold shower, who would have thought that the first of October would be hotter than August!
Pics- Sempervivum oozing off an old stone pillar. The last pic has given me the inspiration to run a series entitled 'gateways and vistas of Norton Conyers, so look out for plenty more in the next few weeks.

"Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed"
Robert H Schuller

"Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love"

Song of Solomon

Domestic Bliss

2011-09-30T07:25:00.000+01:00

Taking full advantage of another glorious day I was up at six and ready to leave the house with Chum when the teenager left at eight. This meant I could spend the whole morning in my garden, I decided to be ruthless and remove any plant I felt was disappointing, which turned out to be quite a lot, unfortunately I dug up someones home as you can see by this rather disgruntled toad! I hope he will find suitable accommodation somewhere else. This left plenty of spaces for my homegrown foxgloves and wallflowers which I placed in groups of three and five as instructed by our tutor, this used up every last one (sorry Mum!). Finally I cut a new straightish edge and all of a sudden I could see the potential for next year, in the spring I will divide the Aster linosyris 'Little Carlow' and fill in some of the gaps which should give more cohesion. I then devoted the rest of the day to giving the family a decent meal for once, making courgette and potato soup and an apple crumble with the produce Diana gave me on Wednesday, so I shall spend the rest of the weekend polishing my halo!

"It's never the wrong time to call on Toad. Early or late he's always the same fellow. Always good tempered. always glad to see you, always sorry when you go!"

Kenneth Grahame