New Years Eve Musings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.