Border Patrol

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