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.

A Sisyphean Task

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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!