Have Yourself A Rainy Little Christmas

Well despite the usual threats from the press about this winter being one of the coldest for decades, it would seem nature has decided otherwise. It sure has been one soggy old year and I for one will be glad to see the back of it. I should be at Norton Conyers tomorrow winding the year down with good wishes and mince pies, but the forecast is so grim there is no point in going, so no more garden adventures for 2012. Privet and Confidential wishes everyone a peaceful and joyous time and will be back to regale you with more tales in the new year.

"It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air" W.T. Ellis

Festive Fun

The weather was unkind to us on Monday but as it turned out Giles had a little festive fun in store. He decided that we should make Christmas wreaths with whatever treasures we could glean from the garden. Now I'm not the most artistic of people but as you will see even I managed to cobble together a couple of decent efforts. We took willow cuttings from around the vegetable plot and twisted the stems into rings, this could be done with any brightly coloured pliable twigs that you could find. Then we slotted in some greenery and jewel like rose hips and the dried citrus fruits that Alyson had brought in. We made six in total, one for the big house, one for the garden gate and the rest we were allowed to take home. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed making something so much and if I can do it believe me anyone can, so have a go!

"Symbolising eternal hope the wreath goes round and round, and where it starts or ends cannot be found. Woven of things that grow-for life, and hung for holiday delight, the wreath must be left in place from advent through twelfth night" Anon

This one is my favourite......

but I think this one has a certain naive charm too!

Expect The Unexpected

The one thing I love about working at Norton Conyers is that you can always expect the unexpected. No two days are ever the same, even if you are plugging away at the same task. Sometimes the unexpected takes the form of a small thing, a freshly bloomed flower or the sighting of a wild bird, at other times it is something more unusual. Yesterday was just such a day when Lord and Lady Graham invited us into the house to view the renovations that have been taking place over the course of this year. This stately home is so steeped in history that new discoveries are taking place all the time, it was fascinating to view all the layers of wallpaper revealed in one room, dating from the restoration right through to the 1960's and then mesmerising to be entertained with Graham family tales by Sir James. Such a personal insight into secrets that few people have seen before us made us feel a part of the continuing saga of the estate, it is kind of the Grahams to extend that sense of belonging to us humble gardeners!

"Objects we ardently pursue bring little happiness when gained, most of our pleasures come from unexpected sources" Herbert Spencer

A Hoar Frost

We awoke to freezing fog and a hoar frost this morning, each twig and leaf laid bare in exquisite detail. Harlow Carr garden has seldom been so beautiful in my eyes, but alas we were not to be allowed the luxury of exploring the grounds as it was deemed to be too cold, which at -5 our tutor had a point I suppose, I wouldn't have minded the opportunity for a quick chilly dip into such a seasonal winter wonderland though. Instead we were given another plant identification list to learn through the Christmas holidays, they are coming thick and fast now which is good practise for me. I could have gone exploring at lunchtime I suppose but Chumdog was waiting and the prospect of hot soup was too tempting for me to linger.

"Frost is the greatest artist in our clime, he paints in nature and describes in rime" Thomas Hood

Garden Antics

The cutting back and clearing of the borders resumed yesterday and Giles was clearly in a droll mood. I glanced down at a particular plant and did a double take, the colour didn't seem quite right and on closer inspection it turned out to be plastic! I called out to him if he wished his plastic plant to be cut back with all the rest? He replied that he was glad I had noticed, thankfully a years study with the RHS has qualified me to tell the difference! It was certainly a day of mixed weather as we basked in sunshine one minute and were pelted with sleet the next, but we had the antics of the garden robins to keep us entertained. They are becoming quiet cheeky now and will almost sit at our feet waiting for us to turn up worms, but as soon as I get my camera out they fly off. One brave fellow has started to follow us into the orangery where Giles is now sharing his cake with it, I wonder if it will eventually eat from his hand.

"No bird soars too high if he soars on his own wings" William Blake

A Richer Life

As the old year ebbs away I find my enthusiasm for being outdoors leaving with it. Now is the most difficult time to be a gardener, the effort required to leave a cosy bed and stand at the bus stop in the clammy pre-dawn darkness requires immense willpower! The garden tasks become more arduous too, pruning the climbing roses was never a favourite job of mine, teetering up a ladder with blade in hand is not the most comfortable position in which to spend a morning, but at least that's another thing ticked off the list. The day length is ever shortening and as four o'clock approaches we hurriedly pack up the tools and head for home, lingering and chatting are spring and summer luxuries. Garden beauty is at a low too, but if you look hard enough  you can still find little treasures persisting, and of course a striking sunset is always a bonus. The one thing that does lift my spirits is the comparison between my occupation now and what I would be enduring if I still worked at the supermarket. Instead of only one or two snatched days off at Christmas amidst the retail nightmare I may now embrace a two week break and become almost as dormant as the garden. This feels in tune with nature and even if I don't earn any money I will not feel the poorer for it!

"Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you" Oscar Wilde

Secrets Revealed

The weather took a very seasonal twist for us yesterday, a light dusting of snow enhancing the spectral beauty of the plants, their dark decaying colours highlighted by the stark whiteness. Some of the garden plants however are only now taking their turn in the spotlight, thank goodness there is always something like Mahonia to brighten the dullest of days. We resumed cutting back the borders, soon amassing great barrow loads of vegetation to add to the huge steaming heap of cooking compost outside the garden walls. It is amazing what you notice when all the debris has been cleared away, you can inspect small shrubs and spring plantings for growth and general health, only now revealed again after being smothered by their more vigorous neighbours. My favourite finds are the birds nests, little works of tenderness and comfort for the precious babies now long since fledged, they are tucked away deep inside prickly bushes or holes in the walls, safe from our eyes until now, a hidden world exposed.

"Secrets are made to be found out with time" Charles Sandford

Sunrise And Sunset At Norton Conyers

It was leaves again on Saturday morning and this time there was no Nikki with her chatter to keep the monotony at bay. However it did give me the chance to pluck up the courage to reverse the tractor up the slope of the compost heap whilst no one was watching, it's quite a tight space to get into and I managed to do half a dozen times, so that's another fear laid to rest. At least it was a beautiful morning and lovely to see sunrise by the house before work started. Afternoon saw me pruning the redcurrants, they fruit on last years growth so all the new wood must be cut back to maintain a compact shape. I thought it would be nice to listen to my personal radio as I worked, but in the end I didn't turn it on as the silence was so therapeutic, only being disturbed by the gunshots and cries of a distant shooting party. So I worked on in silence and solitude until the sun slowly dipped behind the garden walls, a whole day spent outside in December is something to be savoured.

Norton Conyers Garden will feature on the Mark Forrest show today on radio York at approx 10.30 - 11.00am and can be caught up on BBC iplayer if missed.

"After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music"
Aldous Huxley

Christmas Envy

I must admit to feelings of deep envy upon seeing the beautiful Christmas decorations in the Bramall Learning Centre today. The trees especially caught my eye, all decorated with the bounty of Harlow Carr, I'm speechless at the idea of crowning one of them with an allium seed head, it just looks so right. It's not that I couldn't attempt something similar myself but that the perfect images I see in my mind never seem to come to fruition in reality. I guess I'll just have to admire and wonder at other peoples handicraft imagination and content myself with the thought that these arty folk may not be green fingered enough to grow the plants themselves, but I can!

"You see things and you say why? But I dream things that never were, and I say why not?"
George Bernard Shaw

A Complete Wash Out

I know it's probably a little early to sum up 2012 but I think I can quite safely say that it's been a complete wash out. By the end of my second month of self employment I'm positive that I wont have the tax man hounding me for my hard earned riches! There has been no work this week, I would have needed to be an amphibian to turn up at Norton on Tuesday and the garden at Spofforth is flooded once again. On the plus side I'm so ready for Christmas it wouldn't matter if it occurred tomorrow! With all this spare time on my hands I think I shall try and get creative with some decorations in the garden, more on that if the results warrant it!

"Never permit a dichotomy to rule your life, a dichotomy in which you hate what you do so you can have pleasure in your spare time. Look for a situation in which your work will give you as much happiness as your spare time"

A Real Pea Souper

There was a distinctly eerie feeling about Norton Conyers when I alighted from the bus yesterday morning, the fog was caressing the surrounding landscape as tightly as a swaddling cloth. I am always there first at the moment as Alyson is away in Australia for a month, but I quite like that, I get to see the place first and absorb the solitude before Shandy shatters the peace with her excited rabbit hunting bark. The days chores consisted of cutting down the autumn raspberry canes, more leaf clearing (as I feared), and then clearing and digging over the apple tree border. The fog didn't lift all day making for cold working conditions, thank goodness I had my hat with ears on, it makes me look ridiculous but doesn't half keep me warm! The forecast for Monday is pretty dire again so Nikki and I have already decided to give work a miss if it turns out to be correct, we are well ahead of ourselves in the garden now so can afford to bypass the worst of the winter weather. Of course that may change if we get snow for more than a couple of weeks, but for the present we can let the garden slumber without disturbing its tranquillity.

"I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind" Albert Einstein

A subtle palette

Harlow Carr is slowly changing into its Christmas wardrobe, like a mousy maiden who transforms herself with a few well chosen shades into a head turner. Not for her the brash and trashy jarring colours of the office party, but an intoxicating sophistication which makes you realise the underlying beauty has been there all along. Our lesson today was about pruning techniques, starting with a master-class on cordon apple trees taken by the charming Francisco, a good looking gardener can enhance the bleakest of Yorkshire days! A stroll around the winter walk emphasised the different stooling and pollarding methods beautifully whilst showcasing the colours which are shown off to best advantage by the muted light of November. The garden staff are hard at work adding festive touches in just the right places, never overstating the Christmas theme they enhance the trees and make the garden revel in this underrated season. Now is the best time to visit as you will have the place mostly to yourself, the less resilient Harrogate gardeners can only nurse their hot cups of coffee behind the steamy windows of Bettys!

"Of winters lifeless world each tree,
Now seems a perfect part,
Yet each one holds summers secret,
Down deep within its heart"
Charles G Stater

A Labour Of Leaves

The autumn tasks are definitely getting tougher, we think back with longing to the quieter days of summer when the mowing and hoeing was almost soporific. Not so Mondays work load of mulching the round border with compost, of course it started to rain half way through making each barrow load heavier as the morning progressed. We had a change come the afternoon as the rain steadily persisted, it is the time of year for collecting leaves. This can be a pleasant if monotonous chore especially if the sun is shinning and each leaf is crunchy and light as air, however yesterdays leaves were sodden and heavy, making the petrol blower work twice as hard, not to mention us girls! Still we know how much good it will do our compost heap over the winter and it's all for free as long as we have the energy to go on collecting. However it will be slightly disconcerting when we arrive back on Saturday and view the lawns we so painstakingly cleared yesterday, because I know it will look as if we had never been there, a Sisyphean task indeed!

"Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world any more. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf" Albert Schweitzer

The New Coat #2

Despite a gloomy damp start when we arrived at work the morning was soon brightened by the sight of Shandy sporting her new coat. This is #2 in the coat stakes as she lost the posh waterproof one in the woods within the first week. Giles' wife Carol considered all options before deciding to have a go at making one herself, hence the rather smart knitted number Shandy was modelling today. Whether Shandy was aware of the stir her apparel was causing I can't be sure, but within five minutes of being in the garden we noticed it was gone! The three of us hunted high and low throughout the day but to no avail, despite it being a cheery bright red it remains missing, and Shandy seems to wearing a rather smug expression!

"Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes" Henry David Thoreau

More Haste Less Speed

Things got off to a promising start this morning, our new RHS tutor introduced herself and told us about her varied horticultural career so far, but more importantly she asked each of us in turn about our own experiences and expectations for the course. Then instead of spending the the morning shuffling paperwork whilst she settled in, which was what I expected, we immediately began a lively lesson on seed preparation and sowing, including a practical session where we gathered Cotoneaster franchetii and Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus' from the garden and sowed them using the correct technique. This is definitely more like it, lets hope things continue in the same vein.  Feeling well chuffed with my pots of sown seed precariously dangling from one arm and a bag stuffed with text books and notes plus handbag in the other, I noticed the bus approaching my stop, waving energetically I ran to try and catch it, for once the driver obligingly waited for me. Once on board and having caught my breath I peeped into my bag to check on the pots, disaster! All jumbled up in a mess at the bottom with no hope of salvation, blast!

"Nature is a labyrinth in which the very haste you move with will make you lose your way"
Francis Bacon

Liquidambar living up to its autumnal promise

A Mucky Old Day

I think I was the dirtiest I've ever been when I finished work yesterday. It was a good thing I wasn't travelling home on the bus as I don't think they would have let me on. We had been dividing perennials in the round border when the rain started but we wished to finish the job, complete with a mulch of compost, before we ran for cover. Soon our boots were so built up with mud it felt like we were walking on stilts, and my new waterproofs were slick with mud and rain, of course that is their purpose in life so I didn't care, I was nice and dry inside. The rain didn't last into the afternoon thank goodness and as the soil in the walled garden is beautifully well drained we could continue with cutting back after lunch. If that is the worst weather we can expect this autumn we shall have had an easy time of it, but I suspect that more challenging stuff is to come.......

"To dig one's earth with one's own spade, does life get any better?" Beverly Nichols

"Speak to the earth and it shall teach thee" The Bible

The List

November the first was a longed for day in this household and I suspect I wasn't the only gardener anticipating it. For the rest of you folks it was a day like any other, but for us of the green fingered persuasion it meant the release of the RHS seed list. This is a brilliant scheme whereby all the RHS gardens collect their most promising seeds and make them available to us members. The choice is large and mostly unusual, you can't pick up many of these babies from an average nursery, the only problem is that out of 475 possibles you can only choose twenty packets, what a dilemma! So for the last week or so I've been scrutinising my selected categories, annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees, and trying to decide what I shall grow. Bearing in mind the size of my garden (small), my soil type (OK but a bit on the heavy side), and my growing facilities (non existent). I wont bore you with the details as most of these plants are new to me, but I have decided to attempt to grow some Metasequoia glyptostroboides, that's the Dawn Redwood, bonkers I know given the size they grow to but I just can't resist the challenge. If I succeed Giles says he will give one a home down by the lake at Norton Conyers, that pleases me enormously to think that long after I'm gone a magnificent tree may stand in a special place all because of a slightly eccentric plants woman!

It also strikes me that to be remembered and improve the lives of others long after ones death must be the highest honour one can aspire to, so I dedicate today's blog to the lost generations of the worlds conflicts. Lest we forget.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides, a fast growing deciduous conifer with fibrous reddish bark. Soft green leaves turn yellow, pink and red in autumn. Grows to over 30m (100ft)

Notes On November

I like November, it is one of my favourite months. For a start off the colours are so wonderful, better by far than anything we can create with fireworks, although I will admit that the smell of woodsmoke and cordite on a misty evening is one of the most atmospheric and memorable moments of the year. I love the way the leaves crunch underfoot, and that without the covering on the trees nature seems so much more accessible, the rotund little garden birds energetically falling on anything we care to put out, especially this year when fruits and berries are in short supply. The hedgehogs are shuffling around my garden again looking for nooks and crannies in which to hibernate, I knew they were there when Chum failed to be tempted back inside with cries of "biscuit" from the backdoor! I also like the fact that there are plenty of jobs to be getting on with outside, most of them active enough to keep you warm on chilly mornings, but not so pressing that an extra hour under the duvet will make a difference, nature is in no hurry now and she will forgive us gardeners for taking our leisure as the old year slips away. That is where I shall be tomorrow morning, college has been cancelled whilst they organise our new tutor, an unexpected lie in, bliss!

"How silently they tumble down,
And come to rest upon the ground,
To lay a carpet rich and rare,
Beneath the trees without a care,
Content to sleep, their work well done,
Colours gleaming in the sun"
Elsie N Brady

"I'm not coming out until Chum's back inside!"

Not A Good Day

Monday didn't start off badly, just the usual routine, up at six pack lunch to make and then off out into a bright frosty morning. The walled garden looked beautiful with its covering of ice, like sugar frosting painted on by a master confectioner. When the ground is frozen like that there's no digging to be done so Nikki and I settled down to pruning the summer raspberry canes, cutting out the old dying wood and tying in the new growth that will fruit next year. Whether it was a combination of the bright sunshine and the cold that brought on a migraine I cannot say, but by midday it had turned into a real humdinger. Giles kindly drove me into Ripon to catch the bus home to bed, unfortunately in my hurry to escape the blinding sunshine and my headache I hadn't zipped up my rucksack properly and later on I discovered that my brand new waterproof jacket was missing. I waited for the boy to return from school and sent him out to look for it but to no avail, making today a painful and expensive experience, oh well we all have them don't we.

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you sow" Robert Louis Stevenson

A Family Feast

As you may have noticed I've been AWOL this week, taking a breather with Dave and the kids at the coast, so it was with a certain amount of reluctance that I heaved myself into the frosty morning air yesterday. A week off made me feel chilly and stiff to start with but I soon picked up the rhythm again joining the girls in cutting back the round border, each of us trying to remember what needed our attention, what it was called and indeed what it looked like when in flower, not an easy job when all around you has turned to brown mush! Luckily for me it was to be an easy day again as we were celebrating Giles' birthday at lunchtime, Lord and Lady Graham presiding over a feast of hot and comforting pumpkin soup made from our own produce of course, followed by a beautiful iced chocolate cake. They do make us feel like we all belong to a large and rather eccentric family!

"Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast"
William Shakespeare

Gardeners Nose

The end of October is early in the season to be afflicted by gardeners nose, but when I observed a light dusting of snow yesterday morning I knew it was probably here to stay until the spring. Let me explain about gardeners nose, it doesn't matter how refined your upbringing, all fellow gardeners are troubled by a terminal drip at the start of winter, you might have a large mans handkerchief, a dainty scrap of lace or simply a piece of tissue, it matters not, you will not be able to use it. With hands encased in two sets of gloves, with fingers like sausages already covered in muck, there is no hope of reaching into your pocket and politely wiping the offending organ. Going against all that your aged relatives ever taught you, you either drip or swipe with the back of your glove if clean enough! So with snowy toes and drippy noses it seemed a good time to say goodbye to the cut flower border, confining the dahlias to the orangery and the annuals to the compost heap. winter has arrived too early this year.


"One kind word can warm three winter months" Japanese proverb

A Pudding!

I'm not sure what came over me yesterday, maybe it was the shock of losing yet another tutor from our RHS course, when we go back after half term we shall be having a new chap, that's the third since we began in September!!! Anyway I decided to cook a meal from scratch, as my family will tell you that doesn't happen very often and even more infrequent is the production of a pudding. I guess I've been shamed into it really as I'm overrun with apples, having had a hand in the grafting, pruning and general maintenance of two orchards it really would have been criminal then not to produce something with the end product. I chose to make an Eve's pudding, not too hard for a hopeless cook like me and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it, but don't worry I'll not change direction and go into catering, I draw the line at making custard!

"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe"
Carl Sagan

The Coat

Monday was a really clarty old day, that's a grand old word and for those of you who don't speak Yorkshire it means dull and dirty. We were certainly the latter by the end of it, digging through the north border in a steady drizzle, thank goodness we had Shandy to help us raise a smile. Firstly she caught a baby rabbit and came trotting over to show us, we dutifully praised her efforts but had to put a downer on her day when she kept on trying to bury it in the patch we were digging over, somewhat disgruntled she eventually settled down to eat it in case we tried to steal it I think! Tea-break saw Giles produce a surprise for her from out of his basket, she has been prone to fits of shivering lately when she's run out of energy from critter chasing so Carol, Giles's wife had bought her a little coat. I'm not sure if she was too pleased to be swaddled up but we were all having fits of giggles at the expression on her little black face. A spot of apple picking in the rain was also enlivened by her antics later, when Giles climbed the tree and started throwing us girls an apple each to place in the basket she cried until every forth apple was thrown to her, she definitely is one of the team!

"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments towards organizational objectives.It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results" Anon

Webs

October is spider month, I'm finding them everywhere at the moment, but after a year of being a gardener I find that I don't mind them so much any more. Much worse are the biting gnats that live under the apple tree in the spring garden we are renovating at present, they plague Nikki so much she has to wear a hat even on the warmest of days. It's been a big job but we finished it yesterday, each plant has been dug up and checked for weed, the worst offenders being thrown away, we must have unearthed at least a thousand allium bulbs which we must find homes for on Monday! The idea is to leave the area fallow for a year and if any weeds recur they can be blasted with weed killer before we consider a new planting scheme for 2014. But I digress, I don't mind the spiders because they eat the pesky flies but on a balmy October day their webs engulf us and there is nothing worse than finding your face entwined in gossamer threads, usually when you have your hands full and cannot wipe them away. But the baby spider lings must make their way across the garden to do their important work somehow, so I guess I'll just have to learn to live with the feeling.

"I trust in nature for the stable laws of beauty and utility. Spring shall plant and autumn garner to the end of time"
Robert Browning

A Little Piece Of Parcevall

We took a field trip today thanks to our tutor Jo Makin, she used to be head gardener at Parcevall hall, a wonderful arts and crafts garden dating back to 1927, so she managed to sneak us in for free. The hall itself is now a religious retreat and I can well imagine how soothing to the soul it is to gaze out and contemplate life, when faced with the natural wonders that surround it in this peaceful Wharfedale valley. We had permission to take seeds and berries home with us for propagation, so I chose some Leycesteria formosa berries as the bracts look fabulous at this time of year, fingers crossed that they grow.

Leycesteria formosa

Enough of this rambling on, I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

"That pleasure which is at once the most pure, the most elevating and the most intense, is derived, I maintain, from the contemplation of the beautiful"
Edgar Allan Poe