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

Autumn Comes To The Garden

Whilst I was away gallivanting in Chester over the weekend Autumn has stolen into the walled garden. There was a hard frost Friday night which saw the rest of the team scrambling to harvest the remaining fruits and tender veg. When I arrived back yesterday morning the greenhouse looked very bare without its jewel like adornment of ruby tomatoes, in their place sat the crown prince squash looking fat and glaucous promising sweetness for stews and soups over the winter. The dahlia stems have started to blacken and that signals the start of the cutting back season it doesn't really make for riveting narration, so in the weeks to come I'll try and keep my eyes peeled for unusual fungi and small critter sightings to amuse you with instead.

"Autumn, the years last and loveliest smile"
William Cullen Bryant

Testing Times

This weeks examples for discussion and committing to memory

Week five of the practical RHS2 course at Harlow Carr finds us really getting down to the nitty gritty. Today we were tested on the reasons for taking soil samples, all the plant specimens we have seen so far and then given another dozen to identify and learn. Jo has given us fair warning that she could ask us the names of any plants she has brought in so far, at any time throughout the year, so we'd better know our stuff! Couple that with the mountain of paperwork and our boots and gloves that we must have for every lesson, plus whatever cuttings we may do to take home (Buxus sempervirens and Plectranthus coleiodes this week), and you can see we are getting fairly loaded down already. It takes an astonishing amount of time to research just one plant, why it is called as it is, where it comes from, its ideal conditions and what makes it memorable etc etc, and to think I thought this year would be an easier ride!
PS Having a cheeky weekend off so no P&C for a couple of days!

The Party

It was Sir James's birthday yesterday and we had been told to expect a party, so when we arrived at work in the morning we set to and cleaned up the orangery. A good sweep through and some balloons and streamers soon set the tone. Everyone signed the card, including Shandy with a neat muddy paw print and then all we had to do was work until lunchtime. There followed an unexpected twist to the celebration when Sir James presented me with my end of training certificate, then we all sat down to tuck into buns with either 'James' or 'Alison' iced on the top and a cheeky lunchtime larger! Very kind of the Grahams. it is a pleasure to work for such lovely people. Meanwhile in the vegetable garden some of the small creatures had been having a party of their own, each and every ripe cob of corn has been devoured by the pesky mice!

"Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we may as well dance" Anon

Not much left for us humans!

Harvest Home

October is a mellow time within the walled garden, the hard work and promise contained in each seedling has now come to fruition. Although not a great year for fruit, our apple trees have not produced enough of a crop for us to sell for juicing, the pears are ripening nicely and even the young vines have managed to grow a few grapes despite the lack of sunshine. At the end of every working day we gardeners are allowed to reap the rewards of our work and help ourselves to whatever is ripe or in the case of flowers that which is most beautiful. There is a bumper harvest of juicy sweetcorn now but that is best picked on the day you wish to use it, whereas many of the other crops will sit happily in the ground now until required through the winter. We are all waiting for the first frosts to sweeten the parsnips and begin to heart up the cabbages but there is plenty of variety to choose from while we wait. Yesterday I left for home with a bunch of our fabulous dahlias and a bag bulging with plum and cherry tomatoes, October is the best month to be a gardener!

"For man autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad" Edwin Way Teale

Student Perks

It was a bit of an early start at 5.45am yesterday morning but I had to catch an early train in order to rendezvous with my lift to Skipton. We left Headingley in brilliant sunshine only to descend into thick mist as we headed into the Dales where our unheated porta-cabin classroom awaited us. Why do people always assume us gardeners can adjust to any temperature range? Luckily I needn't have worried, the sun burnt off the fret just as we made our way outside to take soil samples. Soil testing is the first of the 'must do' activities and we shall be tested on the theory behind it next lesson. The highlight of the day for me, and certainly worth the journey, was being issued with my student card, this means I can claim discount in many high-street stores for a whole year, it made me feel very young again at 44!

"You are as young as you feel. If you begin to feel the warmth of your soul, there will be a youthfulness in you that no one will be able to take away from you" John O'Donohue

A Moment In Time

We resumed the renovation of the clock tower garden yesterday, mercifully in more clement weather than last Monday. It really is starting to look like a proper garden again with neat edging, new shrubs and all the debris cleared away. It was a good way to start the month with Nikki back working with us for the winter, and our first bonfire of the season. I love a good blaze but must remember not to get too close and burn my eyelashes off again this year! Sir James must have been impressed by our efforts because he invited us to take a look around the clock tower itself. It's always a pleasure to explore another unseen historic building at Norton Conyers and as you can see from the photos this one  is especially atmospheric. Giles reckons it is the only building on the estate in which he has heard unexplained footsteps behind him! So with bonfires and ghosts a very apt way to introduce October.

" Listen! The wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves, we have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!" Humbert Wolfe