A Spirited Team

Before pruning

Yet another cold day yesterday, this is getting too repetitive for me as I had hoped to abandon the hat with ears by now but cannot dare as the temperatures hover only just above zero. One job guaranteed to warm us up is attacking the ivy that grows up the estate walls and sawing through stems as thick as trunks themselves as they attempt to strangle the big trees. This insidious creeper enlarges the tree canopy making it more likely to catch the wind and bring a mighty specimen down. After lunch we moved on to thinning the willow hedge ready for tying the best branches back into the framework, traditionally this is Nikki's last task before she returns to work in the nursery for the summer, we will miss her wicked sense of humour and infectious laugh for a few months but when she returns later on in the year it will be for good. So the winter team has broken up again which is sad, but we've had loads of fun and gotten much done and this indicates that spring summer beckon.

"Individual commitment to a group effort, that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilisation work"
Vince Lombarix

Making progress, end result to be shown next week

A Sense Of Achievement

Another bitterly cold morning, when will we feel some warmth again?

I'm so glad it's Sunday with nothing more strenuous to contend with than walking Chum and losing myself in the weekend papers because I'm knackered! On Friday morning I made my way to Knaresborough to work with Mark and Lisa of Greengate Gardening for a day, now I thought I was quite fit but that was before I'd worked at their Trojan pace for eight hours. We were charged with making a garden ready for spring in a sort of one off blitz sort of visit involving dividing and re-planting perennials, digging over borders, removing unwanted shrubs and generally tidying up. We only just managed to finish by five o'clock, but I did feel a sense of achievement that I'd managed to keep pace with that couple of dynamos! Yesterday I was back at Norton despite feeling stiff where we girls potted up approx 210 dahlias including making trips to the compost heap to dig what was needed, last year we potted 192 but as the blooms were so spectacular in the summer there was more to do this time.
Finally I'm in The Garden magazine again on page 91 of the March edition if anyone wants to put a face to the blogger!

Happy anniversary Mum and Dad, 51 years of happy marriage is quite an achievement too.

"It's not the mountain we conquer but ourselves"
Edmund Hillary

The only way to keep warm is to keep working!

Half Term Bowl Of Cherries

Apologies for the lack of blogging activity so far this week but it is half term which means I've got teenagers to amuse and feed throughout the day as well as fitting work in. At Norton Conyers on Monday we finished tree planting, tidied away prunings from the grassy areas and continued digging through the borders so I didn't think it was worth a post of its own. Tuesday I took teenager #1 into Leeds shopping which cost me an arm and a leg all in return for what I'm not sure, I must be being rewarded with her company in exchange for never tidying her bedroom and refusing to remember to turn any lights off when last to leave the house on a morning! Wednesday saw me back at Spofforth for the first time this year and I'm pleased to report that Diana and Brian are both well. Di and I tackled the big clean up after the winter floods which means we can proceed with shrub and apple tree pruning next week. Thursday, shopping with teenager #2 for new school shoes, oh my life is just a bowl of cherries! Friday, I've got a days work in Knaresborough with my chum Lisa from college last year so that should be fun, more on that as it happens. Good job I called a housework moratorium this week!

"Life is just a bowl of cherries, don't take it serious, it's mysterious, so live and laugh"
Bob Fosst

A Plethora Of Planting

Beautiful spring primroses

I've been a very busy girl this week having ventured into my own garden an unprecedented three times for February, mainly because there have been glimmers of spring and as I finally went shopping at the garden centre and had lots of preparation to attend to before planting. Keeping a eye on the weather which was forecast to be awful on Wednesday, and indeed was, I took the opportunity to dig over my winter compacted borders and plot the exact positions of my new acquisitions. Thursday I planted ten of the packets of seeds which arrived from the RHS a couple of weeks ago, those that benefit from a period of cold stratification to aid germination as I have a feeling we're not done with winter just yet. Then on Friday my new plants went in, each with a sprinkling of mycorrhizal fungi to aid good root growth. My choices were

Sorbus 'Olympic Flame'

Rosa 'kiftsgate'

Rosa 'Soilder Boy'

Garrya elliptica

Buddleja alternifolia

Feeling very satisfied with my weeks work I arrived at Norton Conyers on Saturday to find it was tree planting time again, so between us we planted over 100 bare root native saplings in the woods complete with stakes and guards before finishing off the gooseberry pruning- PHEW!

"Of all the wonderful things in the wonderful universe of God, nothing seems to me more surprising than the planting of a seed in the blank earth and the result therefore"
Julie Moir Messervy

Goosegogs Again

As I feared we were back in the woods again on Monday morning after a thorough soaking on Sunday made the ground unworkable, but luckily there was no lying snow. We continued to clear away debris and for most of the morning I was in charge of the bonfire, not as much fun as usual though because I was stood in a soggy ditch, my feet were soon cold and claggy with mud whilst my face scorched. Afternoon saw a change of task as we moved onto gooseberry pruning, I'm pretty ambivalent about this fruit I must admit. Each tortured prickly bush is a challenge to get into shape and delivers vicious thorns and scratches whilst you wrestle with it. I don't even like to eat them due to memories of soggy school gooseberry pie! At least we only have to do it once a year which is just as well considering that the birds ate every berry last year much to Sir James' chagrin! So all in all not my favourite working day of the year so far, but after we finish the gooseberries next week things can only look up!

"Derive happiness in oneself from a good days work, From illuminating the fog that surrounds us"
Henri Mattisse

Earth Stirrings

Back in the garden at last yesterday after a month of woods work, it was surprising how much we missed the warmth of a bonfire on what was a pretty cold morning. It didn't help that we stood around for a fair bit discussing where to plant various trees and shrubs. We have morphed back into planters and nurturers which feels good after a winter of felling and burning which is necessary to maintain both garden and parkland. It was also interesting to observe the subtle changes occurring slowly in hidden corners and admire the snowdrops and hellebores beautifying the February earth with their shy charm. Unfortunately the weather today is turning snowy again so our pleasure in the emerging spring may be short lived, but we've been patient this long, another couple of weeks will matter not.

"Keep your faith in beautiful things, in the sun when it's hidden, in the spring when it's gone"
Roy G Gibson

Bangers And Bugs

My coat looks better on Shandy than it does on me!

Not much of note to mention today other than we have managed to clear our way right around the lake now and in doing so have uncovered the pet graveyard. Luckily there is nothing too sentimental as I'm a bit of a softie when it comes to things like that. Wortek brought us polish sausages for our fire side lunch and they were very delicious, Shandy is becoming increasingly bold at lunchtime now and will surely be sadly let down when we return to normal lunches next week. Finally I found an interesting ladybird, orange with white spots and when I looked it up later on it mentioned that the Halyzia 16-guttata species was once considered an indicator of ancient woodland although it is more widespread these days, so all in all another productive day.

"We hope that when the insects take over the world, they will remember with gratitude how we took them along on all our picnics"
Bill Vaughn

Signs Of Spring

We worked all day yesterday in glorious sunshine, a welcome change from the gloom of late and all around us definite signs of spring are appearing. This has been the first time we have seen the herons this year, gathering like prehistoric pterodactyls on the tree tops around the lake, I think the sunshine turned their thoughts to nesting again. Our chatter was also of warmer times as we discussed which flowers would adorn our own gardens this summer, already all of us are itching to start the cycle by nestling our precious seeds in the good earth once more, even after the dreadful weather last year hope forever springs eternal in a gardeners heart. Monday will be our last day working around the lake this year, it is almost time to turn from lumberjacks to tillers and sowers again.

"One swallow does not make a spring, nor does one fine day"
Aristotle

Shandy likes the thought of spring too!

Life Through A Lens

I've got yet another new camera, as a gardener who likes to take snaps of whatever is going on I do seem to go through quite a few. Hopefully this one will live up to its name, all the others have met their end by becoming clogged with grit and exposed to more moisture than was probably wise, "Bluey" though is water, dirt and cold proof and will even withstand being dropped off a ladder. It might even take decent pictures! Only time will tell. I'm not much of a photographer I admit, but I hope you all enjoy getting a glimpse into my somewhat eccentric world. At last we have kissed goodbye to January the month of discontent, now we must wrestle with February and it's commercial pitfall of Valentines day, in the months defence though it is mercifully short and the bulbs are feeling brave enough to peek above the soil at last, hope is being offered to us once more.

"The virtue of the camera is not the power it has to transform the photographer into an artist, but the impulse it gives to keep on looking"
Brooks Atkinson