A Big Deal

More of the same at Norton Conyers this week which doesn't make for very interesting blogging, but the weather was glorious again too and as it was just us girls working today we enjoyed getting stuck in as we chatted the day away having our usual laughs. At one stage we were visited by a flock of long tailed tits with their delighted trilling and diving which put me in mind of ourselves but airborne!
The big deal was about me driving our new car for the first time, OK it was only to the end of the private drive at Norton but it was the first time in over twelve years and I didn't hit anything so I'm well chuffed. I will need some refresher lessons before unleashing myself on public highways once again but it is a start. The day ended with a beautiful sunset which I tried to take a photo of from the car, it doesn't do the colours justice but was truly glorious to see.
"when I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my heart expands in worship of the creator"
Mahatma Ganghi

Shades Of Autumn

We had a hard frost first thing on Saturday morning, the ground being too hard to work we were back on leaf collecting duty until lunch time, if we don't remove them from the grass it will die so unfortunately it is a necessary evil. Despite the nip in the air it was a beautifully clear day with bright sunshine which really picked out the russet colours of autumn, good days now are few and far between so we pressed on in high spirits. More digging and cutting back followed as we gradually work our way around the garden, it certainly looks smart when we have finished an area, weed free the rich earthy soil looks smart against the barks and skeletons of shrubs, a thing you can only appreciate at this time of year.
"The rich colours of grass and earth were intensified by the mellow light of a sun almost warm enough for spring"
P.D.James

Time Flies

As the length of the days gradually slip towards winter our list of  tasks in the garden becomes shortened too, it is also dictated by the weather meaning that just about all we could hope to achieve on a wet morning was leaf collecting. There is not much point in identifying the worker in the photo as we all looked pretty much identical dressed in soggy waterproofs. Much to our amazement the rain did clear after lunch turning the temperature much colder with it, first thing this morning was really quite mild but later on we could see our breath misting the air. Cutting back the borders continued in the afternoon seeing us make good progress, only the round garden, peach house and main border to go now meaning we should be finished in time to begin the woods work in January. This will be my third winter working outside, how time flies!

"Time sometimes flies like a bird, sometimes crawls like a snail, but man is happiest when he does not even notice whether it passes swiftly or slowly"
Ivan Turgenev

Heavy Weather

Intermittently foul weather meant a patchy days work at Norton Conyers yesterday. We managed a couple of hours cutting back and digging through the borders before a heavy shower saturated everything. Next we cleaned up the mowers by scraping the compacted grass from the cutters, I never knew fermented grass could smell so disgusting! Lunchtime brought another heavy shower when we attended a party at Gardeners Cottage where the tenants are moving on to pastures new, I always find a glass of champagne is very pleasant but not conducive to an afternoon of hard graft! However we did manage to prune the currants until home time. Consequently I didn't manage to take any photos, so instead you have one of my new Sorbus living up to its name of 'Olympic Flame', it really does light up the garden at this time of year.

"Bad weather always looks worse through a window"
Tom Lehrer

The Dahlias

We had the first hard frost of the year this morning, it was cold enough to warrant wearing my hat with ears again, at least until leaf collecting in the stable yard warmed us through. Inevitably the dahlias had been knocked back hard by the low temperatures, they looked blackened and soggy as the stems are hollow and watery so we decided to dig them up for winter storage. This job took the rest of the day due to the number of tubers to store but Shandy seemed content to sit in the sunshine and snooze while we did all the work, no rabbits were caught by old lazy bones today!

"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

Many Medlars

Having become used to mild weather these past months it was something of a shock to feel cold again this morning, although I don't know why considering that it is now November. We continued on with cutting back the herbaceous borders until lunchtime when a spell of heavy rain put paid to our efforts, there is no point paddling around on wet soil as you cause more harm than good. The afternoon saw us picking medlars, a somewhat strange and unloved little fruit that has to its fame the fact that it is available in winter, it also needs to be bletted (browned by rot) before you can eat it raw or make it into jelly. It makes a lovely pinkish jelly which is quite delicious so Alyson and Giles say but I've not tried it myself. D H Lawrence didn't seem to have a very high opinion of it however as he wrote of it "Wineskins of brown morbidity, autumnal excrementa....an exquisite odour of leave taking"! So maybe I'll reserve judgement until I've tasted them myself.

"Since golden October declined into sombre November, and the apples were stored, and the land became brown sharp points of death in a waste of water and mud"
T S Eliot