Unforeseen Circumstances

Due to unforeseen circumstances I've had to take a bit of time off from the garden at Norton Conyers, some might say I'm skiving the bad weather! With a bit of luck I hope to be back with you all soon.

"The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispostion, and not upon our circumstances"
Martha Washington

Old Friend

A misty November morning greeted us yesterday, it may have been dull but there were plenty of sultry photo opportunities. I just love the way the spiders webs decorate every shrub and the skeletal remains of summers bounty. We are now getting stuck into the big clear up, which means donning waterproof trousers first thing if you wish to stay dry. I bought some new ones at the weekend, they are so thick there isn't the slightest danger of getting wet from the outside. However when the weather is mild like it is now, you are certainly in danger of becoming fairly moist from the inside, it is like being wrapped in a large plastic bag, roll on the frosts! Digging through the borders I soon noticed that we had been joined by and old friend, a robin had spotted the free lunch option of freshly dug worms and was availing himself of the opportunity. I would like to think that it is the same robin that joined us in the orangery last winter, Giles named him Fat Boy because he was very partial to Christmas cake crumbs. We know he has raised two broods deep in the climbing hydrangea by the bothy and because he came so close to us we can only assume he is our pet. He very obligingly posed for my photographs, and was good at keeping us company all day, I wish him a good winter with us.
"It takes a long time to grow an old friend"
John Leonard

Fat Boy

Lovely Leaves

It's that time of year again, the autumn leaves demand our attention both in their sheer beauty and the collossal amount we have to deal with. I spent some of the morning wielding the leaf blower and removing the leaves from the roadways, things quickly deteriorate into an unmoveable sludge, which is slippery, if you don't do this regularly, of course soon afterwards a breeze got up and blew the whole lot back again! Such is gardening, but it keeps us in employment!

"...I see
the turning of a leaf
dancing in autumn sun,
and brilliant shades of crimson
glowing when day is done...
Hazelmarie Elliot

Harvest Home

There has been a finality about today that suits the end of October. I mowed the car parks and larger areas of the garden with the tractor, whilst Nicky and David took care of the hand mowing. That will be the last cut this year as the ground will now be too wet to cut without damaging the grass. All around us the apple trees keep dropping their fruit, sometimes with dangerous consequences, it can really hurt if you get clunked on the head with an apple falling from a great hight! It was definitely time to pick them. Whilst Alyson laid out the harvest with neatness and care in the apple store, we climbed up ladders and even the trees themselves to gather the best specimens. I always enjoy this part of gardening, reaping the rewards of the years toil, although the apple trees do it without any help from us. The vegetable plots have now been stripped of the summer produce and any weeds, leaving tidy rows of winter greens, Jerusalem artichokes, parsnips and sweede. All we must do now before the threatened bad weather arrives is cut down the ornamentals, such a shame to contemplate when they are still looking so fabulous, but if we are in danger of loosing working days to snow and ice we must start soon.

"Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven't planted"
David Bly

Awesome Autumn

This is without doubt the very best season of the year, in the short space of time left before winter closes down the garden, we have everything to choose from. Not only do we have fruit, nuts and berries, but the late flowering annuals are putting on their very best displays. When learning horticulture I was told that a plant must earn its place in the garden, it must have more than one season of interest, for example blossom in spring, good foliage, summer blooms and possibly fruiting bodies, edible or not, but above all else it should die 'well'. These are the months to prove that. Looking around the borders there is still much of beauty, even in the decay of some plants. I especially like the poppy seed heads and the skeletal frames of rudbekias. These of course are as much value to wild life as to the gardener, when walking the dogs last week I saw the largest flock of goldfinches I have ever seen feeding on seed heads along the Nidd Gorge cycle track, over forty at a guess! Finally the autumn colours have an intensity all their own, perhaps it is Natures firework display before the darkness, but the quality of the light gives an intense glow to all things, the luster of the elderberries or the dangerous beacon of fungus nestled amongst the detritus. All appears full but on the brink of death, and this gives an intense poignancy before the degeneration sets in.

Fall, leaves fall; die, flowers away;
Lengthen night and shorten day!
Every leaf speaks bliss to me,
Fluttering from the autumn tree....
Emily Bronte

 

Misty Morning

After two weeks holiday a full working shift is always a challenge, and after a week of beautiful weather in Spain where summer still reigns supreme, it was something of a shock to return to a wet Norton Conyers. Still the fabulous autumn colours soon made up for the persistent rain and the day went quickly enough as we set to pruning the fruit bushes. I always feel a bit nervous at first as it is easy to forget the methods from one year to the next, but with the first bush stripped bare you remember just how ruthless you can be and soon develop a rhythm.

We steadily worked our way through the currants ignoring the weather with merry chatter and I suddenly realised how glad I was to be back. Holidays are all very well, but after a week of doing nothing but pleasing myself I get restless and bored. A nights sleep after honest toil feels all the sweeter.
Remind me that I said that when we begin to prune the gooseberries next week, the worst job in gardening history!

"Just before the death of flowers, and before they are buried in snow, there comes a festival season, when nature is all aglow"
Anon

Mowing Over Apples

The apple trees at Norton Conyers are groaning with fruit at this time of year, the poor creatures are bowed down with the weight of the fruit, with some of the branches almost touching the ground. This makes mowing a more challenging task, firstly you must kick any fruit away from the mowers path, this in itself can take a considerable amount of time. The grass now is thick with dew meaning soggy feet after you have accomplished a relatively clear course. Then there are the wasps, groggy with the fermenting fruit they buzz around drunkenly, so it's best to wear gloves if you have to handle any of the fruit. The branches themselves are a hazard because they are so low, meaning you must duck and manoeuvre as best you can, but I always get one or two clonks on the head either from a branch whipping back or an apple falling on my head. Is it any wonder that I always go off eating apples at this time of year!

"Autumn seemed to arrive early that year. The first morning of September was crisp and golden as an apple"
J K Rowling. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Potatoes, Pumpkins, And Pruning

The leap from summer to autumn has been swift this year, we awoke yesterday to a misty September scene and it is now dark when I get up in the morning. Inevitably this time of year sees us begin the harvest, firstly we dug up the potato crop, a good haul this year with little slug damage and large tubers. For the first time ever no one spiked a good specimen with their fork. Then the pumpkins were wrestled from their tangle of monstrous stems and leaves on the compost heap and placed in the traditional spot on the piggery wall to season. I always enjoy the sight and know I bore you with the same photo every year! Pruning the plums came next with us all balanced precariously atop the long ladders, a task I'm beginning to find easier as I gain in experience, once Alyson told me to lean into the ladder I lost my nervousness of being up high and find each year now I'm growing in confidence. The whole day was grey and sometimes wet but despite the autumnal feel the late blooms can still pack a punch and remind you of sunnier times.

"A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition"
William Arthur Ward

Happy Days Are Here Again

The schools have gone back this morning and The Teenager #1 is settled in Edinburgh for her first term at university, happy days are indeed here again! September is such a mellow month and the colours of the main border start to reflect the waining of the year with soft mauves and pale yellows taking over from the hotter colours of August. September also brings the annual yew hedge cut, which occupied us for the whole day on Monday. Everything went swimmingly apart from a couple of wasp colonies which had set up home in the depths of the yew, Nicky and I escaped with just one sting each whilst Giles got off Scot free, not bad considering he was doing the cutting. Our volunteer Susan came to help with her granddaughter Anna, and Shandy soon had just the right amount of attention befitting the most important member of the team!

"But now in September the garden has cooled, and with it my possessiveness. The sun warms my back instead of beating on my head.... The harvest has dwindled and I have grown apart from the intense midsummer relationship that brought it on."
Robert Finch

August Blues

You might be surprised to find that August is perhaps my least favourite month. As I enter middle age I find that the heat annoys me, when I was younger I could sit and bask in it with little ill effect, now it just makes me feel sticky and grumpy. I think I even prefer February, at least you know where you stand weather wise and can always retreat indoors to a log burning stove. July is glorious in the garden as all blooms look their best, and September offers new late season flowers and a wistful mellowness, but August is just sultry and bad tempered. Then there are the flies, a constant bug bear to the gardener as they zoom around your sweat slicked brow, forcing you underneath a wide brimmed hat when it is too warm to wear one. Yesterday we went balsam bashing in the woods with the plants and nettles towering above our heads, and what do I get for my pains? An awful lot of mosquito bites and those mostly in the worst places, how do they know to bite you just under the bra straps! So forgive me the lack of inspiration at this time of year as my muse leaves me, all will be well again in a couple of weeks!

"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito"
Dalai Lama

Cuttings And Snippets

Our work was varied and interesting yesterday at Norton Conyers, just when you think there is nothing much to do Giles pulls something out of the bag to occupy the time. I'm not sure I will ever be able to remember all the jobs the gardening year demands, good thing there are many books on the subject. We spent much of our time taking salvia cuttings, the original plants have grown too large and it is difficult to store them over winter so each variety had to be reproduced for renewed vigour next year. I hadn't really done this sort of thing before but after a few attempts you get a lot quicker, just as well as eighty cuttings had to be taken of each type. First you collect the cutting material and place it into a plastic bag so it doesn't dry out, then you cut below a leaf node and remove the growing point before inserting it into the edge of a small pot of compost. After a good water the cuttings were placed into the cold frame and covered with plastic to save them drying out and extra shading placed over the glass to keep the heat down. Hopefully in about a month they will have started to grow roots and by next spring be big enough to be potted on.
Other news in the garden; Whilst I was away on holiday the weather was so foul no gardening could be attempted so the bothy was cleared out instead. It has always been a chaotic space filled with junk and rats, but with a little care it is now really interesting. All the old equipment looks great arranged around the walls and maybe with a little work we could get the fireplace working again and have somewhere warm to sit in the winter months. I think the garden visitors would like to look in too.

Plant news, Giles is especially pleased with the veratrum flowering in the bottom border. He thinks the colour is especially deep and a little unusual. Who knows maybe we could  have a new variety on our hands, to be called Veratrum Norton Conyers perhaps?!

"Green fingers are a fact, and a mystery only to the unpractised. But green fingers are the extension of a verdant heart. A good garden cannot be made by somebody who has not developed the capacity to know and love growing things"
Russell Page

A new veratrum perhaps?

Gardeners 3 Rabbits 0

Our fight against the garden rabbits continues, yesterday morning there were three in the vegetable patch and we knew we either had to get rid of them or lose the rest of our now depleted crop of cabbages. Cruel as it may seem the quickest way is to use the dogs and yesterday we had Shandy the mighty rabbit hunter and Bramble the daft labrador from coachman's cottage as our arsenal. Whilst Giles, Walter, Alyson and Nicky patrolled inside with sticks, I held the gate to ensure they didn't run under the netting. It wasn't long before rabbits were flying in all directions and maybe about ten minutes before Shandy made the first kill. Quickly making sure the unfortunate creature was dead it was thrown next to me on the grass and we all returned to the fray. Soon enough there was another scuffle in the place where I stood, having given it a good clout with my stick as it passed the dogs were soon on it and before they could devour it it joined the other on the grass beside me. The only problem was this poor thing wasn't dead and kept twitching and trying to get up, as the others were engaged with the last rabbit it was down to me to dispatch it, I didn't enjoy it but I also couldn't let it suffer so finished it quickly. Bunny number three followed thankfully leaving a pest free veg patch, and as Shandy claimed her prizes and took them off for burial, we stopped for a well earned tea break.
Things elsewhere in the garden are much calmer as we head towards August, one of the quietest months for a gardener, we will manage the weeds, dead head and mow until Autumn brings the harvest.

"Zucchinis terrific, like bunnies prolific!"
Anon

Make Time For Thyme

I read many magazine and newspaper articles about which are the best plants to grow for attracting bees and butter flies, and yet few mention the simple delights of thyme. It is at its very best at the moment, quietly modest in size and often unnoticed over the more exuberant summer blooms, yet there it sits with pretty pink flowers covered by our most coveted insect friends. It is a hardy plant unless you want to grow the smallest alpine species. There are dozens of varieties to choose from many that have culinary uses, insects flock to it, no pest will eat it, and it will grow in difficult soils and is drought resistant. Just give it full sun and you will be rewarded with all these wonderful properties, what's not to love!
This week the house at Norton Conyers is open for the first time in many years, and yesterday was the first day we gardeners have worked with many visitors and a tea room in full swing. Whilst the others went off to cut the meadow I managed to answer a few gardening questions, pick some soft fruit and generally help with visitor enquiries, and thoroughly enjoyed myself to boot!. During the morning we toured the house ourselves to inspect the flower arrangements made up entirely from blooms from the garden, see the picture below of the great hall looking resplendent. The house is only open for this one week, so if you want to visit ring up to book a tour and don't forget to visit the garden afterwards!

"I know a bank where the wild thyme grows"
William Shakespeare

When Nature Ventures In

There have been more unusual visitors at Norton Conyers today. Giles and I were helping move furniture in preparation for the grand opening in a couple of weeks time, and this necessitated the opening of the double front doors. The house itself is a stately home, but a home nonetheless to Lord and Lady Graham who are busily attempting to display the many antiques to best advantage. However for me the charm lies best in the personal touches that illuminate the history of the occupants, like the toy train that adorns a surface next to more valuable china. Taking advantage of the unexpected invitation three swallows decided to pay us a visit and were soon swooping around the lofty ceiling as if viewing the treasures first before the official opening. As it happens the swallow that flies into your home will bring considerable good luck according to British folklore, so they foretell that the house opening will be a great success!

Luckily Shandy knows her place and will not put mucky paw prints on the floor.

Meanwhile in the garden the peaches are ripe and luscious on the trees, ready to be plucked and consumed warm and fragrant, as fresh as may be had anywhere. The peach is also an auspicious symbol according to the Chinese, it brings long life and is associated with immortality. So all the omens are looking good!

"True hope is swift and flies with swallows wings"
William Shakespeare

Wild Orchids

Dave and I were up with the lark yesterday morning, my lift to work being on holiday, so we decided to walk the dogs at a local park on the way to Norton Conyers before he dropped me off. Imagine my delight to come across hundreds of wild orchids, they are Dactylorhiza maculata, the heath orchid and they really got my day off to a good start. Meanwhile in the garden everything is looking splendid, especially after the torrential downpours of the last few days, when I left work last Monday the plants were looking decidedly crispy so it was good to see them having drunk their fill and practically doubled in size since last I saw them. We contented ourselves with weeding and pruning for most of the day, this being the ideal time to shape the shrubs that have finished flowering for this year, if you give them a good trim now they still have plenty of time to form strong new growth and good flowering potential for next year. It never ceases to surprise me just how brutal you can be taking out the old wood, and although admittedly things look a little scrappy for a while it takes no time for new growth to kick in, so don't be too timid!

"Wisdom is often nearer when we stoop than when we soar"
William Wordsworth

Dratted Rabbits

The bunnies in the garden have got to go! As we made our way to the vegetable patch yesterday morning the first thing we saw was a rabbit, this being despite our best efforts to fence the area off. It quickly became apparent that there had been a rabbit party going on, all the onions, leeks and cabbages had been nibbled to within an inch of their lives, particularly annoying for me because I planted the majority of them! With no hope of catching the offending creatures as Shandy was absent that day, we spent much of our time attempting to cobble together some rabbit deterrents to save what remained of our crops. Then we had to construct a piece of netting by sowing two large pieces together to drape over the currants to stop the marauding birds eating all of those. Sometimes gardeners fight a constant battle with Mother Nature in order to get our portion, we don't mind sharing but leaving nothing for us is just too much!
"There is no delight in owning anything unshared"
Seneca

An Exotic Visitor

We get many visitors in the garden at Norton Conyers, although none as exotic as yesterdays. A big do was planned for invited guests of the national open gardens scheme hosted by the sponsors Investec, whose logo happens to be a zebra. A good job it wasn't a real one as the peonies might have been in danger! Imagine our surprise when the beast arrived in a large wagon during the morning, it was nothing compared with that of the real horse that happened to be grazing in the paddock next door though!
The garden is just about reaching its peek now and if you visit in the next couple of weeks you'll see the peony border in all its glory.

"Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity"
John Ruskin

Floral Fireworks And Fidos

The walled garden of Norton Conyers has suddenly exploded into colour, and no plant represents this floral firework display as aptly as Allium cristophii. I never cease to wonder how nature manages this star burst arrangement of flowers with such panache and the metallic sheen of purple is magical. I have only two in my own garden and so look forward to them emerging, only without fail for one of the dogs to knock the heads off! I speak about more than one dog because we have acquired a pound pooch recently. Tommy is a very sweet Border/Lakeland cross with one or two problems we hope to sort out with time. He has taken to my garden rather enthusiastically having created one or two new paths in order to "converse" with next door's cat, and has dug a special hole at the base of the plum tree. I can only be thankful that he seems disinclined to actually eat the plants, only time will tell!
Here he is looking angelic, which he certainly is not,

and here is one of Shandy performing her duties as garden guard dog!

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our life whole"
Roger Caras

Wretched Wind

What an unseasonal May we have had, the weather as unpredictable as I've ever known it in this normally cheery month, and the wretched wind just will not go away. We have been leaving work with cheeks as cherry red as if we had worked a day in October. They say it is something to do with El Niño upsetting the weather patterns around the world and that we shall have a bad winter as a result, there's a piece of good news for you! Meanwhile it has not been helping us gardeners especially as we have been busy with the big plant out. Dahlias, salvias and vegetables have all been placed out in the garden, but you try planting tiny thin leeks when the wind is blowing a hooley! Hopefully we shall see better things to come soon as a little heat is just what we all need now.

"The pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects it to change, the realist adjusts his sails"
William Arthur Ward

My Auntie Pam

I don't normally go off piste so to speak, preferring to stick to gardening topics, but this week I've had a very special gift and wanted to share it with you all. As you can see from the photo I was lucky to receive this beautiful hand made blanket from my auntie Pam, I think it's one of the nicest presents I've ever been given. The work involved must have taken hours and it will be a treasured possession. I'm not sure about the suggestion that it travel up to Edinburgh with my daughter when she goes to university though, the state of her bedroom at home does not warrant such a pretty thing!
Auntie Pam mentions in her card that she recently put  one on e-bay and it sold within four hours, I'm not at all surprised, everyone would want a blanket made with such care.
So a big thank you to auntie Pam and uncle Bill for my lovely birthday present.

"It isn't the size of the gift that matters, but the size of the heart that gives it"
Eileen Elias Freeman

Chilly May #2

Mmmmm not much chance of drying my washing under these conditions. Blooming May!

"A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water"
Carl Reiner

Chilly May

The weather continues disappointingly cold, meaning I have been wearing full winter rig in May! My seedlings at home are sulking as are the dahlias at Norton Conyers, of which some have yet to appear at all. I hope we get some sunshine soon as there are only three more growing months before it's all downhill once more! It may be chilly but we are banking on there being no more serious frosts here and have planted the salvias out, this job takes a full half day but I enjoy seeing the borders fill up again. My own garden is coming along nicely and I have high hopes that some of the plants I have grown from seed will finally flower this year, and although my seedlings have not germinated very well, I think it is just as well being as there is no space left in my borders. I may have to offload some freebies to friends and family, but that gives me as much pleasure as watching things mature in my own space.

"Happiness held is the seed, happiness shared is the flower"
John Harrigan

Green Is The Colour

It comes as no surprise to me that the birth stone for May is emerald. Everywhere you look the land has awoken with a vibrant verdant lushness that can only herald the arrival of this most pleasant month.
Norton Conyers is now flexing its growing muscles and each day brings a new delight to cherish as Spring makes its presence felt. There is to be a grand dinner at the house on Friday hosted by Sotherbys, to present the HHA restoration award to Lord and Lady Graham, so we have been busy mowing with a vengeance and tidying up the clock tower garden where the restored summer house is looking lovely. We have still found time to wander down to the lake to admire the bluebells though, life is too short not to appreciate the things nature gives us for free!

"Green fingers are the extension of a verdant heart"
Russell Page

Glorious Day

I was reminded again yesterday how lucky I am being able to work outside on what was a glorious spring day. The colours of the garden appeared at their most vibrant set as they were against a cloudless afternoon sky. We spent most of the morning putting up the plant supports in the main border, a job I always enjoy as you always end up with such different shapes when you build them with hazel sticks. We are late doing them this year making pushing the sticks deeply into the earth rather difficult, especially after such a dry spell. After lunch we moved onto the eternal task of weeding, now that the temperatures are rising the weeds grow at twice the rate of the garden plants and we shall be waging a constant war on them until late September.

"For in the nature of things, if we consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver"
Martin Luther

Progress

One of the areas of the garden much in need of renovation is now nearly complete. The spring garden has been replanted and although it will take a couple of years for things to settle in, it is already looking more cohesive. Giles has laid a new path with a bird bath feature at the cross section, it has yet to be gravelled and the bath cemented in place but I can already see the pleasure the birds will have using it, and us watching them use it. He plans to grow a dwarf water lily in the receptacle which would look sweet, but I have a feeling that Shandy might take a liking to the odd bath too which might be troublesome!

One of the stars of the spring garden at the moment is this little plant on the left, Mertensia  virginica  it is fully hardy and once it has flowered completely disappears until the next spring. My photo doesn't do the colour justice as the blue is really intense and brightens up any woodland setting. Placed amongst hellebores, hostas and trilliums it will make quite a show.







"He who moves not forward, goes backward"
Johan Wolfgang Von Goethe