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