Old Friends And New

Now is the best time to see the main borders at Harlow Carr

It was a pleasant feeling to be walking back into the Bramall Learning centre at Harlow Carr yesterday, a bit like meeting an old friend after a summer away. I knew there would be a classroom full of new people to meet, it's always a joy to converse with someone who enjoys the same things as yourself, but I wasn't expecting our tutor to be the same Richard who guided us through the gruelling theory course last year. I'm delighted that it is so, now I know we can expect a thorough grounding in the practical side of things from a guy who really knows his stuff.  He has already warned us to be suited and booted for our next lesson, as I remember last years students didn't make it outside for for weeks! This bodes well for another year of fun.

"Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose"
Tenessee Williams

Healing Hedges

The boys started at 7.30 to get to this stage when I arrived an hour later

There are magnificent twin yew hedges along the main borders at Norton Conyers, the rich dark green foliage acts as a perfect foil to all the colourful perennials that display throughout the year. Taxus bacata is not just a good evergreen hedge however, the new growth contains a cancer busting chemical that the medical industry use to produce drugs, and our task yesterday was to trim the hedges and collect the clippings to sell to that industry. Thankfully the boys were in charge of the actual cutting, not a job I would relish perched up a ladder with a heavy petrol trimmer in hand, that meant I was barrow monkey for the day. I'm not sure how many trips I made out to the car park where the bags were sitting, but I reckon it was a fair distance and a fair weight I carried. At the end of the day when the clippings were collected and weighed they amounted to half a tonne, a pretty exhausting days work, thank goodness it only happens once a year!

"Love your neighbour, yet don't pull down your hedge" Benjamin Franklin

Renovation Day

Bumpy hedge, bumpy old dog.

Sometimes when you're gardening you have to be cruel to be kind, ultimately to improve a failing or wayward plant. Giles and I set out to amend two such specimens yesterday. The first being the small box hedge which runs from the entrance to the apple store, it had become badly misshapen with bulges and splits everywhere, admittedly it hadn't been helped by the old eucalyptus tree falling on it during felling last year. The only way we could correct it was by cutting it in half and allowing for re-growth, pretty drastic action but I think it actually looks better than we expected, although it will be some years before it is whole again.

Secondly we had to help out one of the apple trees, burdened with a heavy crop and susceptible to wind rock the poor thing had just keeled over. We cut out a lot of the top growth and propped it up with a natural stake, hopefully if we give it a high phosphorus feed it will grow stronger roots and stay put.
Monday is yew hedge cutting day and I've been warned to have a big breakfast!

"Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong" Leo F. Buscaqlia

Success!

I'm astonished and delighted to report that I've passed my exams as follows;
Plant Science-commendation
Pests and Diseases-commendation
Propagation-pass
Ornamentals-pass
Fruit and Veg-pass
Garden Design-pass (goodness only knows how!)
Soils-pass
Protected Cultivation-pass
YIPPEE!!!!!

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing you will be successful. Herman Cain

A Surprise

I had a surprise the other day when one of my neighbours enquired whether it was me pictured in this months copy of The Garden magazine. I had to confess that I had no idea as I hadn't had chance to even take it out of its plastic bag, however when I investigated further I found out he was right. There I am on page 83, top left hand corner, What an honour!

"The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us. Ashley Montagu

A Generous Donation

Not much of import happened at Norton yesterday and there's only so much you can say about five hours of weeding and three of mowing, so I'll bring you up to date with what's happening in my own garden. I've all but given up on the brassicas due to slugs and cabbage whites who still managed to get under the supposedly insect proof netting I'd used, so I've uncovered them and will try picking off the caterpillars as I see them, here is the first collection. I pondered for a while as to what I was going to do with them, I considered the bird table but didn't want them crawling away, so in the end I donated them to the council! Elsewhere the nasturtiums are looking good like these ones which just appeared growing out of the compost bin, if I'd sown them there they never would have flourished but nature always manages these things better than us lowly gardeners!





"The butterfly, a cabbage white
(His honest idiocy of flight)
Will never now, it is too late
Master the art of flying straight.
Robert Graves                                                                    

Down Behind The Border

before the cut back.........

Well we've nudged over into September at long last and already the garden is looking a little autumnal, although it is still very handsome if one can overlook the more obvious weeds entwined around the plants we cannot reach. If any of you are passing by in the next week or two we are still well worth a visit especially as all the plants are now buy one get one free. I filled my boots and came home with six new hardy perennials to shoe horn into my little patch! Our main task in autumn is the cutting back of the borders but of course everything still looks too fine for that, however the yew hedges are due their annual trim and Alyson and I had to cut a path along the back edges of the main border so we can access them properly. This task too up a fair chunk of the day but will be well worth it in terms of income for the garden, I'll explain more on the day!

"September: It was the most beautiful of words he'd always felt, evoking orange flowers, swallows and regret" Alexander Theroux

And after, phew!