The Obstacle Course

Cyclamen hederifolifolium in all its glory at the moment

Nikky's daughter completed a tough obstacle course at the weekend and was understandably proud of herself, but after the day I had at Norton Conyers yesterday I began to think it would have been more of a challenge to spend the day gardening! It was my turn for the tractor again and despite the sunny start it was feeling surprisingly chilly, good job I'd remembered to bring a jacket I thought as I started the mowing. By break-time all was going well the temperature was rising and the only real problem I'd encountered was avoiding the cascades of apples falling on my head as I negotiated mowing under the trees. Back at work afterwards I noticed the sky darkening in the distance but assumed the weather would probably pass over, gritting my teeth I started another sortie onto the HaHa, this time making it all the way to the end. Just at the crucial moment as I attempted the three point turn the heavens opened. Now at this point I am the furthest from help anywhere in the grounds and the rain was so heavy I needed to wear my hood, but that meant I couldn't see to reverse, so I confess I gave up again. By the time I'd trudged back to the others I wasn't just wet I was saturated, that meant spending the rest of the afternoon in a pair of plastic over-trousers whilst my own attire dried off in the greenhouse. I couldn't do much about my sodden feet though, not the most comfortable few hours I've ever spent! Still every day is a lesson learned and yesterdays was that it is now time to carry all my clothing whenever I go to work so all eventualities are covered, as they say in Game of Thrones "Winter is coming!"

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all"
Helen Keller

A Day Of Variety

The tasks in the September garden are as many and varied as the flowers in the borders, sometimes you don't know just where to start. This morning we let the temperature dictate to us and as it was feeling pretty chilly we decided that digging up potatoes would be a good place to start. It certainly warmed us up as we dug and uncovered part of the crop, luckily there wasn't too many rotting ones to deal with, there is nothing more unpleasant than a stinky potato! We still have two more varieties to harvest but have cut off the foliage and left them in the ground for now, this stops any further blight worries. After a change of pace with some routine hoeing, we went to collect the bumper crop of cob nuts that Alyson had noticed last Monday only to discover that the squirrels had noticed them too, we could only salvage a meagre punnet, teaching us that next year we must pick them as soon as we see them. In the afternoon we cut back the willow hedge which was threatening to engulf the vegetable garden and iris border with its monstrous growth, we still left plenty of the more upright stems in place for their winter colour of vibrant red though. Right at the very end of the day comes the good part for us workers when we can help ourselves to whatever is ready, a bag of rosy red discovery apples, a swede and a shiny red cabbage all made their way home with me, a good contribution to tomorrows Sunday dinner.

"No pleasure endures unseasoned by variety"
Publilius Syrus

Winged Irritants

As September starts the garden is pretty quiet, we content ourselves with a little pruning and harvesting as the settled weather continues. Sometimes the harvest is wild as we found when venturing onto the Ha Ha to cut back the buddlejas , globosa and alternifolia are both pruned at this time of year as they flower on the wood produced the previous season, unlike davidii which is done in early spring. Anyway intertwined with a very large specimen were some luscious blackberries, so we had to pick them first. Two good punnets full all for free, sold to raise funds for keeping us in gainful employment through the winter! We nearly paid for them in other ways though, halfway through we had to abandon our task as a swarm of hornets descended to check us out, so we hoofed it back to the garden until they had dispersed. Nature doesn't mind if we take our share, but we must remember other creatures need some too! I must admit one of the things I look forward to about autumn is a few less winged critters, the flies were terribly bothersome that morning driving poor Nikky to wear a hat despite the heat.

I think my lens is fogged here but it does give a rather interesting effect

"Restless thoughts, like a deadly swarm of hornets arm'd, no sooner found alone, but rush upon me thronging"
John Milton

September

If you didn't have a calendar hanging on your kitchen wall could you tell what month it was? We can all tell

the season easily enough but distinguishing between the individual months can be more tricky, especially in winter. Since I've been working at Norton Conyers I've become more in tune with what happens in each calendar month, although Nature can play tricks by fooling both us and the plants with inclement weather that can make the garden slow to bloom, and muddle the usual signs. Luckily there is one month of the year that is usually foolproof, September is here tomorrow with all her glowing colours. The blues and pinks of high summer suddenly give way to startling luminescent yellows, mellow bronzes and vibrant crimsons. I like this month almost as much as May, it can still be warm but the temperature is usually more pleasant, I appreciate the crispness of early morning with its hint of cooler times to come, and the early autumn fragrances of harvested onions, ripening tomatoes and fermenting apples, accompanied by the hum of drunken bees and wasps gorging themselves on windfall fruit. It is also one of any gardeners favourite times of the year as we get to collect free seeds, a bounty that needs nothing more than a dry day for the looting to start. Already thoughts of the potential plants one can grow next year are flooding our minds!

"September; it was the most beautiful of words, he'd always felt, evoking orange flowers, swallows and regret"

Alexander Theroux

Funny Ha Ha (Not)

I was straight back in the saddle, or tractor seat actually today, having had three weeks off everyone else was pleased to pass the chore on to me! After a bit of a rusty start, only a small prang thankfully when no one was looking and with no dents detectable, I was soon feeling confident again. It didn't last long, I had to tackle the Ha Ha again, I've only had a go at cutting it once before and then Giles had to rescue me half way down. I wasn't much better today I'm afraid, I just get spooked having to turn around in such a tight space with the garden wall on one side and the drop on the other whilst avoiding large shrubs and sheep, so it was Giles to the rescue once more. I guess I'll just have to keep on trying, maybe next time I'll put the tractor in snail mode which makes it go so slowly even I would have difficulty losing control, I'm determined to conquer this!
It was lovely to be back in the garden and to notice all the differences that have occurred since I went away, especially how much everything has grown now that some rain has fallen. After being surrounded by tropical vegetation I really appreciated meeting our old cottage garden favourites again, this travelling lark is OK but there's no place like home!

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying "I will try again tomorrow"
Mary Anne Radmacher

Royal Island

Not a bad view to wake up to every morning is it?

Royal Island in the middle of the Indian Ocean is a verdant tropical dot on the map of the world that has been our home for the last two weeks. We were mightily pleased to finally get there after a nightmare journey owing to appalling weather. After landing at Male airport, the capital of the Maldives, we were unable to catch our sea plane connection as the whole area was being racked by ferocious storms. After a nine hour wait we were finally bundled onto a domestic flight that was destined to drop us of at another island near-ish to our final destination. Our joy at being able to proceed was somewhat tempered by having to fly through a raging thunderstorm which tossed the twin propellered aircraft around like a leaf in the wind, at one point we dropped a good fifty feet which sent the passenger seated next to me into a blind panic that saw him pray loudly for the rest of the flight, I must admit I didn't blame him in the least! Finally on terra firma once more we then had to endure a speed boat ride to the island, due to the heavy seas think James Bond movie chase scene rather than azure tropical sailing, it was 1am in the morning, chucking it down with rain, pitch black and our captain decided to open up the throttle just to show us what his baby could do. I really began to doubt we would make it! Anyway as you can see from the above picture we did, and once the weather settled down began to appreciate our beautiful surroundings.

For a gardener the island was paradise, lush vegetation of the sort you only find in expensive bouquets back home, banana trees and coconut palms abounded, the latter frequently being climbed by the gardening staff by shimmying up the trunks with a rope tied to both ankles in order to remove the coconuts so they didn't fall on guests heads! During our stay I was lucky enough to spend some time with Hema, the head gardener, proving that although we didn't speak the same language Latin plant names are indeed universal. He proudly showed off his propagation area where he keeps a thriving chilli garden of the hottest varieties just for the staff, as well as cuttings of many of the islands plants some of which he has even managed to bonsai. His speciality however was orchids, they were all over the island, each and every one tended lovingly by him, exotic and beautiful I just wish I could reproduce their fragrance for you here.

We exchanged e-mail addresses so we can keep in touch and he sent me home with my very own orchid cutting. I'm sure the poor thing is feeling rather disgruntled at being ripped from its tropical home to now reside on a kitchen windowsill in Bilton! However I'm going to Harlow Carr on Friday to get equipped with all I need to help it thrive. Just a word here about bringing home plants from abroad, if you do so you must declare them at customs in order to stop bringing harmful pests and diseases into Britain, I was given the OK at Manchester because it was only a cutting and was not planted in soil. Hema had made a very neat coconut container to keep it safe and all I have had to do is keep it watered.

My poor little orchid cutting!

So all in all we have had a fabulous trip and I'll not bore you with the usual holiday shots, lets face it who wants to see Dave in a mankini!

Back to Norton Conyers next week.

"When two friends understand each other totally, the words are soft and strong like an orchids perfume"
Martin Luther king Jr

Storm clouds over the Maldives

Foreign Climes

Hi, I'm back from my holidays, did you miss me! I've been enjoying two whole weeks of complete rest and relaxation in the Maldives. Nothing more strenuous to do than a bit of snorkelling with the odd afternoon massage thrown in! I've still got plenty to share with you though, so take a look over the next couple of days for more posts, when I've caught up with the washing, back to reality again!

"There are no foreign lands. It is only the traveller who is foreign"
Robert Louis Stevenson