The green and rolling countryside of Worcestershire, England, is home to the cider apple orchards which surround the gardens of Pear Tree Cottage. They enjoy a sunny south westerly aspect with sweeping views across to Martley Hillside, Woodbury and Abberley clock tower. The Teme Valley lies just over the hill and, not far away, is the Herefordshire border. Although our climate is temperate, our seasons are often uncertain and always a challenge to a gardener! This began in 2010 & follows the weekly ups and downs of garden work chronicling both successes and failures but, above all, demonstrates the fun enjoyed by three people who regularly garden in all weathers

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2 February 2014

Sunny Sunday Slog!

The oak rescued from Leylandii sprawl
Burning off that breakfast!
After a hearty Aga* breakfast, it was back to work in............yes, sunshine!!  This time clearing away all the brash from the dead elms and piling the conifer brash on the other side of the fence.  Doesn't sound much of a job BUT, we were working on a slippery 45 degree slope with lengths of cunningly concealed rusty barbed wire underfoot!  Despite these difficulties, we weren't about to complain given the earlier atrocious weather conditions of Thursday and Friday!
Dead Elm brash before clearance


After the tidy up with Elms stacked for later logging


As usual, it appears always that the photographer makes no contribution but she was doing her level best to help her trusty friend!  The dead elms will provide a few logs for the woodburner but most was brash. The Hazels can now see daylight again and a completely one sided oak now has a little more elbow room. Now the lovely thing is that, having cleared the bank, Chris found a few bluebells coming up and they had never before been visible.  We all know that bluebells love light early in the year with dappled shade for the summer.  Now! Is a carpet of bluebells and primroses too much to hope for?  If so, at least we'll have some catkins next year!

* We had been to another of Marcia Poole's Aga demos earlier in the week and, as usual, came home totally inspired!





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