Chicken Changes - A Flock of Five

Henny Penny

Fiona Fenton

Sadly we lost a couple of chickens (due to illness) and so have increased our flock by 3 sixteen week old girls. Why 3?  Safety in numbers! We knew 2 remaining residents would show their darker sides and they have lived up to expectations!  Their thuggish and vindictive behaviour to the new youngsters was serious enough for them to be separated by some chestnut palings for a few days.  That way, they could look at each other and become a little accustomed before being put in together.  They have had 6 days acclimatisation and have been allowed to mingle today.  Hopefully, there will be no nonsense at roosting time! All are hybrids and Henny Penny is a Copper Maran, Fiona a Fenton and Cicely is a White Sussex.  The remaining villians are Marigold and Winifred. 

House for Hens

Cicely Sussex

 Anyway, They've just been inspected and all are roosting quietly (for now!) in the House for Hens - their Medieval style pole house.

Open Gardens Weekend

The full results!

Everything has now been counted and monies raised were as follows:

• Plant Sales                            £227.50
• Entry                                     £345.00
• Teas                                       £154.70
• PTC Cards                            £  26.00
• PTC Cards/Donations         £  50.90      TOTAL                  £804.10

(PTC cards are occasional cards and postcards with photos taken in the garden.  I have itemised them twice because, on Thursday, we had another garden visit by Norton Horticultural Society who bought cards but put their payments directly in the collection tin so I don't really know which was card money or just donations to the NGS!)

Anyway, that's a brilliant result for one little rural garden opening alone!  Very well done team and another BIG thank you for all your help, support and hard work!

For those who may be interested, here are some NGS facts:

Since its foundation,The NGS has donated over £42.5 million to nominated beneficiaries of which £23 million has been donated in the last 10 years.  For most of our beneficiaries, we are the largest cumulative donor in their histories. (Now that's a pretty amazing fact!)

• Macmillan Cancer Support
• Marie Curie Cancer Care
• Help the Hospices
• Carers Trust
• The Queen's Nursing Institute
• Perennial
• Guest Charity for 2014 Parkinson's UK

NGS Open Gardens 2014

Phew!! All over now but what a team we had and how hard they all worked!!  A big thank you to them all.  We certainly had the weather maybe, (dare I say?) even a little too hot.  Chris came first thing with additional woodchip and blew up balloons whilst watching Al's toast - which Al then couldn't find beneath all the balloons!  He then sneaked off on Sunday and so, we lost our official photographer - result: not so many photos this year!

Maureen, Di, Eve & Lyn taking a well earned break!

Dave models his waistcoat

Our Grade 1 Advanced Police shuttle bus driver had his official day-glow waistcoat!  I say that because at one time there were 4 of us on the drive together putting the world to rights! 

Visitors having tea in the sunshine.

We had lots of lovely compliments in the visitors book (mostly about the delicious cakes which friends were kind enough to bake) and, surprisingly, many visitors were returning following a previous visit - again, for the teas and cakes, I think!  Obviously, there were fewer than when the whole village opens but, this meant that the steady flow was far easier for the helpers.  This year, our visitors enjoyed easier parking as, our neighbours, Roger and Sarah had their hay cut and baled in time to offer their field for parking.  This meant that there was no steep hill for the less able to negotiate.  How lucky was that?  As for funds raised, we don't have a total yet as we await plants sales contributions but, here's a link to a few more photos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/100788191989823327785/NGSOpenGardens2014

Incidentally,  Google earth has updated it's photos so PTC can be seen as it actually is - in an orchard!

Judith and her plant sales team

Once again an ENORMOUS thank you to all those who baked cakes, served teas, washed up, sold plants, put up signs and made last minute deliveries with woodchip!!!  It was all very much appreciated!

Getting ready for open gardens..........

Chief Blogger has been so busy getting the garden ready for Open Gardens weekend, there's been no time for blogging!  It's been gruelling long days and I wonder why I even like doing it!  However, we are getting there.  Judith has been a star as despite being right in the middle of a house move, is undertaking the duties of Officer in Charge of The Plant Emporium!  Chris rolled up with her trestle tables and the first of her plants.  How organised is that?  Steve has also been busy growing contributions which also arrived today.  Brilliant neighbours have offered parking.  Rob offered an orchard and Roger has cut and baled his hay in time to offer his field which is nearer and, more importantly - no long uphill haul! We even have a full size NGS flag to fly!  Tomorrow, is last minute mowing and edging everywhere and then setting up the conservatory for use as a tea room!  The weather forecast is excellent so let's hope we get the odd visitor!

A Rose Garden by any other name?

Locally made rose supports

Following the recent thunderstorms and heavy downpours, I happy to say that the roses haven't suffered too badly.  This is largely due to their new metal supports.  As they are planted in front of a hedge they naturally lean out for light and then flopped dangerously over the lawn edge.  This meant that they were a perfect target for any heavy rain. 

Trellis roses

  I thought long and hard about how best they could be supported.  In the end, I paid our J.W.Lanes, our local agricultural engineers a visit over at Stanford and they made some up for me to my own design.  They are actually backless - less metal so less cost.  They will of course be allowed to rust naturally.  The roses have been underplanted with Golden Marjoram.  This replaced the geraniums which also flopped everywhere!  No flopping is allowed here!

As we now have roses on 3 sides of the top lawn, are we allowed to call it a rose garden?

Open Gardens Countdown

Trimmed box

Only 1 Saturday left before Open Gardens weekend!  Am I nervous?  You BET I am! The 'Panic' list seems endless and it's not just gardening jobs.  Now, I have catering to consider too.  The very worst thing is having no idea of visitor numbers. Will anyone even come?  Could the kettle be overwhelmed with thirsty visitors?  Will it pour (the weather not the kettle!) with rain for both days?  Oh well - no going back now! At least the violent thunder storms and equatorial rain we had yesterday didn't quite flatten everything! For once, I'd got around to doing some staking so only the meadow grass was smashed down.

Re-upholstered Yew Sofa

More weeding, mowing and edging needed!  Geraniums to plant out, Forget-me-nots to pull out - I said the list was endless!  Chris did lots of hedge cutting yesterday including the circular Box hedge around the well and the Yew sofa  which had some serious re-upholstery as it had outgrown its frame and its allotted space!  A few patchy places but nothing that won't green up - that's the advantage of Yew!  And - yes, you can actually sit on it! Going back to the Box, it's gradually being reshaped on the top and we hope that the shadow thrown by the pump means that we can make it into a living sundial.  Well - that's our idea!!

An ipod for Octavius?

Octavius

Octavius is promised his own ipod for Open Gardens!  Well that's what Chris said when I rested my ear defenders following excessive decibel output from all the hedge cutting.

D Day Anniversary Beans

Sarah and Roger

When it comes to runner beans, I've never known such poor germination.  I wasn't able to find any of my usual varieties and so this year, I sowed Suttons Best of All.  They have turned out to be worst of all!  I sprinkled slug pellets around as usual as I didn't want them eaten as they popped up and so I'm not even blaming slugs despite plague proportions after such a wet winter. Germination was so very poor, I even resorted to a second sowing to fill the gaps and then - right on cue, our neighbours dropped in and guess what!  They gave me 5 super healthy bean plants - 4 Enorma and 1 French climber.  Not only were they lovely healthy plants but they were about 18 inches tall!  Those which have decided to germinate are less than 2 inches high.  Now it's one thing when neighbours drop round with plants but it's a bit special when they plant them and then carefully tie them in!  It was the perfect excuse to sit down and enjoy a glass of perfectly chilled Chablis! After this rather convivial little interlude, it was time for me to mow the West lawn.  A gardener's work is never done - sigh!

Looks Fab - Smells Awful!

Chris grows these spectacular huge lilies in his garden and brought one to show us.  It looks like a Dragon Lily and has a dark purple and velvety spathe and looks sort of sinister.  It emits a fairly powerful and unpleasant odour rather like decomposing flesh.  I have been surprised how well it's lasting in water.  For the purposes of scale, the vase is 4 inches square! Can anyone out there identify it?

Tale of Two Tanks!

In a dull and shady corner we now have Hostas where there was once nothing at all.  Presents of 2 galvanised tanks from 2 Chris's meant that we had perfect planters and the dreaded plastic vents imposed by building regulations are now obscured.  You're probably thinking it looks a bright and sunny corner but the photo was taken in the evening when this little area has some low sun for a very short period at this time of year.  Now I had spent ages and ages making piles of odd sized and coloured bricks to support the planted tank but, not only did they look awful but, the whole thing was wobbly and insecure.  The planter has to be raised above the (now obscured) plastic vents in order for it to fit snugly against the walls.  As soon as Chris brought the second and smaller tank, I realised that lifting a galvanised tank full of compost (well - not quite full cos I put polystyrene in the base) was going to pretty heavy. Undaunted, he lifted it aside and onto the chair, placed the base tank and then lifted it back again.  Oh and before you ask about drainage; someone else had already drilled holes in the bottom!  Had it not been for that, I would have used it for water storage.  Another little feature in the garden!  Who's a lucky girl?

Produce Progress!

Meanwhile, our little vegetable patch is looking pretty good with one exception..! Someone is eating the runner beans and I suspect slugs are helping themselves. After the world's wettest winter they are EVERYWHERE and in plague proportions! The Genever lettuces have done well, beetroot, carrot and peas are all up and today the Genever outdoor tomato plants were planted - on the end of the Chrysanths!  PTC has never had outdoor varieties before so it should be interesting.  The indoor plants are doing OK although numbers of trusses may be fewer.

Dare I mention Shed of the Year?

It's just that there really isn't much time left  and The Pear Hut really does need every vote we can muster! Please follow the link to vote:

http://www.readersheds.co.uk/share.cfm?SHARESHED=4675

The Pear Hut

Spotted Orchid Spotted!

Spotted in our own little orchard!  I reckon it could be our  native wild Heath Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata).  My policy is never knowingly to mow a Cowslip before July: now, I have another specimen to avoid!

Sarracenia Purpurea in flower

Well, how could I not photograph this????  It's such a pretty flower considering the plant is insectivorous and feasts on flies!

Another radical tidy-up!

New view!

Well!  Despite all the weather threw at us, we managed to tidy up the garden in time for our garden club visitors and it stopped raining in time for their visit!  Ok - so it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be and I was thrilled to see an old AOS friend who kindly helped serve the teas.  They all said nice things and appeared to enjoy themselves and on Saturday it was back to major and more radical jobs like the removal of a fairly big Photinia and some Dogwoods around the base of, what has become known as, 'The Red Tree'.  It a biggish old Prunus which, in it's early days suffered major butchery.  We lifted its canopy off some Acers and thinned it out a little and removed the Forget-me-nots from around its base.  A neighbouring Viburnum also  got a face-lift. We now have more views across the orchards to Martley Hillside.

More elbow room for fish!

The pond enjoyed a major clearout with Chris donning on his waders and thinning out the King-cups by removing about 2/3rds of them as well as weeding around the waters' edge.  The pond now appears much bigger and in more proportion.  Chris cooled off too!  There's never a good time of year for pond tidy ups and I figured that having enjoyed so many King-cups in bloom, they could be cleared out before the water lilies flowered.  After such a mild winter, it was really nice to see a flower bud on the Arum Lily and also, my Skunk Cabbage also survived a winter.

The last jobs were tipping back the Bay tree and thinning the canopy of another Prunus along the greenhouse path - a more major job.  Many crossing and rubbing branches were removed and instead of a dense and dark canopy, we now a more gentle dappled light beneath what is now a most attractively shaped specimen. Huge amounts of rubbish were generated and the day was rounded off with a major clear up!