Conifer Pruning Between (& During!) the Showers

Chief Pruner

This weekend, it was time for conifers to have their annual haircut. Now! There are always 2 important roles as far as this job is concerned!  Wielding the pole cutters and holding the ladder!  Guess who's job it is to hold the ladder and get absolutely showered in conifer cuttings which go down ones neck every single time no matter what precautions are taken!  Not that I was the only one to suffer! Chris; clad in climbing harness and a T shirt, was marooned at the very top for 10 minutes whilst the heavens opened!  Torrents of glacial rain fell and, minutes later, it was back to blue skies and warm sunshine!

O.I.C. Ladder Security!

Too Much Hen-Pecking!

Poorly Priscilla

Sad news from The Hen Pen.

We've had to say good bye to 2 hens in a single week.  Bluebelle for constantly attacking the others who, being all smaller, were unable to defend themselves from her persistent and vicious attacks. For poor Priscilla, it was because of injuries sustained.  Bluebelle the Bruiser had stopped laying,  grown spurs and was generally behaving like a psychopathic cockerel  and serial killer. It's rather quieter with just the 3 but they are  much happier and more settled.  We hope to pay another visit to Sarah at Newland Grange in order to increase our flock as soon as we are able.  Of course; egg production is temporarily down!  

With winter in mind; last weekend we moved tons and tons of new wood chips into the Hen Pen - 46 wheelbarrows to be exact!  Chris and I had 4 wheelbarrows on the go, he did all the filling and used the biggest barrow!  The idea is that when the winter rains eventually arrive, the girls' quarters won't look like the Somme.

LADY in LAVENDER

The remains of the shortbread!

As Stockton Bury had run out of Lavender meaning a dearth of that sweetly scented shortbread, it was time to put the Treasure recipe for Neil's legendary Lavender shortbread to the test.   Picking the flower heads was easy enough.  Plucking all the tiny flower heads of each head was another matter entirely.  Two and half hours later, there was just enough to fill a single decent sized jam jar.  I doubled up on the stated amount of Lavender and the results were really delicious. Even before I could reach for the camera, half the jar had been eaten!  Given that this was the Lavender brought by Chris and grown from self set rescued seedlings, I'm hoping he'll approve!

The ingredients!

Yep! He did approve!

Stone House Cottage Gardens and Nest Box Extensions

Nest box lean-to

The new extension for the Hennery house has been finished. This means that all 5 girls will all have roosting room inside this winter.  Yes!  I know they have a perfectly serviceable pole house in the Hen Pen, BUT in a foot of snow, it's much cosier for them to have the shelter of the Hennery with warmer accommodation.  Al was delighted to find that Lulu was so taken with his handiwork, she immediately availed herself of the new facility by providing him with an egg!  Practically there and then.  Much smugness all round!

Having mowed the meadow grass several weeks ago, it crossed my mind that the girls might like to have a scratch around in amongst the hay seeds so I let them out.  BIG mistake!  They weren't the least interested in hay seeds or a lovely big expanse of mown orchard and instead made straight for the borders.  Wrecking, vandalising, looting and rioting!  Most of the mulch found its way back onto the grass and after vowing, never to let them out ever again, I was forced to have a major clear up with the rake.  It's truly amazing exactly how much mess 5 hens can make in a reasonably sized garden in no time at all!

Hennery House with elegant extension

Lulu christens the new facility

While 'Sir' was engaged in construction, Chris and I pruned the Bay - well, truthfully, I held the ladder while Chris stood aloft wielding the pole cutter with his usual skill and accuracy!  We also put in Chris Genever's Aquilegia's and weeded the top lawn border.

The high winds have meant that apart from being without power for all of Tuesday afternoon, most of the fruit is now on the ground.  Luckily, Al had already harvested a fair amount and pressed into use a couple of old pine chests of drawers for storage.  This year, we'll use the garage and not the hut where, due to persistently vicious frosts, we lost much of our fruit store.

The small amount of rainfall has meant that the lawns are just beginning to green up again. The reseeded area around the base of the Ghost Pine is germinating and putting on a bit of growth.

We visited Stone House Cottage Gardens

PHEW - rain at last!

The last time we enjoyed rain was 24 June 2011 - nearly 9 whole weeks ago!  No wonder most of the grass is brown and it's looking like autumn.  The national press have already printed pictures of trees in their autumn livery.  The maples, hazels and birch trees are all changing colour here too.

MESSY WORK - ALL ROUND!

Much has been happening and no time for blogging!  After a day's fruit picking at Paul's, there were jellies to be made - wild crab apple and Scilly mint jelly to be precise!  The gages and blackberries were duly frozen individually and then bagged up for later enjoyment. 

Actually there were 13 jars originally but one and a half have been eaten already and others, given away to deserving friends!  In fact all of that happened before I even got around to doing labels or tops!  

Perhaps I should just allude to the fact that the actual making of the jelly took far longer than getting out pine tree roots.  Why?  I hear you ask!  Well the aged jam kettle hadn't been used since the new Aga arrived and it was used exclusively on the old gas hob - not the Rayburn.  So!  It took over 2 hours to realise that its base had become distorted and that the concavity meant that there was little contact with the boiling plate!  Anyway, the mint jelly is delicious and I'm now the very proud owner of a 'Rolls Royce' jam kettle - courtesy of my loving husband!  Nectarine & scented leaf geranium conserve is next on the preserves agenda!  More messy stickiness to come!

As if that wasn't enough, out in the garden there were pine tree roots to be dug out and lawn repairs to be made.  Chris never needs much of an excuse to swing an axe and after repairs to the turf were made, there was re-seeding to be done.  All of this after weeding both the lower and woodland borders (yawn!)

Well, we knew it was going to be messy but, by the end of the day, all was tidy and we just need to sort out soil leveles around the stump, plant any bulbs and re-seed.

What we REALLY need here  at PTC is RAIN!  It actually hasn't rained here since 24 June.  Everything is tinder dry and parched everywhere.  Rain seems to have fallen just about everywhere else - huge quantities in some areas.  How can so much rain keep dodging us?  We've had dark clouds and serious threats but no more than a few spots.  

Don't be fooled by any green grass seen in photos as we have used well water for irrigation in a few areas - not for the grass but young trees and shrubs.  Any green grass has been close

F.M.J. Birthday Memorial

The Lower Beech

Time to take a break from work at PTC and enjoy another annual F.M.J. memorial birthday trip to visit all the old Salopian haunts  After all, if it wasn't for his teaching and expertise, I wouldn't have learnt the joy of growing things.  This trip was something we always used to do together before the start of another academic year and while the heather was in bloom.  Hard to believe it's been 10 years but so far, the annual tradition has been maintained!  

Luckily, Al loves this part of the world too - it would be hard not too and we were lucky with the weather.  The little thatched house along Arbor Lane where he was born has been much extended at the back and not very sympathetically. Fortunately, it can't be seen from the front.  Also the old Lower Beech Cottage sign on the gate had been removed. 

The Straight Mile

The double avenue of oaks which line the 'Straight Mile' still stand proud.  He helped his father to plant these in 1939 when still a young man.  He used to tell the story of Admiral Sir James Startin being thrown out of a trap when being driven by 2 evacuees whom he was teaching. The trap overturned after a wheel collided with a gatepost and, despite his great age and leg injuries incurred during the 1st world war, the old admiral jumped up laughing and watched the trap drive off out of control and in a cloud of dust without him.

Linley School

The Stiperstones

The old school looks much the same as ever and the distant Stiperstones in the heather looked amazing!

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