Conifer pruning.

Before...

.....& after.

A DSM uplit silver birch.....

.....& Fantastic Mr. Fox!

VERY dark indeed!!

Thank goodness for a few dry days and the ability to hoover up masses and masses of 'dry' leaves, cut down dead Michaelmas daisies, weed around the base of fruit trees, prune conifers and have a monster bonfire all in the interests of a major autumnal tidy up at PTC!

All the countless loads of leaves have been duly composted and (nearly all) the conifer brash burnt.  A few bigger lengths were logged up but with all the exuding resin, it makes really messy burning.  Ladders, chainsaws and hedgecutters were in constant use and, as O.I.C. ladder safety, it was either raining sawdust or conifer trimmings!  Needless to say, it was dark before we'd finished and as the camera was handy..........................!  Need I say more?

Kiosk Progress

Tony has sent more photos of our very own (to be!) No. 18 kiosk and its restoration progress.  Things down at Unicorn Kiosks are obviously taking shape!  Great shape!  After going on and on and on about the extraordinary garden colour this season, I know I really wasn't going to mention the 'C' word again but, when it comes to a newly restored and (yet to be) gilded bright red telephone kiosk in the garden, the first word which springs to mind is..........................

No. 18 with an acute case of Leprosy!

Cured!

...............................COLOUR!!!

More photos can be seen at:

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

Weirdness amongst the colour.

Viburnum

Silver Birch

I know I said it would be the last word on colour a couple of posts ago BUT we've had a couple more really sunny and frosty days and the colours have been even more dazzling! IN my defence of all this colour thing; I just know it really cannot last much longer and it's so much later than usual -

Berberis

I think that's why I continue to be wowed by it.  It's not just the Beeches in both hedges with their  yellows and golds but the Viburnums, Berberis and Pyracanthas as well as all the different Acers. With a bright blue sky as a back drop; who wouldn't want to take loads of piccies?  For more PTC autumn colour in November, checkout the link beneath: 

Beech hedge

https://picasaweb.google.com/100788191989823327785/MoreNovemberColour#

WEIRD NATURE

Now here's a strange thing.  How many of you have ever noticed that a Beech hedge keeps all its leaves until spring and waits until the emerging new buds literally push off the previous year's leaves whereas a Beech tree drops all its leaves in autumn and remains bare all winter?  Both can be identical varieties yet adopt these opposing habits.  I know it's because a hedge is trimmed frequently and so the 'tree' of which the hedge consists has newer and younger growth whereas yer normal tree is never pruned or trimmed and so doesn't have so much new growth but, it's still pretty clever stuff!

Breakfast Time in The Hennery

It's been a while since we heard anything about the girls so I thought a post was a little overdue.

As the temperatures have dropped, the girls are having extra goodies for breakfast in the way of mash and, as was a cold Saturday, porridge!  Naturally, with less light and colder weather, they are now laying less but, having said that, we are still collecting 2 eggs most days.  If we have any to spare, we still put them out in the box at the end of the drive.  Sales out on the lane are good and at a £1 for a box of 4 we could sell far more if we (the girls) had the capacity!

The funny thing is, they have recently taken to laying in the Hennery House and not the Polehouse where they roost and where they have been laying for the past 4 months.  Who knows what goes on in the mind of a hen?  We continue to keep a record and so far we have:

June       77

July        91

Aug        90

Sep        108 Estimated (as Colin & Val forgot to keep records for 2 weeks!)

Oct         78

Nov        60 (Up to 24th)

TOTAL  504 in less than 6 months!  Pretty good by any standards!  They continue to enjoy a very varied and natural diet which includes fallen fruit (apples and pears which they love) and vegetation such as carrot tops, home grown lettuces which were surplus to human requirements, cooked vegetables, boiled rice etc etc etc.  If Chris is working nearby, he will toss over juicy fat worms and once in a while, they are allowed to have a forage around the garden.  This means an immediate reduction in slugs - and also a rake and a tidy up after all the scratching around!

The Henclosure

One thing we have done is to have a large load of wood chip delivered and lugged down to the Henclosure.  We were determined that our girls were not going to spend a winter in a mud bath.  The upside being a clean, dry and sweet smelling area and cleaner eggs.  Totally worth all the hard work!

PS The music is actually called Chicken Music!

Date with an axeman!

One Rowan - one berry!

One Rowan - no berries!

Once upon a time in a garden, there were 3 Rowans.   One in the Woodland Border which reliably bears pretty pink berries; one in the Culvert Border which is always a mass of brilliant red berries. The third one in the Sofa Border rarely did anything ever and this year bore just a single solitary berry (photographed by Chris in disgust!) It never failed to produce masses of suckers beneath the graft and was Chris's most hated tree and, to be fair, was  well overdue for replacement.  I should say at this point that trees are Chris's great love in life!  This Rowan's stay of execution ended today!  A date with a chainsaw was in the diary!

Using the chainsaw was the easy part, digging and chopping out the roots was an entirely different matter but eventually the score was Chris 10 - Rowan 0!  Despite the cold and frosty day, Chris was in short sleeves axing out the numerous roots.  The upshot was a barrowful of logs and the promise of a bonfire for the brash.

Rowan logs

Rowan brash

Having cleared the ground, it was time to move a Magnolia Wanda's Memory which was planted in an entirely unsuitable spot in sheer desperation last spring.  It was a surprise purchase by Al and the weather was so glacial for so long, the poor thing spent weeks in and out of the conservatory - occasionally being forgotten and being blown over in the arctic spring winds and having its young tender leaves scorched by the late frosts.  It is now in a perfect spot and will hopefully thrive.  The finishing touch was to plant some more foxgloves kindly given by the other Chris (Genever.)

Magnolia Wanda's  Memory avec Genever  Foxgloves

Last word on colour - promise!

On a sunny day..........there's THIS much colour!!  What's not to like?

Bringing in the tree fern

Just before the first serious frosts, the Two Chris's very kindly called around and lifted in the tree fern for the winter.  Not only lifted in, but lifted it up and on to its platform.  Because of its spread, it need to be elevated it otherwise it fills the conservatory.  The trouble was, it's put on so much height it was a bit of a struggle getting it under the cross beams.  Needless to say; it's pretty damned heavy!  Might need to consider a couple of alternatives next year!