More Mess Making!

At the top of the ladder(I did say BIG Bay Tree!)

Bay cuttings

All neat & tidy!

Our big Bay tree needed a sever haircut so it was out with the ladder and the polecutter and Chris got 'up' to business!  Bay leaves were everywhere!  Bunches were picked up and tied ready for drying and later use, the rest were blown into a heap and, for the first time ever at PTC vaccumed up.  Yes vacuumed! Chris went out and came back with a garden vacuum cleaner (and 3 ice creams!) of giant proportions.  Having blown up the cuttings into the middle of the Creosote Yard, he sucked up the lot!  He even hoovered out the barn which was ankle deep in dead leaves and cobwebs!  Further more, it sucked up, the Berberis, Yew and Rose cuttings was well as all the Pyracantha leaves and terrace debris.  Were we impressed?  Absolutely!! 

As a matter of interest - have you ever wonder why those little lolly pop Bay trees one sees for sale in garden centres are so expensive?  They grow like weeds and are simplicity itself to propagate.  The words, boosting profit margins spring to mind!

Garden vacuum clea

A TREE WITH EVERYTHING!

How many glossy leaved evergreen trees do you know which have perfumed flowers, produce heavy crops of usable fruit, and flower and fruit at the same time?   A lemon tree really does tick every single box (and I just HATE that expression!) Right now our little lemon tree which cost £2.50 at 8" high about 8 years ago has flourished despite numerous attacks from battalions of red spider mites.  Most years, it's pruned and last year it was severely pruned as it really did have ideas above its station! The year before, I picked the fruit in November and made 11 lbs of lemon marmalade.  There were still plenty left for gins and tonics throughout the winter! As I type, it's a mass of flowers and the terrace is awash with the zesty perfume in the warm summer sunshine.  It is also bearing fruit which are slowly ripening in the sun. In winter it retains its glossy green leaves and all it asks is to be fed with citrus summer food and winter food in winter.  These citrus foods keep the leaves from going yellow and ensures a healthy green. What could be nicer to quench a thirsty gardener on a hot summer's day than  an ice cool homemade lemonade? Oh, and as if that was enough plus points for this amazing tree - just for good measure; the bees absolutely love it!  Now, unless you're into bonsai, this is a tree that really has the lot!

A word about the planter in which it sits (and which was lovingly made made by 'Himself'.)  This style was originally a Victorian design for which we make no apologies for stealing.  We had the metal straps made by James at J.W. Lanes - our local agricultural engineers and it's so simple as, with a couple of stout poles hooked under the straps (and some muscles), it's dead easy for two people to move around and inside for winter.  It works exactly like a Sedan chair.   The Victorians didn't get many things wrong!

Tip: Remember not to water just prior to moving.  It's quite heavy enough!! 

 

Less is more?

The simplicity of a single Geranium! 

Only a man!

We  have an Arabian Jasmine (Jasminum Sambac) growing in the conservatory.  The perfume from a single flower is just incredible!  I wish I could upload its perfume - that's a hint for Googlers to work on! These are the flowers used in Jasmine tea and, along with its more common  relation: Jasminum Officinale is grown for the perfume industry.  It flowers reliably and I even managed to propagate a cutting last year which is thriving in the greenhouse but has yet to flower.  In the winter, the one in the conservatory had a real problem with Woolly Aphids and many of the leaves turned bright yellow and died.  This however, has not prevented it from producing these delicious flowers.  For such an exquisite plant, Linnaeus really didn't give it much of a name did he?  Even as far back as 1753, I think I could have come up with a better name than Sambac!  It's not even an Arabian native but originated in Bhutan.  Still, he was only a man!

Even better.........

Mirror door

Orchard gate.

The mirror door looks even more convincing when the surrounding hedge is in shadow.  The other picture is a gate opposite (which doesn't have a mirror!) on the orchard side of the garden.  There's not that much difference between the two.  I'm just considering whether to attempt to make a path leading up to the mirror door a tad more prominent somehow. The other possibility (which already crossed my mind) would be to make a partially opened 'door'.  That is; an angled panel partially obscuring the mirror which looks like an open door.  

 ......Or,  I just could leave well alone. Who knows?

Summer evenings at Pear Tree Cottage

The old pump

Wisteria tendril

Broad beans

These long hot and humid summer days have been ending with some pretty spectacular sunsets. Because of all the rain and recent thunderstorms, the lawns are all still lush and green and not the usual parched summer brown.  

We picked picked all the remains of the broad beans and whilst sitting podding them all with a glass of wine, I just had to photograph the evidence.  This is the first year we haven't been able to keep up with our bean crop and eat them as fast as they've ripened.  I grew a heavier cropping variety from our usual Aqua Dulce and have frozen the excess beans for future treats!  Having finished podding, it was nice - just for once, to sit and watch the swallows dipping and diving for insects and then, as the sun set and the light faded, watching the bats flitting around after moths and listening to the owls with the occasional distant hum of a combine harvester.  My literary skills can't really do justice to the scent of Jasmine which hung heavy in the still night air but hopefully, you get the picture! Summer Evenings at PTC

Genever Genius

How to prevent a door slamming.

The perfect answer for a door restraint.  This garage door doesn't lend itself to either a wedge at its base or being hooked open as it needs to be restrained at 90 degrees.   Designed and hand crafted by one esteemed builder, the door slides beneath the simple wooden drop hook which then drops down securing the door firmly.  To close, simply lift the hook - PERFICK!