Avian Tragedy

Look who flew into the greenhouse door! What a sad thing to find.  Only the top half is glass so how come he didn't realise?

Found outside the greenhouse door - sniff.

Spring 2014

I've now stuck a bird silhouette on the glass half of the door.  Maybe he had been used to going in and out with the door open. As the nights are cooling off again, we've been closing the door last thing and opening it in the mornings.  He was found this morning at the bottom of the door with what we presume to be a boken neck.  Of all the birds for this to happen to - sigh.  The song of the thrush are so long and vary more than any of our other song birds except possibly the Nightingale and they are too rare. This spring, more than ever, we delighted in listening to a thrush singing every morning and evening.  Hopefully, he will be succeeded by other family members.  

Trug of War over Apples!

Chris still trying to separate 2 trugs

Chris trying to separate 2 trugs!

Apple harvest completed!

A sunny Saturday meant time to pick the apples and load them up ready for juicing. We borrowed Yvonne's stupendously amazing ladder!  Am seriously coveting this set of Japanese steps. They were as light as a feather and steady as a rock.  From just the one tree, we picked 3 trugs full and we're now taking bets as to how many bottles of juice will result.  We did have a spot of bother trying to separate 2 of the new trugs!!  Neither of us could do it on our own so it was a trug of war!  Guess who ended up on the grass! Now guess - how many bottles of apple juice??

Separation success!

Rainy Day Garden Pictures

The Herb Garden

The Old Fence Chair

Guess what!  It's rained and rained and rained and I've been playing around with photos taken in the garden. Here's a couple of interesting results.  I rather like the muted/smudgy/washy shades of the Herb Garden and the contrasts of the Old Fence Chair. Here are some more: Rainy Day Pictures

Totally Ruined!

I know I'm a bit late with this post but, on the rainy afternoon of our open garden evening, Chris arrived with these three fab stone columns bound for the Aspen Grove.  He slaved away all alone in the pouring rain determined to have them them upright and perfectly placed in time.  They weighed an absolute ton and as they were so wet, they must have made pretty slippery handling.  Despite all the odds, he placed them all and, as usual, not a footprint to be seen.  Furthermore, they're covered in lichens and look as if they've been there for 100's of years.  Our very own ruin!

Secret Steps Garden Project!

Pam & Chris go Shopping for Stone - Again!

Site of secret steps project

Well honestly!  I ask you - how long after open gardens could I last before the next new garden project?  Answer - exactly 5 days!!  It was like this:  Chris P. and I were sculpting the Yew hedge by the mirror door and I just thought how brilliant it would be to have a secret set of steps up through the thick dark hedge linking the terrace by the 'front back door' to the stone (formerly grass) steps leading down to the pond. They would be almost completely hidden from view. Chris and Al both thought it was nothing short of genius!! We examined the Yew and found that if we pruned back the branches on 2 trees, we wouldn't need to remove any at all - BONUS! We realised that any pruning needed immediate action in order to maximise recovery time. An hour later and with the help of a pruning saw and my faithful secateurs, we had achieved a large door shaped gap in the Yew hedge. Yew being Yew means that it will grow nice green shoots and in time the bare stems and trunks will be invisible again.

Our shopping trolley!

The next issue was of course materials!  We had nuffink!  Bricks & York stone were out of the question as, on the north side of a wall, they would become dangerously slippery.  Could I do some sleuthing and find Mr. Carter - former supplier of stone with a nice 'grippy' surface and with which the top terrace was built? Yes!  I tracked him down to Far Forest (I always knew I would have made good C.I.D. material!) After a couple of calls; Chris G. and I arranged a 'Shopping Expedition' (do click on the link for this shop!) and went over to Buckridge.  We arrived home with over a ton of beautiful local stone. The only minor drawback with quarrying one's own stone is that it comes covered with a layer of silt. Having just had the drive gravelled, we didn't want to go down the power washing road a second time!  We remembered only too well the morass from last time!  

The world's cleanest stone!

As it was dry, we spent the entire afternoon with wire brushes brushing off the silt from every facet of every piece of almost 1 1/2 tons of stone.  (The photo shows only a fraction of it!) Greater love hath no gardener - or builder!!  Now, we have the world's tidiest & cleanest stack of stone all ready to be built into secret steps.  Better watch this space!

Money can grow on trees!

Just an interesting statistic for an English cottage garden in deepest rural Worcestershire!  This year, Pear Tree Cottage garden has raised a total of 

£2056.38 

for charity.

Another Success Story!

A rainy start to the evening didn't deter visitors coming to our open garden evening which was a great success!  We thank all  our hard working helpers and all those who turned out and supported us. Dave, Di, Eve and Lindy worked so hard setting things up, serving and clearing up afterwards.  It couldn't have been done without them all. A special thank you to Sarah Winton and Theo in their bright yellow Daisy Bus  for their help driving around the area and advertising our event!  When we emptied our NGS tin, the total raised was £632.72!  Chris did an amazing job by putting 3 Roman columns in the Aspen Grove.  They look as if they've been there hundreds of years not 24 hours!  He also did an amazing job of lighting loads of night lights in jam jars and making the garden look its romantic and magical best and taking photos.  It was great to see old friends and colleagues and we congratulate everyone for making  the evening such a resounding success!!  Well done indeed!!  Check out: Chris's photos

Janine & Paul explore Rob's Retreat