Cecil the Caterpillar

Cecil the caterpillar!

Allow me to introduce you to Cecil our caterpillar! It's not the best photo but he really is taking shape these days. He's actually a Euonymous - possibly a japonica Microphyllus which Chris has been trimming for about 3 years now. He actually looks more realistic than this photo suggests as his feelers hardly show up. Chris has sculpted bulging cheeks and even eye brows to go with his feelers! The advantage of having a Euonymous variety is: he doesn't eat other plants!

January Pruning.

A dull overcast and bone chillingly cold Saturday was spent pruning the Wisteria, trimming and cleaning out a conifer and giving the caterpillar a hair cut! The Wisteria is always a bit of a fiddle as it's such a thuggish monster and even though we pruned all the whippy side shoots off back in August: with no leaves to hide them; we managed  to find all those we missed in the summer. Weird how they force themselves into the tiniest and narrowest of gaps. Why does nature do that? It would be so much easier to just hang and flop out! 

I'm posting a photo taken in May just to remind me that freezing my socks off on top of a pair of steps really is worth it! Weather permitting: it's the apple trees next week........shiver!

First Jobs of the Year!

Dusk falls on the wood chip carpet.

The log store filling up.

With all the Christmas and New Year excesses coupled with deliveries of both wood chip and logs on the drive the day before Christmas Eve has meant not too many gardening jobs so far this year! While Chris was splitting logs, I was barrowing wood chip down to the Henclosure. I don't like our little flock on cold wet soil and a nice thick carpet of wood chip was called for. Before barrowing in the last few loads of wood chip, Chris dug out all the Bamboo runners - an annual pain of a job but it keeps it in check and stops it taking over the world! We grow it there because it provides summer shade for the girls and they love eating it!

Having done that it was a case of loading, lugging and stacking the split logs.  As the last couple of hours work took place in the dark, I rigged up an extension lead a couple of inspection lamps to help light our way. The day ended with an empty drive, a full log store and very comfortable chickens! Sorted!!

Only a quarter of the load left!

Money Raised for Charity

As an acqaintance enquired how much money Pear Tree Cottage Garden had raised since it began opening for charity, I've been looking back through old records and doing a few sums. Our NGS treasurer confirmed that we have been opening for the National Garden Scheme for 4 years. We have opened for Wichenford Open Gardens which is a biennial event for 5 weekends and the grand total is a whopping £10.000.71p.  Now, for a single very rural garden in the depths of the Worcestershire countryside, I find that figure pretty surprising!

Good news for the start of a new year!

......And then the sun came out!!

The main lawn

Shed of the Year runner-Up!

For one single whole day, the garden looked utterly magical in its blanket of snow glittering in the frosty sunshine. Despite it being 10" deep, how could I resist going out with a camera? Everything was utterly transformed and so silent. Difficult to even imagine lawn mowing! Here's a link to more snowy garden pictures: Sun & Snow at PTC! If you know the garden, they're absolutely worth a look.

The Henclosure.

A seasonal video from Pear Tree Cottage

Yet More Snow!

Rob's Retreat

Such is the dramatic overnight change in the garden that, despite the persistent falling snow on the camera lens, I couldn't resist attempting a few fuzzy pictures. When this lot thaws, things are going to be a tad on the soggy side!
With so much snow on its roof, unusually, the greenhouse is really rather dark  inside but, at least the heater is maintaining the temperature just above freezing.

The Top Terrace

An unusually dark greenhouse!

Snow at PTC

The Henclosure

A festive & snowy barrel

It's looking VERY festive here at PTC. We've had about 8" of snow and the garden looks amazing! It's totally silent as the snow always muffles sounds. Definitely no gardening jobs - that is, apart from spotting that the tall Bamboos we're bent over and touching the ground under the weight of snow. When I knocked if off, they sprang upright ferociously and covering me in even more snow!

The chickens have the Hennery in which to stay cosy. It's their very own conservatory and they had extra rations today as it's their very first experience of snow.

The Phone Box

Not another shed.........................!

Whilst a certain Chris Pugh was living it up and exploring the Caribbean, there have been shady goings on down by the hut! 

The original 6 x 4 hut

A nearly finished 'Folly!'

A very long time ago, we had realised that our tiny little old hut, at 6' x 4', was far too small for PTC garden needs. So much so, Chris appeared with an unwanted 12' x 8' version with a single sloping felt roof. He left all the sections leaning up against the hedge before going away.

After returning from the tropical adventures, as well as discovering freezing temperatures, Chris (Pugh) found that Chris (Genever) and I had built the prettiest replacement with a pitched green corrugated tin roof crowned with ridge cresting (bought on EBay), antique insulators (another Chris present!), the door with its pear shaped window at the opposite end and the interior insulated and lined with a built-in apple store and shelving for out door seat cushions with storage space for the usual seasonal garden miscellania!  As if that wasn't enough, we had made pretty shaped barge boards for both gables and an overhanging canopy above the door. We also used the leftover granite setts to lay a little curved path to the door. 

Shed with a view!

In order to squeeze in a bigger shed without losing other shrubs and trees, we moved it very close to the conifer and the upshot is that it can hardly be seen from anywhere else which makes it quite secretive. 

With west facing windows, it enjoys spectacular views across the cider apple orchards to Martley Hillside, Woodbury and even Abberley clock tower - a BIG bonus!

Needless to say, our Chris was mightily surprised when he returned from his travels and found exactly what we'd been up to. He immediately christened it: the Folly!

Only one question. Exactly why do I enjoy doing this stuff so very much???

Birdsong in November!

Fieldfares in the cider apple orchards

On this blog, I've been bleating on and on about garden colour and birds and also trying to take photos of both. Well, photographing the autumn colours is easy enough but vast flocks of Fieldfares are a different matter entirely. These are the best I could do. There are literally thousands and thousands of Fieldfares down in those apple trees and the ones seen in the photos are the very tiniest minority. It's a pity that readers can't hear them without all the background noise in the video! It's just that most people don't associate lots of birdsong with the month of November and the song from this many birds is quite incredible! At least a few can be hear in the video. (Photos are best viewed full screen!)

A few more Fieldfares!