Brain freeze...

Bloody hell, over three months since my last blog, that's shameless that is. It's not like I've been overly busy, just lazy as far as this is concerned. Shocking really.

In the past three weeks I have been mainly up to my ankles in compost, digging it over and loading up wheel barrows full and transporting all round the four main gardens I work on. It's been a delight really, especially this week when it's actually been cold enough to be winter. However, I did give up on Monday afternoon, digging a vegetable plot in a blizzard (sort of), but back there tomorrow to finish it off.

Did I ever mention I like compost? Especially when I have made it - not literally of course, but from rotting leaves, grass cuttings and the like... 

It's been sooooo cold recently, but I have been able to keep up the work on the four major gardens in Berkhamsted (Pat's place), Quainton (Rebecca), Dancer's End Tring and Julie's at Buckland. And, just as a reminder, if only for myself, this is what they look like in nice weather!

Pat's place last Spring - remember Spring? Apparently it was
20 degrees warmer at this time last year

The kitchen view at Quainton. It looks very different this year, I've
managed to move even more plants into this bed and got rid of the arch,
it was intrusive and fell apart when I attempted to take it down! I
have moved 17 rose bushes from the driveway too - as soon as the
weather gets more conducive to nice photography I am going to take
new shots of the garden prior to a major re-vamp, ie getting the lawns back
from the builders!

Dancer's End House in Tring. This garden keeps me very trim (ish...) it's all hills and dales
and enormous. Been tidying all the beds recently after weeks of sorting out the compost and
chopping and trimming and pruning. Burnt a lot of stuff

...same at Buckland. Tidy, tidy, tidy... Dug over
the rockery around the pond in a vain attempt
at getting rid of the mare's tail. Watch this space!

Anyway, I aim to get back into regular blogging again. I think the weather has got to me in such a way as to freeze not only my fingers but also my brain.

Keep warm... Peace and love, Simon x

Note to self...

...take a pen and piece of paper with you when you know you are going to ring up to check on an account and you forgot all the details and had to ring home to get them.

Then, you won't have to write in the muck on your car's back window. I think this shall be my new motto.

Also, don't do this any more, as I think you may have bought about six pairs of secateurs this year.

Luckily, this time, I found them. I should get a gardening utility belt, but then again, I look too much of a prat already, so perhaps I won't

On a political note, we got our polling cards for the forthcoming PCC elections. Apparently this is an acronym for Police and Crime Commissioner. OK, I'm not overly intelligent I know, but does that mean we're voting for people to commission crime? Which is bad enough, but commission the police too! I mean, what IS this bloody country coming too? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcYppAs6ZdI

I'm here all week...

On that note I shall wish you well and bid you a safe journey home.

Happy badum tish!

Automne; Herbst; Autunno; Otoño; Φθινόπωρο

Autumn eh?

Yep truly here and what does that bring? I'll tell you what it brings

LEAVES; Feuilles; Blätter; Congedi; Hojas; पत्ते
Doesn't matter how one dresses it up, bloody leaves are everywhere. I go to sleep dreaming of 'em; I wake up thinking of 'em; my car is covered in 'em and the bloody kitten keeps bringing 'em into the house like she's caught, gutted and filleted a giraffe. So proud of herself...

Fog; mist; mizzly rain and that's just in the car. Oh yeah, the car that just cost £277.01 to get through it's MoT - where the hell do these people get a penny from?

Anyway, the great clear up will continue through to next Spring, so at least I have a job for the Winter. Got lots of trimming and pruning to do too. Odds on it's gonna be a mild Winter after the weird Summer.

Pictures!

The finished laurel hedge at Quainton - that's about four foot off the top

And from the other side - this shows
the continuing dreadful mess from
the building works

A new compost area at Quainton, made
from an old one

Had to cut a path down to it and I really enjoyed it

Pleaching the limes at Dancer's End, slow at first, but I got the knack
of it in the end

Probably said before that heights don't like me. They make me fall off
things, it's never truly my fault...

Last few flowers at Pat's place, delightful - asters I think...

It was on the top of the gantry that Deirdre rang me to tell that our dear comrade from the Non-Stop Picket outside South Africa House, Andy Privett (nee Gardner) had suddenly died on Sunday21st October. He was a big, proud and loud gay guy who helped me through some bleak times in the late 80s, early 90s and I, along with many others, will miss him desperately.

He never stopped making me laugh... And buying
me drinks!

Bless you, you big ol' gay mate you!

Happy mincing, wherever you may be.

Oh the end is Bill Nighy...

Hmmmm, seems this year is determined to attempt to piss me right off, what with the rain, rain and more rain. But what the hey, we're all still alive; we're all having the proverbial laugh; Boris Johnson, well, err, just Boris Johnson really (cripes he's a twat isn't he, don't get why people love him so much, oaf); still have a roof over our heads (the windows and doors are a bit of a struggle, but at least we're dry); we have a number of parties to go to in the coming weeks; s'nice.

So, the last few weeks have been very busy, Saturday working to try and catch up on stuff so I can at least leave my regular smaller gardens in a tidy state until next March. It's a desperate race to do this in time for the beginning of November. Did I say desperate? Pah, just do it Murray is all!

Anyway, here are a few picture to show what's been happening:

The view from the roof at Quainton, looking down to the stables. It was very windy that day and I was holding on to the scaffolding for dear life - never been good with heights.

Lots of trimming and shaping of hedges over the weeks, this is Pat's place in Berkhamsted. My new Tanaka hedge trimmer is picture on the left and is a splendid addition to the Murray tool box, I actually love it, bizarre!

...a bit of topiary at Julie and Andrew's place in Buckland. No really enamoured of that sort of thing but I do actually quite like doing it. I think it appeals to my sense of putting things in order - bit fascist...

A newt. This is something I am generally in complete accordance with most Friday nights - and Saturday and possibly Wednesday or Tuesday too. I had disturbed this poor little fella while weeding the rockery at Buckland, she/he was very sleepy, so I made a new nest for him/her and sang, to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it": 
Oh, I wish I was a naughty, little newt.
Oh, I wish I was a naughty, little newt.
Oh, it would be all right,
To stay out every night.
Oh, I wish I was a naughty, little newt.

So onwards to the end of another gardening year, my third and it has gone from strength to strength, even with the rubbish weather. The best thing of all is that I will have more than enough work for the winter too, four lovely big gardens with lots of lovely big trees and shrubs to tend to.

The newt lived by the way...

Happy happying...

None for sooo long then 3 come along at once...

What am I like eh? 


I came up with a new word the other day, bloggocks or bloggox if you want to be cool. It's a mix of bollocks and blog - did you spot that? Anyway, it's what this is all about innit?


Here is a most gorgeous picture from Womad a few years back. I post it because it's beautiful, sent to me by a beautiful person:

The ceiling of the Siam tent Womad 2006, courtesy of my best friend - wish I could make it this year the 30th anniversary, but well, y'know...

Today, Tuesday 12th June 2012, I was at Rebecca's place in Quainton and the building work has taken on a whole new tenor. Like great big ugly tracks all over the grass and great big ugly holes in places where there shouldn't be but ah well, there we go...


I was going to take pictures of the work, but it depressed me a bit, so I re-strimmed the little pathways I cut through the meadow area a few weeks back. I love it down there and at some point later in the year we are going to add a little seating area by the brook that runs at the bottom of the meadow. Can't wait!


Here are the new pictures:

This is a newly cut path, across the top of the re-sown area I did in April

Doesn't really look it here, but this is a quite steep hill up to the main lawn area

Looking along the bottom back to the re-sown area

And this is where the tennis court will be next year.
At the top of the drive

It's a garden I could work on all week and still struggle to keep on top of it at this time of year, so the 10 hours I do every Tuesday merely scratches the surface. Very enjoyable work and very lovely people!*


Happy strimming, if you can!


*And I'm not just saying that...

Dear Lord and Father of...

...humankind, forgive our cockamamy ways...


Listen, there must be something going on. It's obvious isn't it? All this weather we are having, it just can't be right. Too wet, too windy, but most of all too naffing cold. Quite frankly I am now pissed off. I can't work and if I don't work, blah blah blah...


Strangely though, on Monday this:

23-04-12

Turned into this:

30-04-12

What a difference a week makes, but then again I am not working today again, which is the third week on the trot that I have missed a day of work. It's becoming an obsession, I should learn to relax; ommmmmmmmmmmmmm...


Seriously though, I don't mind the wet or even the wind, it's the cold that gets to me. I reckon I haven't yet got used to the cold since coming back from our three year sojourn in Oz - that's the Antipodean rather large island as against the wonderful land of... OK, it was all of 42 years ago we got back, but I continue to not appreciate having me nutz frozen orf.


Anyway, Pat's on Monday. It was actually quite nice all day. I even cut the grass and doesn't it look nice:

The wisteria continues to flourish

Nice tulips, new this year. I think they are Tulipa viridiflora, 'Spring Green' - isn't that nice?

I believe this is Clematis 'Montana Rubens'. Masses of flowers every year and never fails...

The partare at Pat's, with freshly trimmed box hedges. I love trimming
up hedges, it's what I go to bed dreaming of!

Another post later on with a rather sad welcome for me at Rebecca's on Tuesday this week, a la this:

This is the horse chestnut at the top of the drive in
Quainton. A branch was lost in the storms at the weekend.

Laters! Or should I say L8rs?


Happy chopping!

mmmm, Berkhamsted on a sunny Friday... Nice

Just a quick post today, yesterday was yet another good day, spent chopping, sawing, trimming and had the chainsaw out! I love my chainsaw - do you think that may be a subliminal thing, showing my personality up for the strange thing that it is or just a healthy outdoor pursuit?

Old guy lives in the first floor flat above

Chop, chop, saw, saw, so satisfying... Tremendous fun!

...and a quick pint of Riser in the Rising Sun at the end of a really satisfying week. NB: The Rising Sun is not just the best pub in Berkhamsted, it's the best in Hertfordshire, probably the best in the South of England!

Just a little note of irritation though. When I am using my chainsaw or any other petrol driven tool I not only wear ear protectors, I listen to the radio and obviously can't hear anything else. Bearing that in mind, why do old-ish people walk up to one and talk as though one can hear them? It is bizarre. Not once, not twice, but three time yesterday I had to stop, put down the chainsaw, take off the ear protectors and take out my ear phones and say, "Sorry, I didn't hear a word of that." 


I wouldn't mind but they don't even think to repeat what I obviously DIDN'T hear. Yesterday the worst one was an old guy who lived in the flat as shown in the top picture. The Conversation went:


"Muffled blah, blah blah blah blah."


I took about 10 seconds to get all the above gear off.


"(muffled) and it's great!"


"Sorry, I didn't hear a word of that."


"You should cut down those white trees."


(Those "white trees" are very beautiful white beech trees)


"No, won't be cutting them down, that would be a crime."


"Cuts out all the light, I say, cuts out all the light."


"I'm just cutting back the shrubs, NOT the trees."


"Cuts out all the light!"


"Well there's no way I'm cutting the trees down... Sorry I have to get on with my work."


He carried on talking as I put all my gear back on. I gave him the thumbs up and he carried on shouting for a bout another minute, even as I started to cut down the central 2/3 trunks of the sambucus - the large over grown shrub in the middle of the middle picture.


Bizarre...


Happy chopping! 

Hey Babes!

I really don't want to offend, but Jesus H Christ it was cold out there today. I was  chopping, pruning and a-cutting shrubs down on the tow path of the Grand Union canal in Berkhamsted. If you know that stretch it was by the very fine pub, The Rising Sun, right on a lovely lock, opposite the grounds of a block of flats I look after. In the remit is the tidying of - sorry, I have the YouToob mix of The Ramones and I am occasionally disappearing into bliss - a small stretch of tow path. 


Before I get on to the work on the tow path, I also do not want to offend with this first picture, but I felt it had to be shown as I would not have been able to work today without these lovelies:

Yes, thermals or, as our forefathers and mothers would say, Long Johns. Today I wore five tops, a scarf, me trusty woolly hat, two pairs of extra thick socks and steel toe caps, with extra thick gloves too. And yes I still froze me bollox off. 

The window of a car at the canal at Berkhamsted this morning

08.30 hours, Friday 03.02.12

10.05 hours

11.30-ish

The ice was permanent all day - damn cold! (Rockaway Beach, ain't The Ramones the best?).

Anyway, the reason for my visit was to clear an area of the tow path that is used by some weirdos to hide clandestine behaviour. As a sort of libertarian geezer I almost find this embarrassing, but as I am convinced the offending individuals are fishermen, fuck 'em! In a previous post I eluded to this area having obvious signs of drug abuse, roaches, etc, but I feel my loathing for fisherman can justify the cutting down of the shrubbery as follows:

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Once again, this is the kind of work I truly enjoy, one can see the results almost immediately. Well, I started at 08.30 and finished at 3pm, so relatively quickly anyway. All done with secateurs and loppers (with extendable arms, wish I had extendable arms... like Twizzle.)

Twizzle was one of Gerry Anderson's weirdest characters. He was a "boy" who had all sorts of adventures with his "extendable arms".

Weird programme, but what the hell did we know back in the 60s anyway? It was akin to the Singing, Ringing Tree (how appropriate that Psycho Therapy is playing now!) and must have disturbed many a kid, perhaps even introducing several serial killers to the world...

As usual I transgress. Just so's I can get up to date with my pictures from the last 4 weeks, here are the rest of what I have been doing:

The old stable block at Quainton - with the trusty Belgrano just
on the right there. It's just behind the block that I am doing a
major re-planting job. Taking out loads of old tired shrubs and
ground cover and replacing with ferns, hellebores and other shade
loving shrubs. 

This will be an on-going exercise over the coming months and will hopefully look as much like a Gertrude Jekyll border as is possible in the shade!

(California Sun, this is when YouTube comes into it's own, there's tons of Ramones on this mix, it's damn fine)

The pond at Quainton. Nice reflection..

 The weather is a-closing in and I feel that I may not be doing too much in the coming week, but nevertheless life as a gardener is rather pleasing at present...

The chicks know how to look after each other
in this inclement weather!

And, I'm nearly there with the compost bins at Buckland!

Happy chilling!


Innit?


PS: I Wanna Be Sedated...