Hello again! Par de uno

Well, the second week of the new gardening season* kicked off with a quick tidy up in Pat's back garden - don't want to take away too much though as there was a heavy frost over night and the old leaves and foliage keep the new shoots nice and warm. Then returned to the front and finished off clearing up the disaster left by some idiot scaffolders who ruined the edging of the grass. Basically drivers tend to turn round on the area of grass in front of Pat's and it churns up the grass, but the scaffolders did a really great (sic) job of making a quagmire out of it, so I have attempted to clean it up, make it look better and with the help of some strategically placed posts (rustic stylee) will make it look good and impossible to do a u-eeee over!

Should have taken a proper "before" but I only thought to do it after about an hour's work 

Then over to the allotment to carry on with the digging. I only have about a third left to do and then I'll be getting the manure/home made compost on it. Very exciting as the potatoes, onions, shallots and garlic turned up on Friday, all nicely chitting and pre-planted in the greenhouse yesterday.


While cleaning out the chickens yesterday there was a very loud bang and crash. Yep! Footballs and greenhouses don't go together... Poor Finlay got shouted at, which is always wrong - note to self, anger management, anger management, anger management...


A few catch-up pictures. The first one is the seed, mixed with sharp sand, for the wild flower meadow at Quainton. A cornucopia of loveliness...

And these are some of the many signs of Spring at Church Farm, Buckland, Julie & Andrew's place...

I do like a daff or two and those hellebores make my heart jump and the narcissi at the bottom even beat the daffs - speaking of daffs, well done the Welsh for winning the Six Nations, marvellous stuff...


Pat left me the keys to let Fergus out today, so he could have a run about and do his "business". The below is as far as he got from the back door! Bless the ol' fella!

And finally, yesterday being Mother's Day, here's a picture of mum and son that I just couldn't resist...

Happy cuddling!


*NB: The new gardening season is a figment of my imagination by the way, I just call it that as I am now back working on all the regular gardens I have and it's a rather lovely sign that Spring is really here and I can stop being a miserable git for the next 8/9 months...

Blimey, what a day...

I spent over eight hours preparing the first bit of the wild flower meadow at Quainton and doesn't my poor old back know it?(!) As I have explained before I was knocked down when I was eight and damaged three vertebrae at the base of my spine. I actually get constant pain from it but do not want to go about freezing the area as it could well constrict my activities. I am far too young to have constricted activities ain't I? (Plus my livelihood would end... Not a good idea.)


Finlay continues to delight - as does his sister, but at fast approaching 13 it's difficult sometimes to appreciate! There are currently five planets on view in the night sky, Venus and Jupiter very close together, Mars, Saturn and Uranus (that's Your Anus, yah yah yah...) He was telling our next door neighbour about Mars's position the other day and she said, 


"Where is it now then Finlay?" 
He replied, "It was over there last night." 
"Has it moved then?"
He sighed, "It doesn't move, we do!"


Cosmologist/Astrologer at six!


Anyhoo, here's the meadow:

And:

Hiring a turf cutter next Tuesday, so should get moving along nicely!


There's a bright golden haze on the meadow!


Happy Howard Keel-ing...

Man of the Match; wild flower meadow; Karcher again, etc

Well hello! It's been a long time - ish...


Busy, busy, busy, but no excuse for not doing this since February. Biggest, most important thing that's happened since? Finlay, age 6, Man of the Match against Bovingdon on Sunday and he didn't even want to play in defence! He was class, even going on a couple of David Luiz style raids forward. Proud parents is all I can say.


As to gardening, well where to start. Karchered my way round Rebecca's in Quainton:

I know I have an obsession with this contraption, but it does do a superb job, but please wear waterproof trousers if you ever attempt to do a job on this scale...

Also, made a really good start on the meadow area. Cleared away lots of weeds and rubbish from under the trees and will hopefully get the OK on hiring a turf stripper/cutter which will mean I can clear the area out in the open in just one day. This is the area shown from both ends:

The area I've cleared is the far end. This is fairly late in the day so does not show the full effect of the sun on the open area. It's a long term project, which I love, because it means I am going to be here for some time to come. Love it!

And, finally at Quainton, here's the hellibores I moved from the proposed tennis court area, plus a few ferns and such like. They have settled in beautifully, but then again they're not my favourite flowers for nothing, they're just so easy...

Over at Buckland and the pond had some visitors the week before last, couldn't believe it!

Yes a duck couple, unfortunately you can only see the male as this was taken on my mobile and the camera isn't that good.

A view of the pond from the top, delightful!

And finally a quick look at the allotment:

The digging is coming on a treat, I will be putting on some compost this week. Sowed the cabbages at the weekend, awaiting the potatoes, sowed five different varieties of tomatoes, put in some salad leaves in the greenhouse, as well as salad onions and some onions too - eat your heart out Tesco!

And absolutely finally for this blog, the new chicks arrived three weeks ago and they are very cute, as you can see:

Tallulah - who has a "gammy" toe on her left foot, she hobbles a bit but seems in no real discomfort - she chirrups all the time bless her...

Tilly, very robust!

Clarrie, Harriet, Bridie (hidden somewhat) & Betsy - all laying! We had 12 eggs last week, so basically now they are in full flow, so to speak, we should start getting well over 20 eggs a week from them. Half dozen Murray Eggs anyone? £1.73 to you!

Happy laying!

Spike Milligan, fairies, pond cover cleaning and early lawn mowing...

This really is a quickie, as I must get some sleep!

Today at Pat's place in Berkhamsted I actually cut the grass - light touch of course this time of year - and found evidence of fairy activity. The latter was rather poignant for me as today was the 10th anniversary of Spike Milligan's passing on.


When Spike's kids were little there was a rather magical exchange of notes, placed in a little tin box, at the bottom of the garden. The fairies wrote to the children and the children wrote back. Spike always said he preferred the company of children over adults, basically because he always had a little child "inside"; he never grew up. Too sweet for words and as I brush away a little tear in the knowledge that I too have that little child just under the surface, here's some pictures of today's activities:

The grass always looks good when cut...

And finally, undeniable evidence that fairies exist!

It says, "for fairys. Queen sits on fowler (flower)"

The petals of said flower were definitely showing signs of disturbance, so there you have it, fairies do exist... A few of my mates already know that.


Don't know about you but I am chanting, "I do believe in fairies, I do, I do..."


Happy fairying about!

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! 

A Lovely Day today...

I know I have this obsession of going on about loving being away from the corporate world, but today was a day I would have thought was only possible in my silly dreams just 3 years ago - can't believe it's three years since SchmArgos "did the dirty on me", but it is and what a relief!


Who would want to sit in front of a computer staring at JML Fast Fit Ironing Board Cover - Pawprint, catalogue number 850/1116, checking it for colour just so Mrs Miggins won't be disappointed and return it? Yep, who would want to do that as against looking after this?

Finally got rid of the roots to a poorly placed hedge today, it's taken me forever, but the area will be planted with lavender to match the other side of the steps.

Moved all those hellibores and ferns middle left of picture a few weeks ago, they've settled in well. That whole area was pretty much over grown with ground cover, I want to reproduce a sort Jekyll (Gertrude that is) effect in the shade if I can. There's anemones in the back and I want to plant up some foxgloves as well, few more ferns too...

Also dug out a couple of medium sized shrubs from a small ornate-ish border in the main lawn area (NB: don't know why this has gone to double line spacing). I have also been working on this for a while. A tree specialist moved the two ash trees on either side, I did the topiary(?), ha ha!

Nice bit of work that should look really good come the summer - I hope!

This is where I moved the shrubs to. It's at the top of a little hill that drops down to an area we are going to plant up as a wild flower meadow and then down to a dried up stream.

The wild flower meadow is inspired by Sarah Raven's series, Bees, Butterflies and Blooms. Her best bit of work ever I think. If you didn't see it it is actually worth doing an iPlayer visit, at least on the last episode shown last night. Suffice to say I am really looking forward to starting work on the meadow, I
feel a song coming on:


Ohhhhhhh, There's a bright golden haze on the meadow

There's a bright golden haze on the meadow 

The corn is as high as an elephant's eye, 

An' it looks like it's climbin' clear up to the sky. 




Well there we go, you even get a blast of Howard Keel on here! Also cut back 


some grass from the edge of the pond, so it truly was a busy day, but so worth 


it. Oh and a bay tree that blocked a view across Aylesbury Vale towards Oxford. 


This is another area of the garden that will be worked at some point this year. 


Exciting stuff.

Front door - there are plans to make it more obvious!

Finally, some lovely flowers in the front garden:

Exquisite hellebore - I really think they are my favourite flower and not just because they are so easy to grow!

Beautiful iris in amongst my obsession at the moment, some snowdrops

And after the digging and moving and re-planting, here is a picture of the sky between a redwood and a yew tree - yep, I was flat out on me back!

Happy, happy!