Burn baby burn...

...garden inferno at Quainton today. Perfect for a pyromaniac like me. I've been saving up tons of stuff, built a large bonfire and then set a match to it, woomph!

It looked not unlike this:

...I lied, it looked more like the one below...

...oh dear, lied again...

Yeah, that was it, bit like this one.

Must remember to take my camera to work more often, the one on the new phone is poxy, anyway the fire was splendid, lasted all day and caused no complaints for once, which is nice - not fond of people complaining.

Not long ago I was working on the old compost area at Quainton - which is now the new compost area (see below) - and this old-ish couple leant on the wall and commenced watching what I was doing. It got a bit unnerving after about five minutes, I had smiled but they kind of ignored that, so I said, "Can I help you?" "What you doing?" asked the man. "Clearing the compost area," I replied. "Why?" asked the man - the woman just frowned. "Why not?" I replied. "Just asking," she said. They then moved on. Bizarre some country folk.

I hope to be remember to take the camera tomorrow, Thursday and Friday (yep, working Easter Friday and Monday too, bit hypocritical for an atheist not to really) just so I can update the gardens at Buckland, Hemel, Tring and Pat's in Berkhamsted...

Happy burning baby...

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

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...

I promise not to mention the weather...

OK, I feel a bit lost. I am one of those sad individuals who has to do something. And by something, I mean work. I have this innate feeling that I must earn to justify my existence. When I think logically about that obvious psychotic behaviour I should tell myself, "Chill, if you can't work it's not your fault", but I feel like I'm letting people down. All those nice people with their lovely gardens... Ho hum.


Anyhoo, I have a backlog of pictures to upload and will basically make a selection from the past month or so. It's probably a good thing as I have quite a lot and so I must edit out the worst ones. (Can't believe I haven't blogged for over a month, still can't get the hang of this!)

First time in my life I actually love a car - not in the fruity sense of the word obviously, that would be berserk. The "Belgrano" (big and grey and never been anywhere near the Falklands) is a beauty and now I have discovered boxes it's actually quite neat!

Here are some little jobs I have done, not insignificant of course just some nice tidying up, something I actually enjoy - slightly gay?

Before...

...after. A nice little cottage in Tring

Before...

...after. The greenhouse area at Rebecca's place in Quainton - why is this soooo enjoyable?

Before...

...after. A little bit of topiary at Julie's place in Buckland. I sometimes feel cutting hair may have been a good career, but then I think hair is such a bad idea...

Some flowers:

"Bellis perennis is a common European species of Daisy, of the aster family, often considered the archetypal species of that name. Many related plants also share the name "daisy", so to distinguish this species from other daisies it is sometimes qualified as common daisy, lawn daisy or English daisy."
Many thanks to Wikipedia! I love daisies, such a shame I spend so much of my time mowing them up. I think they are so quintessentially British and we should adopt the little beauty as our national flower, sod the rose!

And here are some pretty pictures (I think) sort of at random. Yeah, that's the sun in the top one - damn! does that constitute mentioning the weather?

This is a painting in waiting isn't it? Love those shadows, but seeing as my current painting has been sitting in the dining room untouched for about 3 months, it ain't gonna happen some time soon

The previously flowerless wisteria at Pat's.
I'm hoping next year will see it awash!

Lunch time at Pat's - gotta get those feet up some time!

OK! That's it for this post, I'm going to have to write another to include the remainder of the pictures. They have a bit of an irreverent feel, so I think it would be out of place in a blog with such nice pictures.


Back in a mo...


Happy days!

Post 118 part de deux - that'll be 119 then...

Here are then, this week at work. There was rain, hail, sunshine, freezing winds and lots of tea, nice...

One of the jobs I do is at two blocks of flats in Berkhamsted. Don't really like it but the plus is that I grab a cheeky pint at The Rising Sun pub, which is undoubtedly the best pub in Berkhamsted and probably the best in Hertfordshire too. Problem is, with a job like this you have loads of people with opinions on what you should be doing, which is OK, but - and it's a big BUT - when someone, just one, has an opposing opinion to the majority that opinion gets irritating. It's the old one bad apple in the barrel innit?

Also, when you take over a poorly kept lawn, full of moss and rubbish, it takes twice as long to cut. The first picture below shows it, it's horrible, creates dust and loads of particles of moss fly about getting on your chest, which is a bit rubbish if you're an asthmatic. Don't get me wrong, the money is fine and I do like the work, it's just it's too much like work. Y'know what I mean? It's almost corporate in context. All my other work is for individual families and they like what I do, ALL of them like what I do. Again, don't get me wrong, if things don't work out with people you just move on, that's fine, but corporate stuff means you just have to put up with the nonsense. Shame, why should you have put up with nonsense?

That's that off my chest and I promise it won't happen again in the foreseeable. The pictures below are all from the last 7/8 days.

The aforementioned rubbish bit of grass. It takes at
least 3 goes to collect all the cuttings too, horrible

Call me an old hippy, but I love the "LOVE & PEACE" graffiti. South Bank last Saturday...

Had to take this asa the Fabs are along the bottom of this pillar

One of the atriums at the Tate Modern, love big balloons

Cumulonimbus... The only cloud worth looking at

The above three pictures are from the big lawn at Rebecca's place in Quainton. They are getting a sit Husqvarna mower later in the year but I just couldn't leave it any longer and put in an ever decreasing circle. It was really good fun and I never noticed the 4 hours it took to do it - doesn't time fly when you're having a gooooood time?

Hellebores and Daffs at Julie's in Buckland

More Daffs at Julie's

The three above pix are the long lawn at Julie's place. I don't cut the grass here, which is good really as I would need to work there for at least 2 days a week, which would mean giving up one of my other gardens, which I couldn't do, no now. That's a Medlar tree on the right, beautiful gnarly old branches and a lovely little den for Julie's kids.

Tom & Vicky's place in Aldbury. Alison has been looking after this for me
recently. It looks great and the little lawn I put in last year, top of pic, is
looking really nice 

Yet another newly cut lawn. Again, first cut of the year, so it took very
nearly four hours to do. Lots of moss again, but far more manageable
and I really like the way it looks with the cross-cutting. Not sure about the
"installation" though... This house is in Chesham Bois by the way.

So there you have it, only four days of work, but loads done and Sophie was 13 on Monday, blimey, our little girl a teenager...


Happy happy!!!

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...