The Hooke ‘n Crooke™

Last week I got a comment from an helpful guy call Scott at Holdredge Enterprises, LLC. It was about a couple of hoes they have on sale there. Of course Tom and I can’t recommend them because before Tom can give them his T-Rusty seal of approval we have to work with the product for a while so that we are sure that what we tell you about it is right and proper as we wouldn’t want you to go wasting your money. However I have looked closely at these tools and read what it says about them on the website and I have to say that I would be interested in trying one as the design looks good to me from what I can see of it and it’s not dissimilar to my favourite hoe. Anyway as I did a series on hoes I thought I would pass this on to you so here is a link to their site so you can check it out for yourselves. This is a company from the USA and I don't know if they ship abroad or not.

http://holdredgeenterprises.com/

Below are a couple of pictures of the hoes they offer, one is a hand hoe and the other a long handle hoe.

A Fruity Tip.

This is a little tip that I’m going to show you that makes life easier for me when picking fruit, Raspberries in particular. It doesn’t work so well with fruit that you pick while bending over, taller Black Currant bushes are another thing I’ve used it on with great success.

What I have in my hand is an ex-army ammo pouch.

This one clips on to my belt (which is covered by the shirt) that I wear all the time to hold up my trousers.

You could find something along the same lines to do the same job at a hiking store or similar. I like this one because I don’t need a separate belt also its pretty stiff canvas which as you can see doesn’t crush anything you put in there.

Then when you have it full all you need to do is take it off and tip the contents in to something larger and then set too and refill the pouch – hopefully many times over because I think most of us like our fresh soft fruits.

I’ve used this method for many years and find it handy not having to use one hand to hold a tray or whatever, it leaves both hands free for picking the fruit.

Fish & Chip Night.

As you can see my cup overflows with summer rain.

So I spent all day titivating the conservatory plants.

Vicki has just called to say she is on her way home with dinner which on a Friday is take-away fish and chips so I must not linger any longer, however tempting your company may be its nought compared to fish and chips.
Take care and have a great weekend,
Bob.

Newby Hall

MY NEWBY HALL PICTURE FOR TODAY

MY WORK BOOK

See to the sheep
Field
Misc
Thu 16/07/2009 08:00
Thu 16/07/2009 08:20
20 minutes
Checked and counted them.

See to the greenhouses
Greenhouses
Thu 16/07/2009 08:20
Thu 16/07/2009 08:55
35 minutes
Checked round and watered anything in need.

Cut the courtyard lawns
Courtyard
Public Gardens
Thu 16/07/2009 08:55
Thu 16/07/2009 09:45
50 minutes

Cutting the lawn
North Front
Public Gardens
Thu 16/07/2009 09:45
Thu 16/07/2009 10:15
30 minutes

Break for tea
Home
Misc
Thu 16/07/2009 10:15
Thu 16/07/2009 10:35
20 minutes

Mowing
Lawns
Main Garden
Thu 16/07/2009 10:35
Thu 16/07/2009 12:15
100 minutes
Took off 2 box full of grass.

Clearing up
Veg Garden
Walled Garden
Thu 16/07/2009 12:15
Thu 16/07/2009 12:45
30 minutes
Raked up all fallen apples and plums ready for mowing after lunch.

Pick up the grass cuttings
Misc
Thu 16/07/2009 12:30
Thu 16/07/2009 12:45
15 minutes
Picked up all the clipping from the mornings cutting.

Break for lunch
Home
Misc
Thu 16/07/2009 12:45
Thu 16/07/2009 13:30
45 minutes

Mowing
Lawns
Walled Garden
Thu 16/07/2009 13:30
Thu 16/07/2009 16:45
3.25 hours

Picking fruit
Veg Garden
Walled Garden
Thu 16/07/2009 16:45
Thu 16/07/2009 18:00
1.25 hours
Picked some Raspberries before the rain spoilt them.

Put away the tools and close the greenhouses
Potting Shed
Glasshouses
Thu 16/07/2009 18:00
Thu 16/07/2009 18:15
15 minutes

NOTES
1) I took off more grass this week than any other cut so far this year, by rights grass growing should be starting to slow down now.

2) As I have no more pictures of Barnsdale Gardens for my picture of the day I will now show you some of Newby Hall where Vicki and I visited last March.

COMMENTS FROM THE POTTING SHED

sara I tell you what, I had to burn some boxes from the hall once and I was standing there watching the fire when there was this almighty bang and something whizzed past me and hit the chicken pen. I nearly jumped out of my skin. On further investigation I discoved an exploded spray can. So you never know when you will be standing next to a bomb fire.

weaver of grass I try and compost what I can, I would like a big shreader so I could put loads more stuff on there then.

Lazy Bob.

Hello everyone, I had a good day today. I started off by doing some potting up because it was raining or at least it was to wet to make a start on the mowing. I start potting on some cuttings and then there were some pot plants in need of climbing the potting up ladder and to finish off I saw this Rosemary plant I had raised from a seedling and I suddenly got the urge to try and train it as a standard. I can’t recall having seen one as a standard although if it can be done no doubt it has and if it can’t be done for some reason then I guess I’m wasting my time trying.

The Rosemary, it may appear to be just a stick but I dream of a great future for it!

As things had dried up by tea break I cut the main lawn and all the public lawns. Mowing the lawns always seems to be a bit of a challenge one way or another, (which is what I enjoy), usually because it’s such a close call trying to get it all done in the day, last week of course there was the tremendous heat to contend with, wrestling with big bertha on the main lawn had me sweating cobs as she is definitely a heavy metal kinda girl. This week the challenge was to get done what I had to do before the next shower brought things to a halt. I got the main lawn cut but ended up finishing the courtyard with the rain bouncing down. Thankfully it was now time for lunch so I was able to get a change of shirt. This afternoon I spend sitting out in the sun in the deck chair in the potting shed yard listening to music picking off black currants.

I always used to pick them straight off the bush but someone told me you can prune off the shoots with the currants on and pick them that way. I was a bit dubious at first, it seemed too easy but it seems to work, the fact that I was picking off berries today proves it as I did the same thing last year, and I’m not boasting when I say this but since I came here the currant bushes have improved no end so I must be doing something right. Of course you have to be sensible, I don’t wade in hacking the whole bush down, I do prune back to a new shoot and all the usual stuff. If I remember right the currants are produced on new shoots put up for the base of the plant so removing the old wood with the berries on encourages the new shoot so I think that’s basically how it works. Anyway I enjoyed my lazy afternoon in the sun. By the way red and white currants grow different to black currants so don’t try this with either of them or you would probably have no fruit next year.