Tess wants to open her presents.

Tess has been on all day wanting to open her presents. She even knows which are hers some how, must be because they have ‘Tess’ written on them.

20th December (working on the dog runs passage).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden.

2. Tidying - Cleared leaves from the dog runs passage. Trimmed some Ivy growing on a wall and removed some that was growing on the game larder. Removed weeds from dog runs and swept out.

The dog runs passage.

3. Collected three house plants from the hall and took to the greenhouse.

4. Break for tea.

5. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep.

6. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round.

7. Break for lunch.

8. Tidying - Tidied the conservatory. Threw away any unwanted plants. Swept the floor. Planted two potted roses in a gap in the rose garden.

The old conservatory.

9. Packing up.

10. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.

19th December (Leaf Clearing).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep. Messaged Richard for more hay to be delivered so that I don’t run out over the holidays.
3. Carting off - Carted away to the new leaf pile some of the leaves I raked up on Monday.
4. Break for tea.
5. Carting off - Finished carting off the leaves raked up on Monday.
6. Sweeping leaves - Swept the leaves from the main drive and North Front.
7. Break for lunch.
8. Clearing leaves - Cleared the leaves from around the potting shed.

9. Packing up.

10. See to the bins - Put out the black bins for collection tomorrow.

11. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.

18th December (A wet day).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden until the rain came.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep.
3. Cleared a space by the compost bins for a new leaf pile.
4. Break for tea.
5. Seeing to greenhouse work - Did some watering. Tidied up some plants.
6. Seeing to the logs - Went to the hall and filled the log box and buckets.

The log box.

7. Break for lunch.

8. Office work - Planned out some jobs for after Christmas. Looked through some plant catalogues as it was still throwing it down.

9. Packed up.

See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.

17th December. (Time to remove the mower deck).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked round.
4. Servicing - Removed the cutting deck from the tractor.
5. Break for tea.
6. Servicing - Cleaned off the cutting deck and put to store in the potting shed. I will need to oil the underneath and grease the bearings when dry.
   
7. Break for lunch.
8. Clearing leaves - Cleared leaves from the garden house steps. Cleared leaves from the Daffodil banks.

9. Packing up - Cleaned and put away the tools.

10. Seeing to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.

13th December. (By some miracle it started).

1. See to the - Put down fresh water. Cleaned the kennels. Left Blondie in the garden. Willow was away with the boss who fed them before leading. 
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep. 
3. See to greenhouses - Checked roundabout. Prepared some plants for the hall. 
4. Servicing - I couldn't get the leaf blower to start the other day so I cleaned it up a bit as I was going to call the repair shop and book it in for some work to be carried out. Luckily I decided to give it another try before calling them and amazingly it started as normal so I don't know what was matter with it the other day. 
5. Shopping - Went to Markham Grange garden center for some Algon to treat the slippery paving. 
6. Break for tea. 
7. Spraying - Treated any slippery paving with Algon. 
8. Break for lunch. 
9. Orchard work - Cleared up any apples lying in the grass. Cut the grass. 
10. Packing up. 
11. See to Blondie - Fed and put away. Willow had not returned. 

The Orchard. 

12th December (Finished off the long border).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked round.
4. Forking - Carried on from yestereday forking over the long border
5. Break for tea.
6. Forking - Finished off forking over the long border.
7. Break for lunch.
8. Tidying - Carted off all the rubbish from the long border jobs.
9. Pruning - Remover a branch from a conifer that was separating from the main body of the tree.
10. Packing up.
11. See to the bins - Put out the recycle bins for collection.
12. See to the dogs - Fed and put away.

A conifer branch needing amputation.

11th December. (Forking The Dahlia Border).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden.
2. See to the sheep - Checked the sheep and took across some hay.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked round.
4. Working on the long border - Collected up the Dahlia supports and took to store in the mower shed. Cut the grass edge to the border as I wasn’t able to cut it for a while due to overhanging plants. Edged the border with edging shears. 
5. Break for tea. 
6. Forking - Made a start on forking over the long border.
7. Break for lunch. 
8. Forking - Continued work on the long Border. 
9. Packing up. 
10. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs. 

The Long Border partly forked over.

10th December. (Pear Tree Pruning).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round.
4. Pruning - Made a start on pruning the Pear trees on the east side of the east wall.
5. Break for tea.
6. Pruning - Finished pruning the Pear trees.
7. Break for lunch.
8. Cutting back Ivy - Cutting back some Ivy that was growing over the road.
9. Packing up - cleaned and put away the tools.
10. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.

A young Pear tree being trained.

Ivy over hanging the road.

7th December. (Work In The Church).

1. See to Blondie - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennel. Left in the outdoor run as it was raining.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted. Bagged up more hay for the weekend.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked round.
4. DIY - Fixed some insulation that had come lose on the roof of the potting shed.
5. Break for tea.
6. Moving the Dahlia pot from the stone masons yard into the grotto.
7. Pruning - Pruned some long shoots from a Holly tree. Bagged the shoots for people to use for decoration.
8. Break for lunch.
9. Erected the church tree - Took the Christmas tree and erected it in the church. Also took the cribb and put in place.
10. Watering - Watered round the greenhouses.
11. Packing up.
12. Seeing to Blondie - Fed and put away. Willow has been away with the boss and had not returned.

The one and only tup.

The stone masons grotto.

6th December (Working on the Fig trees).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked round.
4. Pruning - Made a start on pruning the fig trees on the east wall.
5. Break for tea.
6. Pruning - Continued to prune and tie in the fig trees. Also removed immature fruit and encroaching Ivy.
7. Break for lunch
8. Pruning - Finished off the fig tree's. Pruned the rest of the Pear trees growing in the long border.
9. Packing up - Cleaned and put away the tool.
10. See to the bins - Put away the rubbish bins.

Two of the Fig trees before being worked on.

4th December. (Work On East Wall).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden.
2. See to the sheep - Checked and counted. Took across some hay. Broke the ice on the water trough.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round. Move a few plants from the conservatory to the hot house.
4. Pruning - Made a start on pruning the first Pear tree by the east wall.
5. Break for tea.
6. Pruning - Finished pruning the first Pear tree and made a start on the climbing roses growing in the long border.
7. Break for lunch.
8. Pruning - Continued to prune the climbing roses in the long border.
9. Packing up.
10. See to the dogs - Fed and put away.

The roses pruned and tied in.

3rd December (Removing Dahlia tops).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels.  Left in the outdoor run. 
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round. 
4. Clearing up - Picked up and stored the crash barriers etc used at the wedding on Saturday. 
5. Office work - I am having trouble with a delivery so needed to get in touch with someone to leave further instructions. 
6. Break for tea
7. Office work - Made out my monthly list regarding expenses and such like for the estate office.
8. Office work - As it was raining I spend some time looking through catalogues to get some ideas for the gardens next year.
9. Break for lunch
10. Border work - Removed the supports and cut down the Dahlias in the long border.
11. Packing up - Cleaned and put away the tools.
12. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.

The long Dahlia border.

Notes - I am going to leave the tubers in the ground this year. It's quite a sheltered border so hopefully they will be okay. 

30th November. (The Final Wedding Of The Year).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the outdoor run. 
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Check and counted.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round. 
4. Break for tea.
5. Clearing leaves - Swept and carted off leaves from the front drive.
6. Servicing - Prepared the tractor for mowing. 
7. Break for lunch 
8. Mowing - Cut the greens.
9. Packing up.
10. See to the dogs - Put away the dogs (Isobel fed them).

It’s the last wedding of the year tomorrow, here are pictures of the barn ready for the occasion.

29th November. (Erected the Christmas tree in the hall).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Put new shavings in their box.  Left in the outdoor run.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep.
3. Take Christmas tree - Took the Christmas tree to the hall. Erected the tree.
4. See to the logs - Filled the log box and bucket.
5. Break for tea.
6. Clearing leaves - Picked up some leaves from the rock garden and front drive.
7. Break for lunch.
8. Servicing - Did a mix of two stroke petrol for the leaf blower.
9. Removing crop protection - Removed the netting from the potting shed cherry tree.
10. Pruning - Cut back the Passion Flower growing against the potting shed wall.
11. Packing up - Cleaned and put away the tools.
12. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.

Passion Flower growing against the potting shed. The plant is actually rooted there by accident through a crack in the concrete after it had been thrown on some compost bins that used to be there.


Notes - I'm very late in taking down the netting, it's one of those jobs that I never got round too.

26th November. (Pavement Cleaning).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden until 9.30.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Check and counted the sheep. 
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round. 
4. Cleaning work - Set up the pressure washer. 
5. Break for tea
6. Cleaning work - Made a start on cleaning the paved area by the iron gates between the gardens.
7. Break for lunch. 
8. Cleaning work - Finished off the paving by the iron gates.
9. Cleaning work - Cleaned the paving outside the barn door to the front garden.
10. Packing up - Put away the tools.
11. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs. 

My handy work being inspected.


Notes - We have a wedding taking place on Saturday and the paving was a bit slippery so we thought it best if we try and make it better so as not to spoil the occasion with a broken hip or something.  If I'm going to be doing this sort of thing more often though I will be needing a better pressure washer as it took most of the day to do this.

21st November. (Medlar Harvest).

1. See to the dogs
2. See to the sheep - Checked and counted the sheep. Took across some hay.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round.
4. Harvesting - Cleared leaves from under the Medlar tree. Picked the Medlars.
5. Break for tea.
6. Greenhouse work - Moved planted from the cold greenhouse. Made a start on installing insulation.
7. Break for lunch.
8. Greenhouse work - Finished installing the insulation in the cold house. Moved the plants back in.
9. Packing up.
10. See to the dogs - Fed the dogs and left them in the garden for an hour. 
11. See to the bins - Put the black bins out for collection.
12. See to the dogs - Put the dogs away for the night.

Timothy - Michael checking over the Medlars.



Notes - A damp and  old day so a good chance to insulate the greenhouses. I still have the hot houses to do.

20th November. (Tidying and Potting).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the day run.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep.
3. Tidying - As it's raining I did tidying up in the potting shed, Took the barrel planters to the mower shed to store for the winter.
4. Break for tea.
5. Tidying - Did some more tidying in the potting shed.
6. Break for lunch.
7. Transplanting - Potted on the Geranium cuttings taken from the center bed of the courtyard. Potted on some pot plants. Checked over the greenhouse heaters.
8. Packed up.
9. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.

Some of the rooted Geranium cuttings.



Notes - When the weather is not good the dogs use the outdoor run as there is no good shelter in the garden. In the runs they can go indoors and have a bed to lie on.

19th November. (A leaf clearing day).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round. Took off some dead leaves and flowers.
4. Clearing leaves - Blew up some leaves that had gather by the iron gates between the gatdens.
5. Break for tea.
6. Clearing leaved -  Picked up the leaves I blew together earlier. Blew the leaves off the banks.
7. Break for lunch.
8. Clearing leaves - picked up the leaves from the banks with the sweeper. Blew the leaves from the front drive. Cleared leaves from the North Front.
9. Packing up - Cleaned and put away the tools.
10. See to the dogs - Fed Blonde, Willow has been away with the boss today so left him to feed her when they got back.

The leaf pile.

Notes -  I will leave the leaves in this leaf pile until after Christmas before moving to a permanent home in the compost area. 

14th November. (Removing Ivy).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels.  Left in the garden for a while.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep.
3. See to the greenhouses - checked round.
4. Checked over the tractor.
5. Break for tea.
6. Removing ivy - Cut back some branches on the fig tree so as to make a start on removing the ivy from the barn wall in the front garden. There were also some climbing roses that had to be cut back.
7. Break for lunch.
8. Removing ivy - Continued to remove ivy from the barn wall. Clean out the guttering. Removed ivy from the Holly tree. I also had to remove some growth from the back of the Holly tree as it was running on the wall of the barn and the guttering.
9. Packed up.
10. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.
11. See to the bins - Put out the recycle bins.

Notes - The wall looks a little sparse now but the are some climbing roses at its Base so I hope to train them to cover the wall from now on.

13th November. (Ivy trimming)

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered, Cleaned the kennel. Left in the garden.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round.
4. Clearing leaves - Picked up leaves from the front garden with the sweeper.
5. Break for tea.
6. Pruning - Pruned the trees and ivy by the back office steps.
7. Break for lunch.
8. Removed some of the ivy from the barn wall.
9. Packed up.
10. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.

Before and after trimming.

Notes - I think I may have found out who the VIPs are who are staying here at the moment.

12th November 2018. (Lifting Geraniums).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round. Took off some dead leaves.
4. Sowing - Sowed sweet pea seeds.
5. Break for tea.
6. Lifting plants - Made a start on lifting Geraniums from the south front wall beds.
7. Break for lunch.
8. Lifting plants - Finished off lifting the Geraniums. I'm going to try and over winter them in bags in the garden house basement.
9. Clearing leaves - Picked a few leaves up from the front garden with the tractor and sweeper.
10. Packing up.
11. See to the dogs - Went to feed the dogs but they weren't there so just left the food out.

Note - We have some kind of celebrity staying at the B&B but I don't know who as no one will tell me.

9th November 2018 Taking away the lambs.

1. See to the sheep - Helped the farmers to remove the lambs from the flock. Took across some hay.
2. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden.
3. Break for tea.
4. Clearing leaves - Picked up some leaves and sticks from around the grounds.
5. Break for lunch.
6. See to the greenhouses - Watered round and took off some dead leaves.
7. Packing up.
8. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs. 
9. Note - They delivered a load of sugar beet for the sheep this morning.

The sheep enjoying the sugar beet.

8th November 2018 - Digging over the Dahlia beds

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden.
2. See to the logs - Carried up seven baskets of logs to fill the box and bucket.
3. See to the sheep - Checked the sheep. No hay has arrived so couldn’t feed them.
4. Digging - Made a start on digging over the Memorial Gardens Dahlia beds.
5. Break for tea
6. Clearing leaves - I had to clear some leaves off the borders before digging.
7. Pruning - Pruned the roses growing up the obelisks.
8. Digging - Finished digging over the first bed.
9. Break for lunch.
10. Digging - Dug over the second Dahlia bed.
11. Packed up - Cleaned and put away the tools.
12. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.
13. See to the bins - Put away the black bins.

The Jersey Battle of Flowers | The famous must-see annual event

We arrived here in Jersey to find that there was a moonlight showing of the Battle Of The Flowers parade so we quickly booked some seats for the show. It was very interesting for us and I think also for those without an interest in flowers as there were various other performances in the parade such as marching bands and dancers. 

http://www.battleofflowers.com/

Welcome to the official Jersey Battle of Flowers website

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL PAVEMENT SEATS HAVE BEEN SOLD FOR THE MOONLIGHT PARADE

 THERE IS LIMITED PAVEMENT AVAILABILITY FOR THE DAY PARADE 

BUT THERE CURRENTLY IS SEATING IN STANDS A, B, C, D and E. 

BATTLE HQ WILL MOVE TO THE ARENA TOMORROW THEREFORE TICKETS WILL ONLY BE AVAILABLE  FROM THE LIBERTY WHARF KIOSK OR AT THE PARADE GATES

Buy Jersey Battle of Flowers ticketsClick here!

Buy Battle of Flowers merchandiseClick here!

The Jersey Battle of Flowers Highlights from the 2017 Day and Moonlight Parade.

The Jersey Battle of Flowers 2018 will take place on Thursday 9th August and Friday 10th August 2018.   

If you would like to benefit from sponsoring our event, click here.

First staged in 1902 in celebration of a Royal Coronation, the Jersey Battle of Flowers has since grown over the past century and more to become one of the largest floral carnivals in Europe and without doubt a major highlight in Jersey's varied summer calendar of festivals and events.

This website has been specifically created to give you a flavour of what to expect from one of Jersey's most popular festivals – whether you are a first time visitor to this floral spectacle or a regular spectator.

As and when information is confirmed, we will post on this website, including details on purchasing tickets as well as a preview of this year's exhibitors and floats, a glimpse at some of the other activities and events taking place as part of the parades and an opportunity to share some magical moments thanks to our gallery of images from past to present day.

And don't forget – you can also keep up to date with activities and news by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Holiday To Jersey.

Today we start a eight day holiday to Jersey which is one of the Channel Islands off the coast of France. We have just gone through all the airport stuff and are now waiting to board the plane which is nowhere to be seen at the moment.

Wild Garlic Woods

This picture was taken during the morning bunny run with Timmy. He like to check all his bunny friends are home safe and sound. If there are any lingering on the surface he soon rounds them up and sends them home.

Another day mulching.

I've spent another day  mulching roses with a mix of leaf mould and horse manure. 

Also this morning for a bit of a change I did a bit of forking and tidying on the east shrub border.

Mulching the roses

Apart from the cloche project I have been doing some mulching in the rose garden. I use a mix of leaf mould and horse manure mixed roughly half and half.

Lantern Cloche Project.

At the moment I am doing some repair work to a couple of lantern cloches that I found during a clear our of one of the sheds in the stable yard. This morning I have stuck in some of the missing glass and added some resin to a couple of the corners that were cracked and flexing. I did the other two corners and part of the side that had come adrift last week when it was snowing and they are now solid.

One I did earlier

 

The one I'm working on at the moment.

Mysterious Shed

On this mornings walk we came upon this mysterious shed in the woods. The thing that took my eye thought was the mass of snowdrops growing all around it.

Footballer Timmy

One of Timmy's favourite games is football. When I got him he didn't know how to play at all and even when he started he was very wary of getting in trouble for playing. I tried to start him off with a tennis ball as all our previous dogs love tennis balls but whenever I would go to pick up a small ball he would run away. I mentioned this to someone from the rescue place and they said that he probably ran away because he was used to people picking up stones and throwing them at him and so thought that is what I was doing so I quickly gave that up as a bad job. The football came about quite by accident when he found an old football in the bushes, he dragged it out and started tossing it around and he has been doing so ever since. At first he didn't like me playing with him but now he allows me to kick it for him every now and then.

The Echiums

The leaf tips of the Echiums are a bit scorched but the growing points seem okay and should pull away with some decent weather.

Old clothes

Under the builders bags I used a variety of old clothes wrapped around the plants, these along with builders bags were left on for the duration of the cold spell.

Cover up job.

On account of last weeks cold weather I cover some plants to protect them from the cold, now is the time to uncover them and see if we were successful.

Morning walk

Timothy - Michael doing a reluctant pose during his morning walk.

Sent from my iPhone

If I stare at him long enough

Timothy - Michael thinks that if he stares at me long enough he will get a piece of chicken sandwich - he was right.