31st January. (Leaf Piles).

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. Broke the ice on the water trough.


3. See to the greenhouses - Checked round.
4. Office work - Put in an order for veg seeds.
5. Break for tea.
6. Clearing leaves - Moved some leaves from the temporary leaf pile to the permanent one in the compost area.

 7. Break for lunch.
8. Office work - Putting together a list of herbs that I need to order.

9. Packing up

10. Fed and put away the dogs.

30th January. (Japanese Leaf Clearing).

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

2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep. Broke the ice on the water trough. 

3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round. Pruned and reported some Fuchsias. 

4. Break for tea. 

5. Clearing leaves - Raked up some leaves from the Japanese Garden. 

6. Break for lunch. 

7. Leaf clearing - Continued to rake up leaves in the Japanese Garden. 

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

9. Fed and put away the dogs. 

10. See to the bins - Put out the black bins. 

29th January. (Digging and Potting).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered the dogs. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden.
2 See to the sheep - Checked and counted the sheep. Broke the ice on the water trough.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round.
4. Digging - Did some digging in the veg garden.
5. Break for tea.
6. Digging.


7. Break for lunch.
8. Transplanting - Potted on some Sweet Pea plants. Reported some greenhouse plants as the weather was wet and cold.
9. Packing up.
10. Fed and put away the dogs.

28th January. (Loggin 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.
4. Digging - Did a bit of digging in the veg garden to fill in time until I could get into the hall.
5. Seeing to the logs - Filled the log box and coal buckets. Ordered more logs.
6. Break for tea.
7. Forking - Made a start on forking the Day Lily and Astibie beds by the Lily Pond but had to leave off to see to the delivery of logs.


8. Seeing to the logs - Set out the sheet to catch the bits from the logs. It saves a lot of clearing up afterwards. Threw the logs down into the cellar.


9. Break for lunch.
10. Clearing rubbish - Took away the rubbish left over from the logs.
11. Clearing rubbish - Carted off some rubbish from the veg garden.
12. Packing up - Cleaned and put away the tools.
13. Fed and put away the dogs.

24th January. (Tidying the patio rose beds).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden.
2. Gritting - Spread some grit on the paving as it was very icy.
3. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep. Broke the ice on the water trough.
4. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round.
5. Break for tea.
6. Tidying - Continued the tidy up around the lily pond area. Forking over the borders


7. Break for lunch.
8. More border forking by the lily pond.
9. Packing up.
10. Fed and put away the dogs.
11. See to the bins - Put away the bin and tub.

Warming my paws.

Timothy - Michael relaxing in front of the fire.

23rd January. (Pear Tree Border).

1. See to the dogs - Fed the dogs. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden except for Jess who I left in the kennels.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep. Broke the ice on the water trough.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round.
4. Digging - Did a bit of digging in the veg garden.
5. Break for tea.
6. Cutting back - Finished cutting back the Ivy on the dividing wall.

7. Break for lunch.
8. Transplanting - I had to remove some plants from the pear tree border as they are removing the tree. I potted the plants up until I can find them a new home.

9. Packing up.
10. Fed and put away the dogs.
11. Seeing to the bins - Put out the recycling bins.

22nd January. (Some Work On The Upper Patio).

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. Checked the water trough for ice.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round.  Brough plants back from the hall plus one orchid.
4. See to the logs - Filled the log box and coal buckets.
5. Break for tea.
6. Tidying the upper patio area - Pruned the roses in the beds and on the wall.

7. Break for lunch.
8. Cutting back - Cutting back Ivy on the dividing wall by the lily pond.



9. Office work - The weather turned nasty so went indoors to work on an order for plants.

10. Packing up.

11. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs. (I now have puppy Jess to look after).

21st January (The Vine Moved).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the gardens.
2. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep.
3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round. Potted on some plants. Took off some dead leaves.
4. Transplanting - Removed a young grapevine in preparation for work on the conservatory to be carried out. Planted into the greenhouse border.
5. Break for tea.
6. Remove Ivy from the thorn tree.

7. Pruning  - Did some cutting back on the Wisteria by the rose garden. With help from the wind it's got a bit out of control of late.

8. Break for lunch.
9. Finished off the Wisteria - RepairEd the framework.
10. Tidying in front of the lily pond - Cut down the Verbena. Edged the lawn. Trimmed the Ivy around the pond. Cleared the Day Lily bed.


11. Packing up - Cleaned and put away the tools.
12. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.

17th January (A Greenhouse Tidy).

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.
4. Took pot plants to the hall.

5. Starting the tractor - It's reluctant to start on cold mornings so have to jump start it from the lawn mower. 

6. Break for tea. 

7. Carting away rubbish - Loaded up the rubbish from the East Shrub Border and disposed of in the woods. 

8. Break for lunch. 

9. Moved the gas heater - When cold weather is forecast I  use a propane heater for back up to the electric heater in the warm house. But because of circumstances the warm house is in a different place this year so I needed to move the heater. 

10. Seeing to the greenhouses - Tidied up the cool house a bit. I've tended to use it as a bit of a dumping ground so needed to sort things out and do a bit of a plant tidy. 

11. Packing up. 

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

13. See to the bins - Put the black bins back. 

16th January. (Finished forking the east Shrub 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 and watered round. Potted on two orange trees.

4. Forking - Did more forking on the east shrub border.
5. Break for tea.
6. Forking - Continued to fork over the border. I also removed some Ivy that was growing up the apple trees.
7. Break for lunch.
Forking - Finished forking over the East Shrub Border.
8. Packing up - Cleaned and put away the tools.
9. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.
10. See to the bins - put out the black bins ready for collection tomorrow.

15th January.

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the outdoor run as they seems uneasy about something 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.
4. Pruning - Pruned the last climbing rose on the west wall.
5. Break for tea.
6. Forking - Made a start on forking over the east shrub border.

7. Break for lunch.
8. Did some more forking, edging and tidying on the east shrub border.
9. Packing up.
10. Seeing to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.

Test

Test

!4th January. (Tidying the East Shrub 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 and watered round.
4. Clearing rubbish – Picked up some rubbished left over from the rose garden work last week. Took it to the woods.
5. Break for tea.
6. Tidying – Made a start on tidying the East Shrub Border. Cut down last years plant growth. Rake the rubbish off the border.

The East Shrub Border

7. Break for lunch.
8. Pruning – Pruned the apple trees growing in the East Shrub Border.
9. Packing up – Cleaned and put away the tools.
10. Seeing to the dogs – Fed and put away.

Repairs to the garden wall.

This past week Bert and Pete have been doing some pointing work to the wall of the walled garden.

It must be quite a job having to work around the plants that are trained against the wall.

11th January (Even Small Ones).

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. Forking- Continued to fork over the rose garden beds.
4. Break for tea.
5. Planting - Planted two small Christmas trees in the wall outside Stable Arches. Not something I would have done but the boss asked for it to be done. Be careful when planting trees around the house, even small ones. I also weeded the rest of the wall while I was there.

6. Forking - Finished forking over the rose beds in the rose garden. I didn’t do the one around the conservatory as they are talking of doing some work on it so there is no point if they are going to be walking all over the border.
7. Break for lunch.
8. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round.
9. Harrow the gravel - Harrowed the gravel on the north front. Went over it three times as I haven’t harrowed it for a few months.
10. Packing up.
11. See to the dogs - Fed and put away the dogs.

10th January (Continued Forking The Rose Beds).

1. See to the dogs - Fed and watered. Cleaned the kennels. Left in the garden but had to return after feeding the sheep as one of them was barking and clear on edge about something so I returned them to the outdoor run just to be on the safe side.

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

3. See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round. Discovered the conservatory door open, not sure if the boss left it open or what.

4. Finished edging the grass around the rose beds.

5. Break for tea.

6. Continued forking the rose beds.

7. Break for lunch.

8. Continued forking the rose beds.

9. Packing up.

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

11. See to the bins - Put away the bins and tubs.

9th January (Forking rose Border’s).

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

2. Take away the Christmas tree from the barn to the burn pile.

3. See to the sheep - Took across some hay. Checked and counted the sheep. Checked the water trough.

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

5. Tidying - Finished off pruning the roses in the rose garden.

6. Break for tea.

7. Forking - Made a start on forking over the rose beds in the rose garden.

8. Break for lunch.

9. Continued to fork over the rose beds.

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

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

12. See to the bins - Put our the blue bins and tubs for collection tomorrow.

8th January (Removed the tree from the hall).

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. Potted on plant.

4. Pruning - Did some rose pruning in the Rose Garden.

5. Break for tea.

6. Seeing to the logs - Filled the log box and coal buckets in the hall.

7. Removed the Christmas tree from the hall.

8. Break for lunch.

9. Clearing leaves - Cleared and carted away the leaves from the rose garden.

10. Packing up.

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

7th January (Back To Work).

1. Seeing 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.

See to the greenhouses - Checked and watered round.

3. Chatting to Bert and Pete about some work to be done in the gardens.

4. Break for tea

5. Estate work - Removed all the Christmas things from the church.

6. Break for lunch.

7. Pruning - Pruned some roses in the rose garden as I need to get on the beds to tidy them.

8. Servicing - Oiled the cutting deck from the tractor.

9. Repotting - Potted on some Echiums.

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

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