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.

Getting Nasty In The Raspberry Patch.

This Raspberry patch has been pretty much out of control ever since I came here and has become more so as time passes despite my best efforts to get on top of it by forking and spot weeding. The main problem is Bindweed mixed with a few Nettles.

So as I wasn't having much effect by being nice, three years ago I decided to get nasty and dug out two of the four rows of Raspberries and then spent the following summer getting rid of the weeds by spraying with Roundup. I had to give two or three applications before the ground was free from any signs of Bindweed and I was able to replant with new Raspberry canes.

 

 

So as to not leave the house without any Raspberries I have had to leave the new canes to grow on for a couple of years before uprooting the next two rows for ground cleaning work, this is what I did last week. 

Furthest away is the new row of summer fruiting variety plus one row of Autumn fruiting canes which have yet to have supports added. The two rows nearest have been removed and all this ground up to the two new rows will be kept sprayed off this next summer including the row of Artichokes that you can see in the bottom of the picture. I have saved canes and split one Artichoke plant to clean and save for replanting when the ground is clean, these will be grown on in a different location for the time being.

Wild Garlic.

A nice bed of wild garlic growing on the sides of the avenue.

This could be used in some home baked bread.

Blue bells and Wisteria.

Blue Bells and Wisteria by the lily pond.

Tractor ride to the woods.

Hello everyone, how are you today? This past week I have been digging over the vegetable garden, it's a job I like to get done before Christmas if I can so that the weather has time to break down the soil and perhaps do other good stuff as well. 

Anyway before I could start on the digging I needed to clear some things such as old unwanted veg and prunings from Black Currant bushes, also some weeds, basically anything that was in the way of the digging. When the trailer was loaded up and ready for emptying I had the idea of putting my little camera on the tractor somewhere and then inviting you all to come for a ride on the tractor with me to the woods which is where I have to dump my rubbish since the gamekeeper put my compost bins on the bonfire. So anyone who is interested hop on board and hold on tight.

Low Priority Rabbits.

If you grow Lettuce, and indeed various other vegetables it can sometimes be worth leaving them in the garden even after they are past being useful for eating as they can put on a display just as good as any flowering plant. Tell me if I'm wrong but wouldn't the Lettuce in the picture look good in any Herbaceous border? I haven't tried this but one could probably still pick off individual leaves and add them to a salad.

Incidentally the Leeks in front of the lettuce are a failure. People keep on telling me that keeping rabbits out of the garden is not a priority, I hope they are as understanding when I present them with the Leeks in the picture as the two previous sowing's got eaten by the low priority rabbits last spring.

Strange Cabbage.

I have these Cabbages in the garden at work which I have grown in a ring of wire netting for protection, I think there are four plants the one you see being the biggest. I planted them such a long time ago that I can't even remember what they are but by the look of them I think they may be Savoy cabbages planted for last winter but were a bit late so never developed when they should but have done so now. The other interesting thing is that because of the wire netting around them they have grown on long stalks of about eighteen inches long presumably so they can escape the chicken wire around them. Until you examine it closely the four plants seem to be one plant with four cabbage heads which looks sort of unusual.

Work On The Laburnum Border.

Over the past few weeks I have been sorting out what we call the Laburnum border which as been both neglected and suffered from winter storm damage. Apart from removing leaves and forking over the border I trimmed back Ivy on the and a Fig tree in the corner as well as removing completely the Laburnum which was rotten and fallen over. I have left one young shoot which I intend to train flat against the wall as it grows.

Before I started the work on the border.

Part way through with the Ivy and Laburnum removed.

Finally with the border forked over, fed and some plants split up and replanted. I want to do more work on the fig tree in the corner sometime.

Trip to Floriade.

Tonight I did this little video for you so hop on board and we will take a trip over the hills to the mill with a load of grain.



Me and Vicki are going to be away for the next few days visiting here http://www.floriade.com/ so I will see you when I get back next week, hopefully with some pictures to show you.

Border Collie Rope Dance.

I've spent most of today pruning the Pear trees against the east wall. It's getting time to winter prune both the Apple and Pear trees although with the mild autumn I don't think there is any great rush at present. Everyone keeps on telling me that the Pears here are of no use, I've even been instructed to buy a new tree this year but the truth of the matter is that there is actually nothing wrong with the Pears at all, it's the people trying to eat them straight from the tree as they do Apples. I can tell you now, they are actually very nice Pears provided you do as you're supposed to do and leave them to stand after picking for a week or two. Another thing about Pears is that they don't keep as long as Apples although having said that I still have a supply going which I will sustain up until Christmas, the Apples however will last in to the New Year.

I've had the deputy head gardener helping me at work today, the head gardener being confined to warm dry places  for the winter months due to his arthritis. Because the deputy head gardener is still in training she has to be confined with a piece of rope but she doesn't mind and seems content to sit and observe most of the time unless there are slugs and worms to be eaten. There were a couple of occasions this afternoon when she took pleasure in performing some sort of rope dance routine for me, a video of which can be seen below. 

 Theanne and Baron asked if my latest theme is going to be permanent or will I revert to the theme I've had for the past year. Well I will change this for something different in the New Year as this is really a Christmas theme. I'm not sure what I will change it too, I'm pretty sure it won't be the one I had all last year as that is now the theme for my diary blog. I do like that theme though so if I get fed up of doing the diary blog it may make a return here one day.

The Final Cut.

Today at work I had some kind of danger nanny looking round the greenhouses and potting shed, he was looking for problems that might cause a fire to start or make it worse if one did start, he didn't give any indication as to whether he found anything wrong or not, the main thing was that he left me alone, I don't go much for those kind of people at the best of times. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against health and safety as long as it's a genuine problem and not just some someone keeping themselves in a job at my expense. I saw a story on the news last night where this woman fell down a hole and died whilst the rescue services argued over health and safety regulations. It seems to me that if they can't do the job for whatever reason it's a waste of time them being there are all.

Today I managed to get some mowing done. I've been waiting for a few weeks to do this job but it's been that grey and damp the grass has never dried out enough. Even today it was still quite damp so had to do it with the tractor which is able to cope better with damp conditions than the Allett mower. I would have thought that this would be the final cut of the year but if the weather continues to be mild it's hard to know for sure.

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago but didn't get chance to post it so here it is now. I think the tree is some kind of Hawthorn, it has a similar habit to the Hawthorn that grows in hedgerows but the berries are much bigger. It was the colour of the leaves and berries together that took my eye on this occasion.

-- Sent from my HP TouchPad

It's my fault.

I’ve spent a lot of time today clearing up the apples that have not been used or stored. In all I collected up seven wheel barrows full and dumped them in the wood. The ones you see in the picture are about half the total amount.

It is right what someone said about this being a busy time in the garden. I find it quite annoying when people come to me and make comments about me being able to take it easier now. I often have people come to me in the winter and say there can’t be much I can be doing at this time of year – these are usually the same people who are complaining about the weeds getting out of hand the following spring. I know there are some parts of the world where you can’t do a lot of gardening in winter but here in the UK some of the most important work is done in the winter months, what you do in the winter can determine how well your garden looks the following summer.

I’m pleased you liked the pictures and video of Tess, she does have long legs as many of you commented on. The fun she was having in the video is reasonably calm compared to some of the stunts she pulls. At the moment she is very keen on gardening and spends lots of time digging planting holes for Vicki ready for when she buys some new plants. I have to confess that I think I may be the cause of this craze because I took her to work with me the other day when I was planting the roses and thinking back she did seem quite taken with what I was doing – especially the bit where I was digging the hole.

Dog and roses.

I thought that as I haven’t posted any pictures of Tess recently I’d better put that right so I took these two the other night during our evening walk. I call it a walk but it’s turned in to a half mile leash walk followed by a one mile game of ball which isn’t easy on a narrow track when the light is fading fast although I think we have done quite well because so far we’ve only completely lost one ball in the past week although we have spent quite a while looking for them on occasion. It’s amazing how easy it is to lose a tennis ball in undergrowth. There have been a couple of times now when I’ve just about been ready to give up when Tess has sniffed it out right from under my nose. Anyway that’s all good fun and not only gives Tess a bit of extra running but also takes her mind off chasing rabbits and other things. The ball game is then followed by another half mile walking to heel or at least in the region of my heel, there are times when she get led astray by something rustling in the undergrowth.

Tess guarding the ball from some idiot who keeps 

throwing it onto the long grass!

Stop messing around with that camera and throw the ball please.

I also realise I haven’t had much to say about the gardening of late, the main reason for this being the lack of anything to talk about. Since returning from our holiday I’ve been spending a lot of time renewing a big rose border on the north front. When planting new roses where old have been growing you really need to renew the soil before the new roses go in so I spend over a week doing that moving 90 loads all by hand, that’s 45 out and 45 back in again, it was a back breaking job that is for sure. One hundred roses arrived last week which I have just got finished planting. There are fifty each of ‘William and Catherine’ and ‘Queen Anne’, I just have to go over the border and fork out the foot prints now and the job will be finished and I can then hopefully get on with some normal Autumn work which I have fallen behind with.

The new rose border.

Queen Anne Rose

 William & Catherine Rose