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.