It was all about the weather

As I write this it is chucking it down as it has most of the year.
I have spent most of the year either squelching about in the mud or mouldering inside waterproofs.
We were lucky though as the driest month - October is when we took our only holiday of the year.
Gardening has taken a back seat this year to moving and starting new jobs.
Wincanton did not prove to be the best job I had - the biggest problem was the rabbits.There was a wire fence round the plot but it had great gaps all underneath which the owners would not accept  the rabbits could dig under.Even the mesh over the top was big enough to let blackbirds through so everything was at risk. The slugs were the worst I have ever seen and the damp weather made sure that the potatoes got blight. So not a happy place to work as all the blame was pointed to me.I found out later that the previous gardener had a gun and a terrier that he often used to leave in the vegetable garden all night.This and the fact that the rabbits had just recovered from a very long bout of mixamatosis had made my debut very difficult.The last straw was when they cut me down to one day a week for the rest of the winter until the middle of March.
Luckily I have found a new job at Stowell only a couple of miles away which will be all year round and will not interfere with Milborne Port or Mere which although affected by the rain still had a very good year.
As a Christmas present I got James Wong's book The Homegrown Revolution which names many plants that I did not realise were edible - such as the tubers of dahlias.This together with other delights such as tomatillos and goji berries will fit into our new garden well.It has given us a renewed enthusiasm which I think will get stronger when I start at Stowell.

 The first two pictures are at Milborne Port,then Mere and lastly our garden at the embrionic stage.



At Mere I planted thousands of tulips and narcissi which I am looking forward to seeing in the spring.This is essentially a large town garden, easy for me to keep to quite a high standard on one day a week especially as I go all the year round. Milborne Port is a stunning Manor - I look after the roses and the herbaceous borders for the wonderful owners who most weeks ply me with eggs and produce from the garden - the garlic from there this year was superb. I look forward to going there as everyone is so friendly.Dahlias did very well this year.I have grown from seed all the bedding plants for the pots and a huge quantity of delphiniums 'Pacific Giants' which will be going out this spring when I have cleared one of the borders.

I am really looking forward to 2013 ! Happy New Year.