First of the frosts

It has been a cold bright week with the last of the leaves coming off the trees.It is a little disheartening heading off for work in the dark and coming home with the sun setting but at least you know the best has been got out of the day.

I have been pruning roses and digging a new border at Stowell which I will be planting up with tulips to start with next week.

That is why we are doing nothing this weekend apart from watching the last Grand Prix and chilling out. Maybe this afternoon I will take Toby for a walk if he behaves himself this morning.

Its been a very long time

We have had a very busy summer and now with winter encroaching I have more time to write this.Maybe I have been a little disorganized but with the wonderful weather there has been a fair amount of just chilling in the sun.Now that the shorts have been put away for the winter and Christmas is still a fair way away it is time to catch up.
At Stowell I have managed to get the roses up to scratch with some careful pruning and feeding they are now where I would expect three year old roses to be and the topiary is now well under way.
At Milborne Port we have had the best vegetable and flower crop I can ever remember and the backbone for next year has already been set with several rows of garlic planted last week.
The same can be said at Mere with a bumper crop of raspberries (the freezer is full to bursting)
This has all been done despite the filming for 'Far from the madding crowd 'going on around us.I was unlucky at Milborne Port not to be there when the catering van was present which was a shame.The curry was num num num I was told. Sherborne was also disrupted around the Abbey. Did not see anything of the star Carey Mulligan but by all accounts I was unlucky.

Yeovil Town

There is a song by Show of Hands (our local supergroup) called Yeovil Town telling of the evils of a night out in Yeovil which may well be true but ,during the day, I find it a very different place.This morning I had to take the car in for a service and decided while I was waiting to have a thorough look round B and Q and Pc World. I had the car at the garage by 8.30 and by 9.30 I had had as much as I could cope with of both establishments, its the in house music, as much as anything.I love DIY and computers but it is the other enthusiasts that really irritate me,why do they have to be such walking cliches.It is the same in my profession.Silly hats and hippy outfits are all I see. Feeling desperate and facing at least a couple of hours of tedium I spotted a sign for Yeovil Country Park and headed off behind PC World and within 30 seconds the contrast could not have been greater.Trees and grass where I did not expect any.This part of Yeovil is where all out of town industry and Westland Helicopters resides so this was unexpected.Turning a leafy corner I came across one of the tidiest and beautiful allotments I have ever seen.Each plot was lovingly tended and with a huge variety of vegetables fruit and flowers I have ever seen.There were no vacant plots and as I was told quite a considerable waiting list.It made me feel very lucky to do for a living and reminds me how I started.
The jet stream appears to have moved back to its normal position which means the weather is more benign.Mowing staking and weeding are now the order of the day and the shorts have made an appearance to the shock of many people.
Our garden at home is now taking shape ,we have been able to spray off nearly all the lawn and level the paths.the new roses are creeping up the arches and the 'Gertrude Jekylls' have buds in them.Sitting out in the garden is now a pleasure.

On Sunday we take Linda's friend's dog for a walk and soon he (Toby) is coming to stay with us while she goes on holiday.We are very much looking forward to this as he is a lovely dog even if he has just come out of the river as in the picture.

Back from holiday

We enjoyed our holiday on the borders but it was spoilt by the weather being quite cold and all the gardens we visited were still in the throes of winter.We did loads of walking .I made the mistake of wearing new boots which meant I got a blister in short time.Powys Castle was excellent but did not blow me away but a visit to The Dingle Nursery on a wet windy day was a real treat.I would still love to have my own nursery but  don't want the hassle of being open all the time.If I had the energy I suppose an internet nursery would be the way to go but it must be because I am too comfortable at the moment.
It was good to get back to work and find, because it had been so cold that I was not too far behind.
Stowell was a mass of cherry trees and all the beech hedges have leafed up making it feel less open.The roses are a bit slow and I am worried about their condition - this winter a complete renovation I hope will put this to rights.
At Milborne Port I was staking all the delphiniums I grew from seed last year 'benary's Pacific Giant' which look very healthy and I hope live up to their name.The vegetable garden is looking better and I hope to do some planting out next week - celeriac,beans and courgettes.
At Mere being more sheltered than the other gardens plants are much further on.The asparagus is cropping really well and the tree surgeon cutting back the trees while I was away has made a huge difference to the light levels.I had an assistant helping me the owners grandson who helped me spread the wood chippings on the path of the vegetable garden.Luckily he went swimming soon after - he is at the thousand questions a minute stage.He has decided that a career as a gardener is not for him and he wants to be a cross channel swimmer.

We were relived when we got back that our garden was fine we are spending this weekend weeding and moving plants around.At least the front garden is shaping up.

Mostly I have been mowing

It has been a lovely dry week and although the forecast was for it to get a lot colder it was very pleasant - tee shirt weather.
At Mere the tulips were out and most of the seeds I sowed were up in the greenhouse. I will start on the cuttings next week before we go on holiday next week.

We are going to Wales next Saturday to walk more of Offas Dyke which we are looking forward to very much.I will take loads of photos.

We have made progress with our own garden clearing the hedges and getting the weeds under control.As soon as we have some more flowers I will take some pictures.

At Milborne Port the really exciting news is that I am to take over the vegetable garden from Ted who is retiring - no extra hours - not that I have any to spare but now that I have got the main garden under control and the new gardener will help me to keep it tidy as part of his training I will have quite a bit more variety - the owners are keen to try heritage vegetables and mix them with cut flowers to give an attractive 'potager' effect.This will mean that my week will have a nice mix covering just about every type of gardening.

We are hoping to collect more plants for our own garden while we are on holiday.I will be looking for alpine plants and Linda will be looking for more unusual herbs to add to her growing collection.

Spring at last

I have been looking at my posts for last year and realised how gloomy I had got.This will certainly explain the   long gap since the last post. Last Saturday we went to a gig at South Petherton (Birds of Chicago - check them out on Spotify - seriously cool!) with some friends that we have made since we moved to Sherborne. Matt is also a gardener and was curious to know how I was faring in the awful weather we have had over the last year. Apparently it had made him very depressed and demotivated. It did make me feel better in a strange way to know I was not the only one who felt like that.
Having our own garden and working for much nicer people has made me get my enthusiasm back for my job. At Mere the hard cold work of last autumn is paying off as all the bulbs are now bursting into life.

At Stowell the little pug wants to help out all the time she is called Peggy but is known by me as The Pegster and likes to be driven round in the trailer - she likes to tour round like the Pope.

Yesterday we went for a walk at Stourhead the board giving permission to walk dogs after 4pm was very funny. I think it was a bit lost on the coach load of Germans who were setting off for a walk round the grounds.