Positives..

My last blog had observations that were negative biased – so rising to the challenge I looked for some good news or positive stories.

As the majority of the items were spotted in the local press I’m restricted by copyright in providing too much detail, so I’ll give a synopsis for each item.

Woodmancote Church spent the money raised at a plant sale and quiz evening and together with the harvest food gifts, donated over £400 worth of food and personal hygiene items to the County Community Project (CCP).

James Hopkins Trust in Gloucester benefits from volunteer help to garden, decorate & clean.

Winston’s Wish charity celebrated it’s 20^th birthday (WW supports young people + families during bereavement).

A fun fair to be held in December in Cheltenham will raise funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation (grants wishes to young people 3-17 with life threatening conditions).

A group in Cheltenham raises £2000 for Hearing Dogs for the Deaf.

The Leukaemia and Intensive Chemotherapy Fund started its Make a Difference campaign.

A Christmas fair raised more than £600 for the James Hopkins Trust.

Work starts on a £4.5m school hall for Cheltenham’s Dean Close Prep School.

9 jobs created in Cheltenham with the return of ‘The Works’ book shop.

Cheltenham’s Pate’s Grammar School named as best state secondary school in the country.

Staff at a local school have been honoured for their First Aid skills at the St John Ambulance First Aid Awards in London.

Local woman is given signed certificate by Prince Charles for 20 years volunteering at Cheltenham General Hospital.

Cheltenham Borough Council attempting to provide more allotments (~300 within the next 3 years).

Youngsters in Cheltenham held a ball and raised nearly £3000 for the NSPCC.

The local Labour club raises funds to provide a motorised wheelchair for a young disabled woman.

A young man is able to leave his house for the first time in 3 years after funds are raised to provide a specialised wheelchair.

So what I take from this exercise is that if you look really closely within the communities you live in, there is an immense amount of good works being accomplished. I suspect what I’ve uncovered is but just a small portion of the huge volume of volunteer work and fund raising that goes in the background that never really comes to light, or is celebrated.

We all really should focus more on the positives in life than the negatives.

I think we should all be encouraged to appreciate and recognise the efforts of anyone involved as they seek to help others in what ever way they can.

Observations . . .

My blogs have mostly focused on gardening topics as this subject now plays a major part in my life. It can be quite a solitary occupation, spending many hours quietly working away by one’s self, with plenty of time to think and ponder. Sometimes, I’ve even caught myself telling my brain to shut up and give me some peace.

Recently, I’ve read or heard various news stories that are very sad, that seem to highlight how low humanity has fallen and continues to fall, and the things some people put value in. Occasionally, I read or hear about more positive things that prove that human kind can actually rise above and conquer the darker side of life.

In no particular order and from no particular judgemental viewpoint I thought I’d pull a few observations together; to bring examples of the negatives and the positives that have had a personal impact:

The recent very sad loss of the pretty and innocent young girl in mid Wales:- what drives someone to harm one so young?

The debate over whether 24 or 20 or 12 weeks is appropriate for abortion; when the whole subject of the killing of unborn children seems now to be an intellectual debate, rather than valuing life in all its forms.

Bizarrely, how someone will pay £1000 for a used pair of ‘James Bond’ swimming trunks, when the money could be better used.

Many people seek good government (ie. Leaders who don’t lie, are hard working, not self seeking, mature, are self-controlled); but who’s personal government is lacking (ie. not always truthful or honest, take the easy route to gain, are selfish, immature, and prone to outbursts particularly alcohol or drug induced/related).

A girl has her stomach surgically removed after drinking cocktails with liquid nitrogen ingredient.

A man dies after eating cockroaches and worms (in a contest).

Recent news items: with people revealing much about other people’s character, calling into question their achievements or their behaviour, or even bringing in the police. Why don’t we speak up about such issues when they are happening, not wait years after?

I find myself in a difficult position: Having followed competitive cycling for many years and encouraged my son in the sport, I once said to him that if Lance Armstrong was ever found to have won the Tour de France on the back of doping/drugs I’d give up watching competitive cycling. Such was the awe and respect with which I held Lance’s achievements. Disappointed doesn’t even come close…

A very moving, though positive experience:

I watched a fabulous BBC2 programme called “Toughest place to be a ferryman” {link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mfhj5} Amazing that with £500 raised by Colin Window, he was able to completely transform the life of a Bangladesh ferryman (70 year old Muhammed Loteef) – purchased 2 cows enabling Muhammed to return with his family to his home village leaving the squalor of Dhaka behind).

I must keep looking for positives!!

A simple make-over

The majority of my work this year has comprised garden maintenance activities. Typically, this involves regular lawn mowing together with keeping shrubs and garden borders looking their best.

With my current work with the National Trust holiday cottages at Snowshill, regular seasonal gardening tasks are the norm, but I have had a few opportunities to ring the changes with revitalising the planting in some of the cottage gardens.  This has comprised the complete removal of old material and overgrown areas, reshaping a couple of borders and the slow introduction of some purchased plants together with my own supplied plants.

When I remember, I take photographs to remind myself of the ‘before’ and ‘after’ situations; most of these have been of the holiday cottages. However, recently I was asked to put together a simple planting scheme to tidy-up and slightly remodel an open plan estate garden. I took the opportunity to get some ‘before’ photographs to help with the planting scheme and after implementation some ‘after’ shots to help view the changes.

The following photographs give a fair representation of what was and what currently is.

I also include a simple planting plan that helped pull things together. The overall brief was that the planting should be simple, easy to maintain and robust. The plants chosen reflect this and whilst fairly common should provide a welcome range of foliage, flower and scents, whilst not developing into problem plants (or as Alan Titchmarsh once said: “thugs”).

The overall transformation took me 2 days; comprising the removal of old stumps and roots, thoroughly digging over the whole border area removing stone, weed, roots etc, and the introduction of 800 Litres of composted manure before putting in the plants.

Before-1

Before-2

Before-3

Before-4

Before-5

After-1

After-2

Planting plan

A poor showing

Trying to run a garden business in this current ‘climate’ is somewhat challenging (to say the least). Still, I have to work with what arrives on a daily basis.

It’s fair to say I’m getting slightly (an under-estimation) bored with ‘the’ topic of conversation. It’s unavoidable unfortunately, being a gardener, but even I have to admit, there’s absolutely nothing I/we can do about it, and I’d like to change the topic please…

Managed to get to the allotment briefly yesterday to cut some grass – seems it’s about the only thing that’s growing successfully this year. As I looked at some water logged potatoes, and very soggy ground (2-3inches of standing water in some places), I mused on the state of various fruit + veg:

Broad beans – covered in black gunk (remnants of black fly)

French beans – not really growing

Runner beans – slow growing – although some flower blossom appearing

No carrots from 6 rows sown

A dozen or so parsnips from 3 rows sown

No strawberries.

Little to no blackcurrants

No gooseberries

Very poor showing on my 4 espalier apple trees

Main crop onions + shallots overwhelmed by weeds

Squash & courgette plants very slowly moving on

Since having the allotment (some 12 years or so), I think this is the poorest season I’ve ever experienced. The combination of a very dry March, followed by all the wet, and cool conditions isn’t going to help this year’s crops. Thinking about how this might translate to the ‘commercial world’ within the UK; I think we could be in trouble. Recent reports from Worcestershire on TV showed flooded fields of potatoes, and Lincolnshire farmers racing to try and get the pea harvest in – again flooded fields. Whilst the supermarkets may be able to order in extra if the UK can’t oblige – you have to think where’s all that lot going to come from? And at what price?

Giving - time + energy

Yesterday, the church in Woodmancote hosted a plant sale. The original intention was to do this at the Woodmancote May Day event - this had been cancelled due to wet conditions. We managed to get Gloucestershire ECHO coverage in the paper, and yesterday we even got an ECHO photographer + reporter to cover the event! Not sure whether we’ll make the press but you never know. Plant sales totalled some £355, which will be used entirely to purchase food stuffs for the County Community Projects (CCP)

As part of giving something back to the community I decided to take on the small garden frontage associated with the Doctor's surgery at the Greyholme practice in Bishop’s Cleeve. The raised walled garden was thick with ivy and hypericum and took quite a number of visits to clear out. A small square border area near the entrance was easier to tackle and I planted out some polyanthus bedding in early spring. This has now gone over and yesterday these were replaced by red + white geraniums (not yet in flower), and the front raised wall is planted up with red, white + blue petunias. See before and after pics below. I’m hopeful that the plants will bulk up and provide a jubilee themed show of patriotic colour from now until after the Olympics.. The Bishop's Cleeve street fair is on the 10th June, so the planting out was well timed!

Ivy & hypericum (before)

Jubilee themed bedding

I'm not going to mention the rain ok?

Well, apart from saying I’m not going to talk about the rain, that’s the only time in this entry ‘rain’ gets a mention….

In the last entry, Internet access problems had hit us. Fair to their word, TalkTalk sent an engineer, who called us the day before to confirm his arrival time. He was early on the day, a thoroughly pleasant chap and very helpful too. Deduced that there was a tweak needed to the local exchange equipment, which he did remotely, and now our connection has been reliable ever since. A slight disagreement now exists with TT; whether we have to pay or not for the engineer’s callout. Umph….

Shortly after the Internet access issue; the shower in our en-suite decides to start leaking (argh); thankfully our very competent, friendly plumber has fixed it today.

Work has been slightly more productive this past week, but very tiring. One job involved shifting and spreading 1 ton of gravel by hand/barrow. Next few weeks are pretty much full with a variety of work which helps keep every day interesting, and a couple of new customers to visit too. I do consider myself fortunate in that I visit different gardens every day, sometimes 2 in one day; meet different people with allsorts of tales to tell me. Although some days I can work for 3 hours at a time, and not see or speak to a soul. My seasonal work with the National Trust at Snowshill Manor (the holiday cottages) is also a good place to work, with an enjoyable work environment and friendly work colleagues and volunteers.

The allotment was paid a visit this afternoon. Really cracked on a pace and caught up with: earthing-up all the potatoes; sowed carrots & parsnips and planted out broad beans. The soil was just about perfect for sowing; just beginning to dry out on the surface; easy to rake down to a crumb texture and the underlying soil damp and warm. I’m using fine mesh material to cover the carrots again this year. Last year’s crop was just about free of that pesky carrot fly.

A long view of the allotment below – early May 2012. Main crop potatoes in the foreground, then overwintering onions left, newly sown carrots under mesh covers, overwintering garlic right, 2nd early potatoes earthed up, newly planted onions + shallots, then rhubarb plants, ending with espalier apples. There are a few things out of view (strawberries, raspberries, black currants, beetroot & broad beans). Other crops that will be planted when ready are: runner beans, french beans, courgettes, butternut squashes, outdoor tomatoes, pak choi (a first for me this year - as I try to experiment with something new each year).

A few frustrations

Since the last entry I managed to get all the potatoes and onion sets planted at the allotment. By the state of the recent weather, I reckon I was lucky to be able to get on the soil – although it was a little sticky. So, 80 potatoes planted (40 of each 2^nd early and main crop), and approximately 270 onion sets.

Now the April weather has delivered much needed rain, staying off the open ground is the name of the game. It’s just impossible to sow seed at the moment.

Work has really taken a beating this week with so many regular customers’ jobs having to be cancelled due to the really wet conditions. Unfortunately this has a knock-on effect into subsequent weeks work, and might create loads of additional gardening activities now that the plants and weeds are growing a pace!

When I visited the autumn show at Malvern last year I searched out some orange tulip bulbs. The plan was to grow 4 pots of tulips and when ready to flower place these in the back garden as spot points of colour against what is normally dark fences and shrubs. However, all that is orange isn’t – as I waited with anticipation, only to be greeted with yellow tulips. See pic. Disappointed ummm.

Orange tulips! apparently :-(

This week we have been beset with Internet access problems – initially manifesting themselves as slow browsing, followed by complete lack of access. A number of frustrating calls to Talktalk seemed to point the finger of suspicion at the ADSL modem + router. So I duly purchased a much improved model, unfortunately to no avail. Further calls to TT & BT  then suggested faulty internal telephone cabling – so an engineer has been booked for early Monday morning. However, I tried powering on the new modem today and what ’duh ya’ know, we have access back again. Nothing’s changed – except a new modem, and we’re getting an improved download speed to boot! So, still not sure what the problem was, or could be if it’s intermittent. Engineer visit might have to be cancelled.

Ouch, lots to do

Well, it may have been a mixed start (see previous blog); but the gardening business has taken off. Almost binary in nature. Mid/late February nothing much, now mid March, my diary is full with returning customers, National Trust work, and some new customers all wanting a ‘Spring clean’.

I’ve had to turn away two jobs; one was just too large a task and the other, a spring clean, I just couldn’t fit  it in. So I’m very pleased that the gardening year has started this way – though my body is telling me different!

I bought a pressure washer this week, to use at home and perhaps for some cleaning jobs too. Managed to set it up today and give the van a blast and then had a go with one of the mucky waste bins. Finished off by cleaning the side path paving slabs – so no more moss or muck, looks like new (almost) concrete – Lynne not impressed…  But, I am impressed by the power of the washer (a Karcher model), and if called upon to clean patios I shouldn’t have to get on my hands and knees anymore, and it’ll make a better job of it too!

Allotment is just about up to scratch now with all but one small area dug and prepared – this will be for outdoor tomatoes so there is plenty of time to do this. Planted some shallots and first early potatoes this week. The soil is in pretty good condition, though drying out too fast in this warm weather. At home I’ve pre-planted loads of onion sets in trays prior to planting on the allotment. I’ve found over the years that it’s better to start them off this way as it helps prevent birds taking the sets out of the soil.

Next few jobs to do will be to sow leeks, parsnips, beetroot, basil and carrots.

On the church front, I’m organising a plant sales stand at the Woodmancote May Day event, with all proceeds going to County Community Projects. Last year was a really good success story (apart from the useless marquee I purchased especially for the event); with almost all the church community taking part. We sold loads of plants, many of which were grown by folk from the church, and just as important, we met lots of local people and had the opportunity to make new and renew friendships. Let's hope the weather is fine and our plant stocks are high..

A 'mixed' start to the year & working season

Having had some time away from the gardening business over the winter; which was expected, some late winter / early spring activities are starting up.

Obviously the weather plays a large part of what I’m able to do outside. So some unseasonably mild and stable weather in late February enabled me to tackle a fairly large crab apple pruning job which took the best part of 6 to 8 hours to complete. I was keen to ensure it remained attractive to look at after its prune and not just to leave a set of stumps in the air.

A couple of returning customers are welcome too as I get back into the gardening working pattern again. Winter tidy ups - getting ready for the Spring growth.

Our daughter was married in late February, so this was a welcome event in the family, and we enjoyed a fabulous afternoon and evening, especially with the reception location being Hestercombe Gardens – with very fine weather; plenty of warm sunshine and blue skies too.

Following the wedding I went down with a sore throat - initially thinking I had talked too much (what me?), which subsequently developed in to a particularly nasty chesty cold; really fed up with coughing after 5 days of it.

I was pleased to be successful in getting the National Trust’s Snowshill Manor holiday cottages gardener job this week and look to start later this month. I’m looking forward to making some improvements and changes this year, to build on all the hard work from last year.

Due to some recent poor weather and my cold I’ve been set back a bit with the plans and activities for the allotment. I still have fence posts to replace and a gate to make. Also some weeding needs doing before I make attempts to plant the early potatoes and create seed beds. Today's rainfall should help the soil though.

Having signed up a while ago for Twitter, I have found some useful information sources and other ‘twitterers’ of interest. Following the Guernsey Walled Garden produced a link to the Sarah Raven ‘birds, bees & blooms’ programmes; whilst following Snowshill Manor revealed that the gardeners have a blog too. Following Monty Don has revealed his recent travels in France – so maybe some interesting gardening programmes might be in the offing.

Allotment - espalier apple tree maintenance

I managed to take advantage of a few hours down at the allotment, and during some unseasonably mild weather to replace the posts supporting one of my espalier apple trees (variety is Adams Pearmain).

Hopefully as these posts are treated with preservative, they'll last for years, as it's a bit tricky unwiring the trees, and refitting after the posts are renewed. Looking at the condition of the trees in general, I'm very pleased how my 'experiment' to grow these as espaliers has turned out. The crop from all 3 trees last year provided enough apples to supply our needs from September to January.

Now today its raining + getting colder, so I timed that well.

Adams Pearmain - espalier
(grown from a maiden whip some 7 years old)

End of an era

Well, it had to come sooner or later.

Our trusty Nissan Micra, owned from new (1990), finally had to go.

It has served us all very well over the years, with all of the family having driven it, learned to drive in it, taken stuff to the rubbish tip in it, etc...

Richard has his own car now, and the old Micra was surplus to our needs. Sentimentally, I managed to sell on the car to a local person, [the other choice was the local scrap merchant :-( ] so at least it will continue to be useful for some time to come. It'll be strange if I see it on the road - owned and driven by someone else!

Farewell....

Nissan Micra 1990 'G' registered!

Winter activities

As January starts, I’ve been taking advantage of some unseasonably mild weather – though this weekend (14^th), temperatures have decidedly taken a nose dive..

I managed to cut back an overgrown hedge on the allotment and had a good reason to have a roaring fire. Jobs left to complete on the allotment before spring are; the renewal of two support posts for one of my espalier apple trees,  replacement of 3 fence posts and construction of a new gate for one of my plots. Digging and mulching has been finished now, though there are some weeds left in places these will easily be removed in the spring.

At home I’ve treated one length of fencing with preservative – first time since we moved in 13 years ago. I’ve removed the ugly buddleia shrubs on the outside of our boundary fence so that I can also get to apply preservative to this run of fencing. Hope to get this done this coming week.

I constructed (rather hacked together) something I’ve called a wood/log store, picture below, from two old pallets and some bought feather edged timber (bought? yes, about £10 worth); ‘design’ was done ‘on the fly’ and even if I say it myself it looks the business – just remains for me to saw up a quantity of long logs I’ve got to put inside to dry out. I reckon that it will also become a haven for local wildlife (frogs, newts, spiders etc).

Log store

Work has dried up this month – which wasn’t surprising though I have a returning customer restarting in February + one tree pruning job later in February. I haven’t yet started the house decorating, though I suspect it will start soon..