Hedgecutting and pond life
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
George in preparation for 2012...
Holy mackerel it’s been hot and sticky. As you can see by the photos above the whole team descended on the village last Tuesday. We combined churchyard work with hedge cutting allowing all of us to work in the same area, something that doesn’t happen often in the garden. All the lower areas of the churchyard got cut including the last of the long grass now that most flowers have set seed. There was weeding to be done, which Hilary and Jo and later Penny got stuck into. Mark, Joe and Matt dealt with the mixed hedge next to the old post office, then pruned the Elaeagnus at the entrance to the pub car park. Penny Snowden brought the Kubota mower, our only ride-on that collects grass, so we could cut and collect. Between us Penny Lee, George, Toby and I strimmed and collected grass in the spaces the Kubota can’t fit. We roasted in the humid heat. When the sun was at its fiercest I saw a Penny person emerge through the heat haze like a mirage bearing ewers of iced water from the office. She’s defo on the Christmas card list…
Beautiful blond duckling! (I may be biased)
On Monday after the usual post weekend garden rounds George and I were on barley straw duties. The recent lake report suggested a slight modification to our straw method; take the straw out of the lake once it’s saturated, allow to dry(ish) then replace in lake. Apparently this speeds up the process of the straw reducing algal growth. Any-hoo George and I laughed so much it was painful, but I must say, for someone who’s never rowed a boat in his life he’s really co-ordinated and a good rower! Two fresh straw sausages have now been deployed at the far end of the lake. We spotted the blond duckling while we were out too, which I got a picture of for Penny Snowden (it’s her new favourite feathered friend).
George deploying sausage by boat (bath tub).
As I write we experience some long awaited rain, good news as the wet weather jobs were piling up. Nigel and George are making more straw sausages, including a baby sausage for the dipping pond in the bottom walled garden. Penny and Toby are in the glasshouses as it is Thursday, Pelargonium care day. A plant collection for display has to be very tidy; no unsightly leaves, no pests and flowers must be removed once flowered so they don’t go to seed etc. Penny also waters and feeds the plants on Thursdays, and checks for signs of beneficial insects that feed on aphid.
Next week we hope to strim Apollo bank, and get the grass raked down to the bottom of the hill so it doesn’t make the bank look brown. We have a couple of hedges left to do and we might even get more straw into the lake…
TTFN (Ta-ta for now), as Tigger would say, Em.
