A TRAVELLING MAN

Manchester yesterday, Manchester today - travelling, it is tiring so the garden gets ignored. Thank heavens I have done the last grass cut before the spring.

A sunny item - this is the sundial which came from R's father's house in Liverpool and has been set into a piece of sandstone rescued from the barn conversion at High Greaves.

As the clocks have changed to winter time I need to adjust the angle of the dial.

The picture was taken just after we moved in in 2007 but the sundial is still in the same place near the house.

A not so sunny item - this is the top wood at dusk on a dark and dismal wet day. At the moment mornings are a bit like this but one struggles on!

The birds are consuming huge amounts of seed - we must be feeding everything for miles around. I need to get to West Cumberland Farmers for another sack of sunflower seed.

I buy in bulk as it is cheaper - I find the garden centres and big DIYs are a bit of a rip off.

We have most things now but I am still waiting for the first Nuthatch. I know there are some not far away but they have not found us yet.

It is time to watch for winter visitors - Redwing, Fieldfare, Brambling etc.

NUTS

The little grey tree rat is back, burying peanuts on the banking, or digging up peanuts it has buried, or digging up peanuts the jays have buried.

It seems fearless.

We have planted some crocuses for naturalising in grass by the cattle grid and around the gooseberry bushes. They were a gift from K and S.

I have been having bonfires - but not of wood and so on - of old bank statements and receipts. The ash can go on the blackcurrants as they like potash.

The hour change has passed and afternoons

end too early now.

Yesterday we had several really heavy downpours in the morning and much of the grassy areas are sodden. The stream was blocked by leaves in the wood and overflowing but this has been dug out.

The leaves on the Rosa rugosa have surprised me by being intensely yellow. I suppose they have been before but have not caught my eye.

Virtually no wind today - one good gale will strip the last trees.

WAY IN MAN!

This is the gate to our "drive". The inverted commas are intentional as we do not own the drive, it belongs to a local Trust who would not sell it to us.

They also turned down a cattle grid to improve access so we replaced a small stile on the left with a gate and removable post. Not brilliant but does make it wider.

The signpost indicates that this is a bridle way and we do get the odd mountain cyclist and horse rider along it.

The little sign is on the post for the electric gate button and was done by yours truly. Damian Hurst eat your heart out.

Please excuse blogs if infrequent but have to travel up and down to Manchester a lot in next few weeks - to Christie's for tests and then, I presume, a blast of the old radioactivity.

Funny, but R's mother's maiden name was Christie!

Not that there is any connection, of course - just a pretty remote coincidence.

A DIFFERENT SORT OF DIGGING

So autumn is here - even to sycamore leaves.

This blog may stutter for a while as I have blackspot on that organ which which males have much trouble as they get older and I am off to Christie's in Manchester today.

Unfortunately my problem will not just drop off like a leaf and then wait for the spring to start again.

Watch this space.

LAST CHANCE SALOON

There is a deep frost forecast for tonight, many flowers will soon be gone. The valerian by the gate is blooming again lavishly and the Kaffir lilies still have a good show.

R weeded whilst I removed the last broad beans, chilli and squash plants - now badly frost damaged and dug up the sweet peas as they have stopped producing flowers. They all went onto the rubbish mountain by the veg beds.

New plan - the compost heaps by the shed are to go and be moved down to the vegetable area where they will be rebuilt. This will mean we can plant more shrubs and flowering plants near the car parking area and remove the unsightly heap of old veg and eggshells.

I have dug over those areas where there are no overwintering plants - leeks, broccoli etc - so that the frost can get in and break up the soil.

I have noticed that some of the wooden bed surrounds are rotting despite them being old scaffolding planks. They will need replacing.

We continue to collect sticks and twigs that fall off the trees and the heap is now 6 feet high. Time for a bonfire but before we light anything will have to move it sideways to let any creatures escape - e.g. hedgehogs. Having said that have not seen a hedgehog in our garden but we did see a fox cross the road in front of us last night not far away.

Chickens and ducks beware.

Story - when we lived at Torver in the Lakes my father had ducks and each night he would put them securely in a duck house (nothing to do with MPs). OPne night they just would not go in and every time they approached the entrance they would all suddenly slip by on one aside or another. After two hours and in darkness he gave up telling them they would have to fend for themselves.

In the morning the fox had been - carried away one and bitten off the heads of all the rest. It is this mass slaughter which is so upsetting - okay Mr. Fox, you are hungry - take one but why kill the lot?

BANKING

Nothing to do with aeroplanes so will not interest Ni.!

With the growth of the plants, especially the grey foliage ones that survived last winter, the dry banking bed in front of the house is becoming more mature.

The soil tends to wash down onto the path - you can see the resulting moss - so it does not get much of a fork over - more a weed and some really old horse muck. (Which reminds me not to put muck on the grasses - they like the soil poor like many wild plants).

I have to admit to a bit of weedkiller to the path.

I have just removed many of the stakes placed to support young trees - several were rubbing despite fancy ties and the garden looks much better without them.

Back to the banking - Lamb's Lugs and lavender, sage and senecio (except they now call it brach - something or other now), pittosporum and and nasturtiums (some going gooey with the frost), and red berries on the contoneaster.

This is the flat one -horizontalis - which was given to us when we moved in and is getting too big - needs moving but as the berries are so bright will get a reprieve - for now. We have the other one on the grass bank.

The variegated plant on the left is mint and perfectly usable though I prefer the softer apple mint.

Before it is too late I have harvested the mint and, after chopping it, rammed it into an old Hellman's mayonnaise jar, then topped this up with vinegar.

TIP - if you like mint sauce sweet then add 1/3 raspberry vinegar to wine vinegar for the preservative - you can do this for other pickles, especially beetroot.

Nao. could this be a sales ploy?

FIRST FROST

Last night was the first frost. This affects the lower part of the garden and the far end which is shaded by trees. The upper slopes are frost free as the cold air runs downhill into the bottom and they get the first sun.

This will spell the death knell for the nasturtiums which will go all slimy. The sweet peas will also fade away - in fact they have almost stopped flowering now.

Sixty per cent of the ash leaves are off the trees and gathering in corners.

The pumpkins and so on are dead (or nearly so) and the last fruit is stored on the table outside the kitchen doors.

The marrow in the picture went to the Harvest Festival at the church on last Sunday. The small butternut squashes are awaiting some sort of decision on their future. The small pumpkin is for us, the large one for J and W, our grandchildren, for halloween.

So how do you transport a pumpkin.

The one in the car seat was the largest and went for Offstedding at a local school which, I hope, it passed.

Then it returns to the grandchildren of a friend - S - where a local talented craftsman and street performer will have his his wicked way with it - all carving and candles.

Half the leeks have bolted and their cores will be hard but I hope we can salvage something - more soup on the way?

I have filled in or repaired the bullock prints in the lawns. Repairing is a bit like doing the same for a huge pitch mark in a golf course green - but not with a tee peg but a gurt fork!

COWS AND NOT A YACHT IN SIGHT

I heard R stirring and turned over.

She brought me a cup of tea but I wanted to stay asleep.

Then I heard a cry of anguish.

"Bullocks."

She was by the bedroom window.

"Bullocks!," she said more loudly.

I struggled from my bed and there in the garden were two bullocks.

(For information one was a Friesian, the other a Hereford.)

The first image shows the way they came and a deposit they left.

And they leave tracks in the lawn - a huge repair job.

They broke the barbed wire in the field and scaled the meagre hedge, (which is being laid later in the autumn when the trees are dormant).

We rang the farmer and B and M came out.

A simple shake of a sack of feed from the field and both were back over the hedge.

Heads were shaken.

When the hedge is laid a netting fence and barbed wire will be incorporated in it.

This is not the first bovine invasion, it has happened before - so that is why we are having the hedge relaid.

Comes of living in the country, I suppose.

So out with the bucket of soil and seed, the spade and fork, and try to repair the damage.

At least they did not eat the leeks and last of the sweet peas.

SO WHAT DO I LIKE IN OCTOBER

Apart from leaves going red, yellow and brown there is still quite a lot still in bloom -

So here are some -

Nasturtiums not yet hit by the frost and gone all gooey are on the bank bed in front of the house giving a bright splash of colour.

Kaffir Lillies in a large clump in red, pink and in between colours.

Not forgetting the wonderful Cosmos still shining in the sun.

Geraniums flowering for a second time having been clipped after first flowering.

And so on.

Frost due tomorrow night?

As we are on a hill I just hope it will run off and we can have flowers for a bit longer.

PET HATES

I do not like Gladioli like this - can just about deal with the odd colour but a couple of years back got a free bag of glads with an order.

The pale lilacky, mauvey ones were awful.

They got deposited down the banking under the sycamore in the nettles and never appeared again.

There are still one or two that appear like this one - the colour clashes with everything.

Then there other dislikes - I can just about tolerate dahlias if they look a bit like daisies but the pompoms and cactus sort are a travesty of a flower.

R dislikes begonias - the bedding sort - they do not go in a garden with a wildish feel. You can get away with wallflowers and sweet williams - do not plant in regimented rows and blocks but municipal park planting - no thank you.

Some plants look like artificial versions of the real thing - too in and cross bred.

Mind you if a true blue rose came along - well .....

SOURCES OF IDEAS

Some practical, some not.

The willow tunnel in the garden - see previous blogs - was inspired by a strange mixture of ideas.

I had seen willow, both alive and dead, woven together in Scotland at the Spring Fling.

I had walked through the famous laburnum tunnel at Bodnant.

And I had been to Aberglasney in the early days - see above.

We had, in the days before digital TV, watched Welsh television on the analog channels and seen the restoration of Aberglasney from the start. Of course, with the better service we have now, we can't get Welsh TV any more.

Then we went - in fact we have been at least twice - on our way to Pembrokeshire in the summer.

Then there is the pond.

I would love to have a pond like the Pin Mill one at Bodnant but I have not the manpower nor the space. In fact we only have one man and one woman power.

I suppose I could ask them to lend it to me as they are third cousins, (Bright), but it might be a little difficult to transport.

Mm! I don't think we could get it through the gate.

DAFFS

I wrote this post some time ago - about a month - and forgot to post it so here it is

Today we are going to plant daffodils.

Got a cheap sack and they may not flower

brilliantly the first year but after that will improve.

The first image is of the garden before we came showing daffodils on the banking to the right of the house. Most of these were untouched by the build and still flower every spring.

These can be seen in the second picture just after the build and in the month or so after we moved in.

T. the previous owner, planted a variety of

bulbs which flower in succession throughout

the spring.

This gives us flowers for the house for almost two months.

Today we intend to plant under the white birches, by the entrance gate and on the banking near the Wendy House.

They need to be planted quite deep - maybe 8" - but as the soil is not that deep everywhere we may have to compromise.

Oh! Yes - the sun is out, it is dry and not RAINING!!

DISTRACTIONS

Other things have arrived to drag me away from the garden - health!

Managed to mow some of the lawn today. Also have weed killed the paths - I know not organic but sometimes needs must. At least it will keep things in some sort of control for a while.

The willow trimmings will just have to wait for the chipper and become woodland path.

Still have a sack of daffs to go in - job for the weekend before the hospital beckons on

Monday.

This sign was painted for us by my brother-in-law Roy Brown. He exhibited a a painting this year at the Royal. Not many people can say they have their house sign painted by a famous artist!

The photo does not do the colours justice.

So, the blog may be a little intermittent in the near future - partly because I may not be doing a lot in the garden.

The mowing will have to be done somehow as the grass is still growing though some areas are now out of bounds as so boggy. The weather is supposed to get to nearly 70F this weekend!

Wait till the low pressure which has given us the southerly air flow passes and the wind switches to the North.

ps Pumpkins picked and on the table outside the kitchen for final ripening and hardening.

WATER

As it is raining again I though I would talk about water!

Not the supply from out borehole, not the pond but the "stream" which is really a drainage channel from a ditch in the field above the house.

The first picture is of the area at the top of the garden. The stream runs across from right to left halfway up the image.

Beyond that is a small channel to collect the water that comes under the wall from next door.

In the foreground is another channel taken to divert water from a spring in the field into the stream rather than let it soak down into the garden and make paths and grass boggy.

When the stream leaves this top area it tumbles down a fifteen foot slope over and under tree roots.

This shows it with water - we have had a roaring flood as last year when the floods inundated the Lake District and nothing at all in the late spring this year after the lack of rain.

Areas of the garden are still boggy after rain and I have another drainage channel behind the copper beech hedge.

Yesterday I mowed most of the lawn but some was wet underfoot. Actually the grass was still too wet and clogged the mower so now I have green finger nails.

Perhaps I am going mouldy with the rain?

GETTING THE CREEPS

So the garden is bare and let's put in a few creeping ground cover plants.

One of the best is Creeping Jenny though R complained that it had taken over the end of one of the paths and it has to be trodden upon. That is OK - tread on it.

The red flowered strawberry here was given

to us by Sylvia and has taken over a soilless bank where nothing will grow - even weeds struggle. It has flowered continuously from the spring but does need a bit of runner pruning to keep it within bounds.

On another bank I put in 5 ground cover roses which are now becoming a nuisance. Unfortunately weeds do grow through them and they are a PAIN! to remove as the rose is particularly thorny.

Of course the nasturtiums creep everywhere.

This one has insinuated itself through a variegated Pittosporum but the effect is quite pleasing.

And then there is Geranium Johnson's Blue which is not a creeper but great for ground cover spreading wildly and suppressing all weeds.

After three and a half years the flower beds are getting rather overcrowded - time for a sort out - but where to put all the discarded, thinned plants. I do not have the heart to throw them away.

I feel another bed coming on. This beditis has ramifications- weeding, dead heading, muck spreading. Soon I will need some treatment.

Ps. The sun is out.

RAIIIIIIIIN!

There are weeds growing in my hair and toadstools under my fingernails. My skin is going wrinkly - I know it is aged decrepitude - by it is soggy too.

Having said that did manage to dash out

yesterday and prune the growth off the top

of the willow arch -a killing job with arms

above the head - like painting a ceiling. I meant to use the wands and twigs and so on but they lie on the lawn (uncut because too wet) in the rain.

This is nothing to do with the garden but have been doing a bit of my sister-in-law's family tree - yes K the one who suggested this Blog to me - and found that her ten greats uncle knew my nine greats grandfather!

I know - nothing to do with gardening but as her ten greats uncle was Oliver Cromwell . . .

This picture shows one of the few redeeming

pictures of rain in the garden - alchemilla leaves spattered with jewels.

Back to the nitty gritty and do we have a bonfire or do I chip the smaller sticks and use them on the woodland path?

Or do I chip the willow?

Sounds like a cue for a barn dance.

HEY NONNY NO

And the rain it raineth every day - well not quite every day, the sun is shining now.

But - it feels like it is wet all the time.

Even if the rain is not falling the grass is sodden.

And the leaves are going autumnal - these belong to our Hanky Tree (Davidia).

The ash trees - last to leave and early to go - are yellowing, the conker is also on its way out as are the beech.

The last fruit has fallen off the fig - I have just trodden on it by mistake.

In then veg garden the caterpillars are still chomping on the broccoli. I do dislike the squish of a squashed small white caterpillar. I just throw the bugger stuff as far as possible.

Some of the leeks are bolting which gives the centre of the plant a hard flower stem.

The parsley by the sweet peas has competed well with the flowers five feet off the ground. It is the flat-leaved variety.

In the hedge the rowan and the guelder rose - seen here

- are bearing a load of fruit.

The haws on the quickthorn down the track are abundant. This is supposed to mean a cold winter.

I am sure the small birds had enough last year.

I saw a report in the paper today that 50% of the gardens in the RSPB survey showed the presence of hedgehogs. I am sure we have an ideal environment for them but ne'er a one have I spied.

If I keep typing long enough I can avoid having to plant the huge sack of daffodils which has arrived.

Time for another cuppa.

WARNING ETC

This is a flying blog as grandchildren J and W are here.

Two items of caution come first - a friend was trimming his son's hedge when the leg of the ladder sank into the soil throwing him to the ground.

The consequence is a fractured rib and a punctured lung and a hospital stay.

Don't suppose it will change anything.

As we get older we will still be up ladders painting, changing bulbs and so on.

By all means be cautious with drink and food and saturated fat and inertia and wrinkles .... but not ability - we don't give in to that so easily - unless we have to.

I am sure he will be better soon but it is a painful injury and we wish him well.

Caution two involves chillies.

We are told to avoid rubbing eyes after handling chillies but yesterday was chopping some green chillies which were drying near the Aga - see the photo.

Then I went for a pee!

Now I have a chillied willy! I tell you it burns!!

IN SEARCH OF HONEY

No, not the bee stuff but the fungus stuff.

Not Fungus the Bogeyman but Fungus the Treekiller.

The first picture shows the ash tree where the tawny owls used to sit at dusk waiting to hunt. They would sit on a branch about twelve feet off the ground and hunker against the trunk.

Then the tree died.

So we called in

the tree surgeons and they demolished the tree, chopped what they could into logs for the fire and shredded the rest - MISTAKE!!!

We managed to spread the dreaded stuff all over the place. Fortunately, so far, no other tree has succumbed but we had to burn the log pile as it was infested with the bootlace hyphae of the Honeyfungus.

Actually the toadstools of this fungus are edible!

Young ones sliced and fried in butter with some gentle herbs.

Mind you - have not tried it - even though eating such an enemy would give satisfaction.

THAT CLEMATIS AND BITS OF GRASS

So - what is it called - CLEMATIS HERACLEIFOLIA.

Blue(ish), scented and a shrub about 3 feet high that does not climb. Last year it

appeared near the buddleia where the bird feeders are and I thought - what is that ! I had forgotten I had bought it.

So where had I bought it. I have to confess that I cannot remember but the most likely candidate is Cally Palace Gardens at Gatehouse of Fleet. The nurseryman there travels the world looking for new plants and always has some interesting stuff.

Corsock House near Dumfries is another candidate as they open the garden on Spring Bank Holiday Weekend. Well worth a visit and a cup of tea.

Then again I might have bought it at a National Gardens Open Day or whatever they are called where they have oddments for sale.

Or somewhere else. . .

To grasses - not the Stipas and Miscanthuses (is it miscanthi?) - but the wild ones in the wood - The Wood melick I leave and it has colonised a banking by the stream.

The small red maple was given to us By D and J J who now live at Flookburgh and it is part of a small plan to plant by the water where it comes from the top of the garden down the steep bank. Already Royal Fern has been put there and ideas are afoot - if you can have ideas in your foot.

I suppose it depends where you keep your brain!

Fortunately I was never much of an athlete.

UPDATE, UP PUMPKIN, UP MARROW

I thought I would let all know how the pumpkin (one of 3) and the marrow (was a courgette) are getting on.

I went into the garden, without wellies as I was standing in the stream weaving willows yesterday when I realised I really do need some new ones as my right wellie was full of cold water, and took these photos.

I used a one euro piece for scale as this was the only thing I had I had in my pocket.

I know - 'Why has he got a 1 euro piece in his pocket in the wilds of Cumbria?" - well it is used by me as a ball marker on the green at golf.

The leaves are starting to age badly on the pumpkin so

further growth may be limited.

However, I do not want to strain my back lifting it.

The only quandary that remains is to decide when is a butternut squash ripe. There are about half a dozen but all fairly small. In the end I will just have to go for it and cut open a likely candidate. If ripe it will be back to the soup making again.

Tomorrow - the clematis that does not climb, should not be pruned and is sweetly scented.

IN THE BEGINNING

At the start there was bare earth, the lid over the borehole and the septic tank.

It is spring 2007 the journey began and tentative lines of stones were put down to delineate possible flower beds and paths formed simply where we walked.

The horse manure heap waited and a few small plants had their roots out in the soil.

One or two small trees and shrubs - some given to me the year before as 60th birthday presents - were planted - most had survived over the winter either in pots or heeled in at our rented house.

The owl tree was still standing - see next blog - and the far end of the garden was boggy - the new course of the stream had yet to be dug which helped drain the land. There was no mowing - in fact I did not yet have a mower. All I had was the strimmer to try and keep the jungle at bay and clear areas for development.

Three and a half years on much of the summer and autumn is for mowing and maintenance and winter will have to be the time for new bridges and other developments in the garden.

At least it will keep me warm in the cold days to come.

EVEN THE PHEASANTS ARE SHELTERING

Yes, its pouring down again.

Yesterday managed to get compost to R's new bed by the Wendy House, pull up the last of the carrots for dinner and one parsnip - the latter was so big and had a root forked into three - that it will do for two meals - diced and boiled, then mashed with some horseradish sauce.

I am not looking forward to digging up some of the horseradish root, peeling it and grating it.

You think onions are the worst - well, think again!

So on this dismal day let us have some sunny colour.

Having said that - there is a large clump of this Helianthus by the gate which was flowering wonderfully. Then we had a couple of days of rain and 80% went over and needed dead heading.

The clump is getting too big and will need excavating and replanting - somewhere it can ramp about.

In the spring I saw pictures of Surfinas in a catalogue tumbling profusely out of hanging baskets.

Mm! I wondered, would they do the same down the banking out side the front of the house?

The answer is no, not really. They have done a bit and sort of tried to fill in the odd gap but their colours clash with everything else and I am not really pro pinky purply petals.

So both the Surfinas and terrible alliteration can go on the compost heap together.

The pheasants have taken shelter under the rhododendrons by the top fence where they have the nest - hen and two chicks. There were three but . . . .

ANIMAL AND BIRD BEHAVIOUR

The birds on the feeders behave so differently.

The blue tits are fearless and sit in the bush whilst I refill with seed.

The coal tits arrive, grab a seed and fly off - presumably to bury them.

Tit hierarchy is topped by the great tits who muscle their way in shoving the smaller birds out of the way.

The chaffinches just sit and eat unless a greenfinch comes along and bullies them out of the way. They, of course give way to the bullfinch.

Meanwhile the pigeons and collared doves wander about on the ground with blackbirds, thrushes, dunnocks and again chaffinches.

In the distance a buzzard is being attacked by a rook as it tries to gain height. It has come too near to the rookery. Soon other black shapes rise to annoy the slowly circling bird.

This morning, just after I got up, I looked down on the garden to see a grey squirrel on the lawn. It ran into the field hedge and climbed a hazel. There it took several nuts, presumably stuffing its cheek pouches, and then descended back to the lawn and proceeded to bury them. This was repeated several times.

Believe it or not it is raining again.

I have tied plastic bags to two of the main stems of the wild plum in the bottom hedge in the hope that they will be left when the man comes in the autumn to lay it.

So - what do I do with now too large perennials apart from divide and replant?

I have a mind to shove them in the rougher grass on the banking and let them fend for themselves.

The thought of more flowerbed to weed is too tiring.

STUFF FROM THE SHOW

Every year if possible, weather ok and motivation adequate, we go to the Li'le Royal - The Lowick and District Agricultural Show at Lowick Bridge. In fact the first time I went I was so small I had not yet learned to put on my own nappies!

The event is on the first Saturday in September and this year the weather was sunny and dry. The view from the current showground over the church to the Coniston Fells was spectacular.

Whilst we were there we saw Alpacas.

Now, when I moan about cutting and strimming grass, (have just mown the lawns), certain people have suggested - Get a goat!

There is, naturally, a snag here. Goats eat everything - well, they would eat most of my veg and herbaceous plants.

After the show the suggestion has changed to - Get an Alapaca!

Trouble is - same problem?

What really excites me at these shows are the children's exhibits - gardens and farmyards on a plate and animals made from vegetables.

This is a cracker and won first prize.

One satisfactory item was the prize marrow - mine is much bigger!

This afternoon I began to dig and prepare an area by the Wendy House as a flower bed.

R has been given a rose and I bought an enormous Fatsia in B&Q - name appropriate? - for just £15. The man on the checkout till was quite envious.

Just an afterthought - how did the little boy who won the prize get those fruit and vegetables to balance like that?

Almost an Andy Goldsworthy!