Mixed Bag

It really has been a week of mixed things, and one can certainly not say that it's been boring.

The weather has, on the whole, been dry at least, although a constant cloud covering has meant that not only has it been bitterly cold all of the time, but also dull. Things on the gardening front are still very slow, as nothing is really growing still. Usually at this point in the year, grass is well under way, shrubs have an early covering of leaves and weeds have started to grow in earnest. But buds are still only just beginning to show and the grass really isn't moving....yet! Still, we have managed to get a few extra things done, and a bit about that in a moment.

 

 For now, the first thing to mention is our evening at St.Ambrose Church in Westbourne to see a choir perform the St.John Passion. It was sung by the Bournemouth University Choir, one which we both hope to join at some point during the year, and was accompanied by a small but good quality orchestra. I must apologise for the quality of the picture below, but people were just settling down ready for the start, and I quickly lifted my mobile phone up for a quick shot with nobody in the way.

 

 

The Passion is a haunting and moving piece, and a little of it can be heard in the clip below of the movie by the same name. I don't know if any of you have seen the film yet, but if you haven't, you should.

 

 

Back to gardening, and the Sandbanks house. With the rear garden complete and just needing to grow a little, it's time to attack the front garden. Everything must be removed to leave the bare bones of the layout, so that borders can be moved, changed or renovated. There were many large shrubs to take out, and so we enlisted the help of sons-in law Dom and Matt.

 

 

While they set about with their task of removing everything, Amanda took secateurs into the rear garden to start tidying up the Laurel hedge, and I began the long task of creating the new border shapes ready for planting. Some of the grass in the picture below shall remain, but be replaced with artificial grass for very low maintenance.

 

Three quarters of the shrubs being removed had to have their rootballs bagged up tight, and be taken to another site about a mile away when we had finished for the day, and of the remainder, a few past their best were discarded, and those that we intended to re-use in the new scheme were bagged up and stored safely to one side. The large Fatsias, of which there were three, rather than bagging up, were to be transplanted as I made the new border. Beautiful specimens that I didn't want to take any chances with, and created an instant effect in their intended final resting place.

 

 

Amanda thought that I looked like a funny old man as I barrowed the first one, but it was top heavy, and my stoop was the result of trying to balance it as I went......honestly!

 

The guy's are seen here taking up three Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Tom Thumb', and these were amongst some to be re-used in the new scheme.

 

 Another border being emptied, the Choisya ternata 'Sundance' were bagged for taking away, and the black Phormiums were also kept for this site. Matt and Dom worked very hard indeed that day, and like us were ready for home by the time all had been finished.
 

 

But finish we did. The van and trailer having been loaded to the brim with shrubs, was taken to the other site, whereupon we three guy's offloaded everything and then headed home for well earned showers and beers. The Sandbanks house was left looking somewhat like the Somme just after WW1, but all should look much better in a month or so.

 

During the week, as things are still a little slow, there was an afternoon off, and so Amanda and myself went over to Molly's Den to have a proggle for some collectables. I was on the lookout of course for some glasses for my collection, and Amanda was keeping an open mind and heart, which never bodes well for the wallet!

 

We found a little milk jug and sugar bowl, and I had discovered a couple of glasses. The place is rather large, and has a cafe upstairs. Even here, everything you see is for sale. The tables you sit at, the chairs you sit on, and the cutlery and crockery also should you like particular pieces. Indeed, while we were sat, I had to quickly wrestle one of my glasses from a gentleman who had quite understandibly picked it from our table thinking it was for sale.

 

 

 And here they are on the kitchen table at home. Nothing very special, but beautiful and elegant to my mind. The one on the left cost only £2, and is a cordial glass roughly from the 1930's. The one on the right cost £1, and is a cordial glass from I think around the 1960's. Very dainty.
 

Other work throughout the week has included loads and loads of compost mulching. A very cold and at times snowy afternoon was spent putting around four tons on the borders of the property in the picture above.

 Last year I covered a planting scheme in this post, and below you can just see the new and thicker clumps of things breaking through the mulch. We are quite excited about seeing what this year brings here, as even in the first year, things grew much better than expected.

 

To round off a good, if hard week, we had tickets to see the Moscow Ballet La Classique perform Coppelia. The tickets were bought month's ago, by way of a present for mother's day to Celia.

 

 

 

The venue was to be the Bournemouth Pavilion, we were suitably suited and frocked up, and the women on my arms looked gorgeous. It's a tough job but somebody has to do it.

 



 

 The fountains were thundering outside the entrance, and those around us all looked excited and full of expectation.

 

 

After a drink and chat in the theatre bar, everyone took to their seats, and a hush slowly filled the place.
 

The opening music began to play, and we all stared at the sumptuous red curtains, wondering what would meet our gaze when they lifted.

 



 

Sorry to disappoint, but if you want to know the answer, then go and see the ballet! Needless to say it was wonderful, with Ekaterina Shalyapina taking the part of Swanilda beautifully.

 



 

But just like Cinderella, I had to return to a normal life again. The suit was replaced the next day with gardening clothes once more, and I set about the not so glamourous task of finishing off the groundworks preparation for a new pair of compost bins at one of the gardens.

Life eh?

 

Conmen, Conveniences & Cornus

As far as Tuesdays go, today has been pretty ordinary on the whole. Mostly small properties to tend in the Boscombe area, gardening has been really quite pleasant and interesting. People on the other hand never cease to confound me. During a short break for lunch, a car pulled up opposite me, and a young guy approached my window. The conversation went a little like this, but actually took about fifteen minutes and was very 'nice'.

'Hello, please excuse me, do you speak EEtalian?' (he was Italian!)

'No, sorry, but your English sounds pretty good'

'Can you help please, I need to get to London.' (as he shows me a 1:100,000 scale map of Great Britain)

 

 

As we are in the maze that is the drug and prostitute area of Boscombe, I try to generally point him eastwards towards the main motorway area.

'Thank you, thank you, you are very kind, generally in that direction to start with, I understand.'

Lot's of chat follows from both sides concerning spaghetti and Montalcino

'You are so kind, and it's good to hear someone who knows EEtalee. Please, wait there, I give you a gift!'

It's at this point that the gold ring in Paris ploy is coming to mind, but I wait expectantly.

'Please, for gratitude, these are for you, I want no payment!'

As I peruse the four rather lovely gold watches that have been dropped into my lap, still in their boxes, and insist that I cannot accept such generosity, I wait for the punchline that I now know is coming.

'I ask for nothing but perhaps a Leetal mounay to buy some petrol, as we have a long way to go and won't be able to go to the bank until we get to London.

And there it was, the gold ring in Paris ploy.

I explained that I never carry cash. He thanked me anyway, grabbed the watches, smiled and went away in completely the opposite direction I had told him that he should take.

Fifteen minutes of my life never to return.

 

Still, as lunchbreaks go, it wasn't boring, or over yet. I needed to use a public convenience, as one does. On entering I should have been more aware of the gentleman already in there for reasons that I shall keep to myself, but as I was leaving, his intentions became quite clear, and I too made mine just as clear. After all, I am a happily married man!

So, a funny old Tuesday really, but back to some gardening from the last few days.

 

Cornus sanguinea ' Midwinter Fire' 

There have been a LOT of Cornus to prune this week. Not the forms such as Cornus kousa, florida, or controversa etc, that are best left alone as specimen trees and such like, but the more common dogwoods that are grown for their winter bark colour. Red, yellow, lime green, pink and orange, they can be a simple but magnificent addition to a border.

This fellow in the picture below is Cornus sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire', and the bark colour of orange and yellow has now dulled as it approaches it's new growing season.

 

 

Although textbooks generally advise the dogwoods to be pruned down to about two inches, they can in fact be pruned to whatever height takes your fancy. When viewed close up, then perhaps a really severe pruning is appropriate, but for a border seen from a distance, a larger framework may be required. Please bear in mind that these are just preferences of mine though.

When pruning Cornus, whatever height you decide, always make a horizontal cut just above a pair of buds. The higher you prune, the more dividing stems there are to prune at, and thus give more new stems for the following winters colour and so on. I wouldn't however recommend pruning above twelve inches though, after all, we are not the local council wielding a hedgetrimmer!

 

 

This one I pruned down to about five inches, and will result in a shrub slightly larger than in the first picture.

 

 

What with all the snow and bad weather we have been getting in the area, lawn treatments have been slow to happen. But it's just as well..............

 

 ...........because scaffolders and their driving is giving enough to worry about with the grass for now anyway! Understandable this though. After all, the drive is only fifteen feet wide and straight!

 

 

Take care all of you.



A Slow Start To March

 

It was Monday morning. I was supposed to be setting off to plant some trees, and mow a very large lawn in readiness for a firm to come in and moss treat then scarify it later.

 

 

It was snowing, sort of, but enough to mean that my day had to be postponed until the day after. The cats have some very strange habits. Not content with drinking from their water bowl, or metal bucket outside, Misty persists in opening the bathroom door and climbing into the sink to drink, and of course all of the toilet seats must always be closed. Hobie goes outside in any weather to lap up a puddle. He was kind of mystified this morning, as his usual puddles had frozen over, and he tried to negotiate the snow on this primrose. It didn't take him long to come back inside and fall asleep.....yet again!

 

 

I did get some paperwork done, now that I have been promoted to an office indoors. For the last few years I have been in the 'shack' at the end of the garden, which is wonderful in the summer when the doors are open and the sound of birdsong fills the air. The winter however is a different story. So it was that one of the bedrooms has been transformed into a man pad. I have drawers, those clear plastic stackable shelf 'thingy's' for an in/out tray....and a stationary tidy!



 

The week gone by has been pretty ordinary in work terms, and with Amanda still off with her broken arm, I have been left to face the dim and horrible days all alone. There are lot's of gardeners out there on their own, some never speak, some grunt, some talk to themselves. Some do smile and talk normally, but some smile regardless of whether anyone else is around, and would probably still smile if their arm fell off.....I am trying not to become like any of them, but the voices in my head say it's useless.

 

One particular day was set aside for a drive to Lymington, and a visit once again to the large wholesale nursery for some more plants for the Sandbanks house front garden. It's not so much fun on your own, no discussions over plant changes, and no impromptu tea and cakes in a cafe.

 

It was freezing cold, with a foggy start, and heavy rain forecast.



The nursery workers were unrecognisable, wrapped from head to toe in whatever clothing they could squeeze on. This nursery is very exposed, and always very windy. The birds find shelter in the massive poly tunnels, of which there are many more like the one below. As you can hear, it was raining really hard. Not a good day for nurseries. The workers use mopeds to get around as it's so big, and so you have to keep an eye open as you move from plants to path.

 

 

 

In the picture below, I am standing midpoint in this poly tunnel, and you can only just see the entrance at the end.

 

 

Unfortunately, some of the things I was looking for were being grown outside, but I didn't do any browsing this time as you can imagine.

 

Large Cordylines placed to one side and tagged for ownership.

 

One shrub I did find, hadn't seen before, but liked very much, was this dwarf Photinia. I may pick one up next time.

 

Photinia 'Little Red Robin'

 

It wasn't all doom and gloom though. My brother has a business teaching the elderly how to use computers, laptops, Iphone and Ipads etc, and our paths cross often. We both happened to be in the Highcliffe area on this lovely and sunny day. A couple of quick texts to one another and we hooked up at the Cliffhanger Cafe for a coffee and a catch up. It's always nice to see my brother, although life seems to get in the way far too often.

 

 

It's sunny again today, Wednesday, and let's hope it's going to stay that way!

TTFN

Tout Quarry

About an hours drive from home to the west is Portland, once an island, but now linked to the mainland by a shingle spit. Portland stone has been used since Roman times, and the headland still has several quarries still in production. After the Great Fire of London in 1666, Sir Christopher Wren made it his stone of choice when re-building St.Paul's Cathedral, and many other churches.

But today we had come to see a different type of stonework.

Tucked away on the western side of Portland is an old quarry, now disused, called Tout Quarry.

The place is pretty much as it was left by the quarrymen, but has attracted stonemasons and sculptors from around the world.

After driving through the buildings of an existing large quarry works, and finding the very inconspicuous car park (that holds about three cars!), one sets off on foot towards this peculiar and quiet place.

Eyes are first met by an extraordinary stone circle. But once there, it becomes obvious that you are not alone.

The eye is then drawn to a bull that is watching you, or is that a dinosaur behind that rock?

A briefcase and hat left by someone....and their hand?

As you walk along, always make a point of looking back, or you may miss an octopus.......

......or a nude hinding in the stone.

An eight foot tall crusader guards the circle.

But there are many, many sculptures, and you must walk through and over the quarry to see them all. Some are huge, others tiny. Here we came across an old bridge near the cliff top, that once carried a small rail line to move the rock. It's quite sobering to imagine men from way back, working the stone by hand on days that were cold and wet. A tough life.

A little further on we found this abstract piece.

And the area where sculptors practice their techniques. All around were small works of art, worked on, and then simply cast aside like rubbish so that the next technique could be honed.

Such as this bats wing, hidden amongst the rubble.

So much work had gone into turning this boulder into a dry stone wall. Once solid like it's surrounding fellows, hours and hours must have been spent chiselling away to get this effect, and it's only on closer inspection that one can see that no cement was used this time!

But alas the sun started to go down, making it even more bitterly cold, and so we had to leave Portland behind and head back down into Weymouth.

And a warm up toddy  at the Red Lion before returning home.

Byr for now!