Friday 14 May 2010

GRRR!

Well I am SO angry at this intrusion in to MY life that it's best I if I don't say another word until I feel better. If the boss wasn't around I wouldn't even bother to stay until clocking off time because I just can't be bothered anymore.

Sent from my Palm Treo Smartphone.

Oh Lord Please Give Me Patience.

This is one of the questions I just got asked, 'have you had any training on how to lift weights'. I could see Dick Dastardly grinning and I couldn't keep a straight face. I mean for goodness sake I've done manual labour from even before I left school if I don't know how to lift things by now I should just give up. She then asked what weights do I lift, I was dumb struck by this point and all I could think of was the weight of the shopping that Vicki brought home last night so I said, 'about 5 or 6 Asda carrier bags full of shopping'. Everyone laughted, even Danger Nanny. She then went on to explain the 25kg is the recomemded weight for one person to lift.

Sent from my Palm Treo Smartphone.

Thursday 13 May 2010

Rat Lungworm.

An Australian man has been left in a critical condition after eating a slug for a dare. If you would like to know more please click [HERE]

Wednesday 12 May 2010

News Of A Visit.

I've just been informed that on Friday we are to get a visit from Danger Nanny so no doubt that will be my weekend in ruins. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against health and safety just against people who waste my time for no good reason. I mean after surviving forty years on various farms and gardens what do they thing is going to befall me in the next ten? Im hardly like to suffer death by hoe.

Sent from my Palm Treo Smartphone.

Tuesday 11 May 2010

Work Book 11th May (Week 19).

See to the sheep
08:00-08:15
Misc
(Field)
Checked and counted the sheep.

See to the greenhouses
08:15-08:45
Glasshouses
1) Water round.
2) Put out the trolley

Taking cuttings
08:45-09:15
Indoors
(Potting Shed)
Took cuttings of Border Princess Dahlia.

Potting on
09:15-10:00
Indoors
(Potting Shed)
Potted on
1) Begonia's grown from seed.
2) A couple of strawberry plants.
Also sowed some sunflower seed and Actaea Alba own seed.


Top dress plants
10:00-10:10
Walled Garden
(East Wall)
Top dressed the roses with Growmore and the fruit with blood fish and bone.

Top dress raspberries
10:10-10:20
Walled Garden
(Veg Garden)
Top dressed with blood fish and bone.

Top dress the gooseberries
10:20-10:30
Walled Garden
(Veg Garden)
Top dressed with blood fish and bone.

Break for tea
10:30-10:50
(Home)

Dig out the artichoke.
10:50-12:45
Walled Garden
(Veg Garden)
Dug out two Artichoke plants as there were to many and erected the supporting wires.

Break for lunch
12:45-13:30
(Home)

Hoe the rose beds
13:30-15:00
Walled Garden
(Memorial Gardens)
Also top dress with bone meal.

Tiding up.
15:00-17:00
Walled Garden
(Lily Pond)
Weeded and forked over the rose borders and generally tidied round.

Cleaned and put away the tools
17:00-17:20
Indoors
(Potting Shed)

See to the greenhouses
17:20-17:30
Glasshouses
Moved some plants from the greenhouse to the conservatory.

Notes
1) fireweedmeadow asked me if I ever found out what was the cause of all the smoke yesterday. Apparently it was some tyres that were burning which would explain the black smoke. That’s all I know really but I think one can assume that they weren't meant to be as such things are not allowed so either someone must have done it deliberately or they caught on fire accidentally somehow.

2) Carol asked me who I originally intended to feature as my Sunday song, well I think the best thing to do is tune back in on Sunday and I will feature that version for you this week.

3) Pam asked how hardy are Wallflowers? Well they are regarded as being very hardy, if you want to know more about them click HERE

Another Late Frost

This morning I've woken to a quite a keen frost. Over the past few years we seem to have avoided such late frosts but I think this year we are back to the times before global warming when the golden rule was not to plant out tender plants before the last week of May.

Monday 10 May 2010

Work Book 10th May (Week 19).

08:00 - 08:20
See to the sheep
( Field )
( Misc )
Checked and counted the sheep.

08:20 - 08:30
See to the greenhouses
( Glasshouses )
Had a check round.

08:30 - 10:00
Tidying up
( Potting Shed )
( Indoors )
Did some tidying up in the potting shed.

10:00 - 10:30
Burnt some rubbish
{Burn Pile}
( Misc )
Got all the boxes and rubbish from the potting shed burnt.

10:30 - 10:50
Break for tea
( Home )
( Misc )

10:50 - 11:40
Go to the garden centre
( Misc )
Bought a bucket of growmore.

11:40 - 12:45
Fork rose beds
( Iron Gates )
( Main Garden )
Fed and hoed the two rose beds

12:45 - 13:30
Break for lunch
( Home )
( Misc )

13:30 - 14:30
Feed wallflowers
( South Front )
( Main Garden )
Applied Growmore and worked in with the hoe.


14:30 - 16:00
Tidy window borders
( South Front )
( Main Garden )
Fed and hoed the borders and tied up the Clematis.

16:00 - 17:00
Weed gravel
( Summer House )
( Main Garden )
Hoed and raked the gravel outside the summer house.

17:00 - 17:10
Clean and put away the tools
( Potting Shed )
( Indoors )

17:10 - 17:20
See to the greenhouses
( Glasshouses )
Closed the vents and put in the trolley.

17:20 - 17:30
Make a todo list
( Main Garden )
Made a todo list for next weeks work in the main garden.

A Big Black Cloud Hangs Over The Big House.

I'm not sure if I should be working outdoors today as there is this emormous cloud of black smoke covering the big house. I've heard no warnings so assume its nothing too toxic. I've no idea what is the cause, maybe its a volcanic eruption in Wakefield. I even turned on the news this lunch time to see if anything was mentioned but as usual that was a total waste of time.
>>

Sunday 9 May 2010

Sing For Sunday (Week 18).

During my time at work, particularly during the more tedious jobs (and when I feel like being anti-social) I will listen to music on my Sony Clie PDA or phone so I thought that on a Sunday as there is no gardening to be done I would share with you one of the songs I’ve enjoyed during the past week. I know you aren’t supposed to broadcast music and stuff but the video’s are from Youtube so are already there for people to see so I don’t think my little weekly addition will bankrupt any pop stars, also a lot of what I listen too is by has beens or never beens so who knows, maybe someday someone who reads this might like something and by it for themselves.


So this weeks song is called ‘Vigilante Man’ and is taken from an album called ‘Sweet Nothings’ and in this case is performed by Chihana Ohnishi. I was originally listening to it being sung by someone else and came across but I quite like this version and also the album that it’s from so I chose to put this link on here and not the one I originally intended.

What Do Your Eyes Say?

If I looked in to your eyes today would I see them full of sunshine or clouds of grey?

Sent from my Palm Treo Smartphone.

Saturday 8 May 2010

Todo List For Week 19.

These are some of the jobs I hope to get done next week, as you will notice there are no jobs for Friday as yet, I don't have the day off, I just haven't got round to adding any jobs yet.

10 th
Feed wallflowers

Fork rose beds

Tidy the rock garden

Tidy up the Japanese garden

Tidy window borders

Trim the ivy

Weed gravel by the summer house

11 th
Dig out the artichoke.

Dig over the west shrub border

Finish off the west wall border

Hoe the memorial garden rose beds

Tidy up round the lily pond

Top dress plants on east wall

Top dress raspberries

Top dress the gooseberries

Weed bottom of big conifer hedge

12 th
Apply Fertiliser to Courtyard beds

Apply fertiliser to North Front roses

Cut down rubbish

Edge the borders

Edge the grass

Strim round

Tidy back borders

13 th
Mow all the lawns

Mow rough grass

Mow the Courtyard grass

Mow the main lawn

Mow the North Front

See to the bins

Friday 7 May 2010

Gardeners Lunch.

Today the gardner to the big house enjoyed fresh radishes for lunch. The radish you see are called Ilka and can be bought from Marshalls Seeds. Unlike a lot of radish these keep for a good amount of time without going woody. As you can see from the picture these are quite a size yet they were still crisp and tender. For more info on this variety click [HERE].

Work Book 7th May (Week 18).

08:00 - 08:15
See to the sheep
{Field}
( Misc )
Checked and counted the sheep.

08:15 - 08:30
See to the greenhouses
( Glasshouses )
Checked round and put out the hardening off trolley

08:30 - 10:00
Potting up
{Potting Shed}
( Indoors )
Potting on some Petunia’s, I didn’t finish though as the former lady was worrying in case her yards didn’t get cleaned so I went and saw to them.

10:00 - 11:00
Tidying up
{Pumpend}
( Hall & Pumpend )
1) Weeded the wall border.
2) Swept the yards.

11:00 - 11:30
Break for tea
( Misc )

11:30 - 12:00
Sweep the drive
{Main Drive}
( Public Gardens )
Swept the main drive and church yard steps.

12:00 - 12:30
Sweep all hard surfaces
( Main Garden )
Swept off the hard area’s in the main garden.

12:30 - 12:45
Apply fertiliser to Pumpend pots
{Pumpend}
( Hall & Pumpend )
Pumpend wall borders and Fuchsia troughs.

12:45 - 13:30
Break for lunch
{Home}
( Misc )

13:30 - 16:30
Plant the greens
{Veg Garden}
( Walled Garden )
Planted out Brussels, Cauliflower and Cabbage.

16:30 - 17:00
Planting
{Potting Shed}
( Indoors )
Finished potting in the Petunia’s in to the six packs.

17:00 - 17:20
Moving plants
{Greenhouse}
( Glasshouses )
Had to make some room in the greenhouse for the Petunia’s I potted on earlier.

17:20 - 17:30
Clean and put away the tools
( Indoors )

19:00 - 19:10
See to the greenhouses
( Glasshouses )
Closed the greenhouses and put in the trolley.

Thursday 6 May 2010

Lawn Mowing Day.

Today is lawn mowing day at the big house.

Sent from my Palm Treo Smartphone.

Work Book 6th May (Week 18).

See to the sheep
08:00-08:15 (Field)
Checked and counted the sheep.

See to the greenhouses
08:15-08:45
Checked round and put out the trolley.

Mowing
08:45-09:45 (Courtyard)

Mowing
09:45-10:15 (North Front)

Break for tea
10:15-10:35 (Home)

Mowing
10:35-12:30 (Main Lawn)

Break for lunch
12:30-13:15 (Home)

Mowing
13:15-16:15 (All Lawns)

Mow rough grass
16:15-18:05
Cut all rough grass.

Clean and put away the tools
18:05-18:15 (Potting Shed)

See to the bins
18:15-18:25 (Hall)
Put out the green bins. (Note 1)

See to the greenhouses
20:50-21:00
Took in the trolley and put on the heaters as it was quite cool although I don’t expect frost.

Notes:
1) Had to do overtime today in order to get all the cutting done in the day.

Wednesday 5 May 2010

Work Book 5th May (Week 18).

See to the sheep
08:00-08:15 (Field)
checked and counted the sheep.

See to the greenhouses
08:15-09:00
1) Watered round.
2) Tied in the grape vine.
3) Thinned out the Apricots.

Pricking out
09:00-09:30 (Potting Shed)
Pricked out some Petunia's for Pumpend walls.

Prune Hydrangeas
09:30-10:30 (Potting Shed)
Pruned the two Hydrangea’s by the gardeners cottage (Which the keeper lives in).

Break for tea
10:30-11:00 (Home)

Fetch petrol
10:50-11:30
Fetched £24s worth in my can.

Strim round
11:30-12:30
Cut off any long grass etc. where I can’t get with the mower like around wall sides as I prefer to do that every three weeks than see a brown spray strip.

Break for lunch
12:30-13:30

Forking
13:30-14:45 (Herb garden)
Tidied up the herb garden.

Edge the boundary
14:45-16:30
(See note below)

Servicing
16:30-17:00 (The barn)
Serviced the Allett mower ready for tomorrow.

Clean and put away the tools
17:00-17:15 (Potting Shed)

See to the greenhouses
17:15-17:30
Close the vents and take in the trolley.

Note: Because I don't have the time to eadge all the garden every week I split it in to three so it all gets done over a three week period. The punblic gardens get done one week and the second week I do all the main garden plus the inner beds in the walled garden and the third week I edge what I call the boundary edge although it doesn't actually stick to the boundary of the garden as it deviates around shrub borders and paths but it is one long cut starting and ending at the greenhouse.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Work Book 3rd & 4th May (Week 18).

See to the sheep
09:00-09:15 (Field)


See to the greenhouses
09:15-09:30

See to the greenhouses
20:00-20:30


----- 04 May 2010 -----
See to the sheep
08:00-08:20 (Field)
1) Checked and counted the sheep.
2) Cleaned out the hay rack.

See to the greenhouses
08:20-09:30
1) watered round.
2) Put out the trolley's.
3) Potted on some plants.

Forking
09:30-10:30 (Barn Wall Border)
Forked over and edged the barn wall border.

Break for tea
10:30-11:00 (Home)

Unpacking and taking away boxes
10:50-11:20 (Pumpend)
Helped Jane unpack two bedside cabinates and took boxes away for burning.

Servicing tractor
11:20-11:35
The keeper wanted to borrow the tractor so greased and oiled it.

Forking
11:35-12:45 (Barn Wall Border)
Finished the barn wall border.

Break for lunch
12:45-13:30 (Home)

Forking
13:30-17:00
Forked over the soil and took out any weeds.

Clean and put away the tools
17:00-17:10 (Potting Shed)

See to the greenhouses
17:10-17:20

Made a todo list for next week
17:20-17:30
Had a walk round and made a list for work to be done in the main garden next week.

Note: This week I start my summer hours which are from 8 am to 5:30 pm.

Monday 3 May 2010

Favourite Spring Job.

Hello Red Clover its nice to hear from you again. You asked what is my favorite spring job? I really like most of the jobs I do with the exception of spraying and having bonefires. I do enjoy the greenhouse work though with all the seedlings coming on and the indoor plants putting on growth.

Sent from my Palm Treo Smartphone.

Work Book (Week 17).

----- 26 April 2010 -----
See to the sheep
08:30-08:50 (Field)
Checked and counted the sheep.
Put out some minerals.

See to the greenhouse work
08:50-10:30
Watered round.
Put out the hardening off trolleys.
Trained the sweet peas and geraniums.
Repotted a standard pelargonium.

Break for tea
10:30-10:50 (Home)

Planting
10:50-12:00 (Veg Garden)
Planted maincrop potatoes.

Planting
12:00-12:45 (Veg Garden)
Planted lettuce, rocket and spicy greens mix.

Break for lunch
12:45-13:30 (Home)

Forking
13:30-16:00 (Rose Garden)
Finished forking over the rose garden.

Repairing the earn
16:00-16:50 (Main Garden)
Glued the top of the repaired earn to it’s base on the wall.

Clean and put away the tools
16:50-17:00 (Potting Shed)

See to the greenhouses
20:45-21:15
Shut the vents and took in the trolley’s.

----- 27 April 2010 -----
See to the sheep
08:30-08:50 (Field)
Checked and counted the sheep.
See to the greenhouses

09:50-10:50
1) Checked and watered round.
2) Removed the insulation from the hot house.
3) Potted up the Melons into their permanent positions on the hothouse staging.

Break for tea
10:30-10:50 (Home)

Seeing to the strawberry bed
11:10-12:45 (Veg Garden)

Break for lunch
12:45-13:30 (Home)

Seeing to the Strawberries
13:30-17:00 (Veg Garden)

----- 28 April 2010 -----
See to the sheep
08:30-08:50 (Field)
Ckecked and counted the sheep and lambs.

See to the greenhouses
08:50-09:50
Water round.

Clear boxes away
09:50-10:00 (Pumpend)
Took away some boxes and a couple of old brushes.

Cleaned filter
10:00-10:30 (Potting Shed)
Cleaned the diesel filter on the tractor.

Break for tea
10:30-10:50 (Home)

Clearing up
10:50-11:00 (Veg Garden)
Picked up the rubbish from yesterdays work on the strawberries.

Mowing
11:00-13:00 (Lawns)
Mowed all the lawns in the walled garden with the tractor.

Break for lunch
12:45-13:30 (Home)

Mowing the rough grass
13:45-15:30 (The Green)

Mowing
15:30-16:30 (Courtyard)

Clearing up
16:30-17:00 (Lawns)
Raked and picked up some of the grass from the cutting this morning. The tractor blows the grass in to rows so its not a big job to pick it up and the job looks better for it.

Clean and put away the tools
17:00-17:15 (Potting Shed)

----- 29 April 2010 -----
See to the sheep
08:30-08:50 (Field)

Water the Monteray pine
08:50-09:00 (Cemetry)
I was told there was water in the cemetry so I went with an empty watering can but could find no water anywhere so it was a wasted journey.

See to the greenhouses
09:00-10:00

Water the troughs
10:00-10:30

Break for tea
10:30-10:50 (Home)

Mowing
10:50-12:00 (Lawn)

Mowing
12:00-12:45 (North Front)

Break for lunch
12:45-13:30 (Home)

Plant out Gladioli
13:30-14:00

Removed blanket weed
14:00-14:30
Remove blanket weed from lily pond.

Weed the gravel
14:30-16:30 (Herb Garden)

Clean and put away the tools
16:30-17:00 (Potting Shed)
Put out the black bins

----- 30 April 2010 -----
See to the sheep
08:30-08:50 (Field)
Checked and counted the sheep and lambs.

See to the greenhouses
08:50-09:30
Watered round, put out the trolleys and added more compost to the potatoes in pots.

Cut down the Laburnums
09:30-10:30 (Main Drive)
There two self set Laburnums growing from the base of the house wall so I cut them down before they got any bigger.

Break for tea
10:30-10:50 (Home)

Planting
10:50-13:00 (Veg Garden)
Planted
Red Onions
Leeks
Two types of Lettuce
Peas
Beetroot

Break for lunch
13:00-13:45 (Home)

Hoe gravel
13:45-16:40
Hoe the gravel on the South Front

Clean and put away the tools
16:40-16:50 (Potting Shed)

See to the greenhouses
16:50-17:00
Close the vents and take in the trolleys.

See to the bins
17:00-17:10 (Hall)
Put back all the bins and tubs.

Saturday 1 May 2010

What Planet Are They From?

Hello everyone,

As some of you know we in the UK are enduring the build up to a general election at the moment. As I've said before I refuse to watch news broadcasts on the grounds that they are nothing more than media propaganda shows that are broadcast to manipulate people in certain directions, a bit like a sheep dog. Anyway the thing is that from time to time I can’t help but notice an item of news however much I try to avoid it, which just goes to prove how bombarded we are by it. I logged out of my Yahoo account just now and there in front of me was this statement by our present prime minister,


'Asked whether the transport budget would be among the areas targeted for cuts if Labour won on May 6, Mr Brown responded: "We are going to be moving from road to rail so you will not see the same levels of expenditure on roads.'


Well on reading that I involuntary burst out laughing because he’s obviously not been driving along South Yorkshire roads of late, or at least not the country lanes because if they reduce spending on these roads any further they will be just dirt tracks! The thing that gets me is that the roads are full of pot holes so where do they put all the tarmac? In great heaps in and around housing estates (So called sleeping policeman) and such places so that one minute you’re driving over big holes the next over big heaps of tarmac, maybe one day someone will have the brains to realise that if they put the mounds in the holes things might run much more smoothly for the same expenditure. Maybe if they weren’t using our money to buy their second homes and packets of Polo’s etc they would be able to finance both road and rail at the same time. As for rail travel I would like to see Gordon Brown, or anyone else for that matter try and get from here to Askern and back five days a week by train, you've got a 3 mile walk before you even see a train, not sure how far a walk it would be at the other end. To me that shows how out of touch these idiots are and what a waste of time voting for any of them is.

Anyway thats enough of this rubbish, I promise not to blight this blog again with election crap.