Work Book (Week 4).

Sunday, 24 January 2010
10:00 - 10:20 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
Checked and counted the sheep.
10:30 - 10:45 Checked round ( Greenhouse and Conservatory )

Monday, 25 January 2010
08:30 - 08:50 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
08:50 - 09:20 Took the seed orders to the office ( Misc )
09:00 - 10:30 Digging ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
Made a start on digging over the second plot.
10:30 - 10:50 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:50 - 12:45 Digging ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
12:45 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 15:50 Digging ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )









15:50 - 16:00 Clean and put and put away the tools (Potting Shed) (Indoors )

Tuesday, 26 January 2010
08:30 - 08:50 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
Put out some minerals, checked and counted sheep.
08:50 - 09:15 Take apples to the hall ( Hall ) ( Hall & Pumpend )
Took in approx 30 apples.
09:15 - 09:40 See to the greenhouses ( Greenhouses )
Had a check round and did some watering.
09:40 - 10:30 Digging ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
Made a start on finishing off digging plot 3. The extension to the plot was dug over before Christmas so I was just left with the old part of the plot to finish.
10:30 - 10:50 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:50 - 12:45 Digging ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
12:45 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 15:50 Digging ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
Finished off digging plot 3 also forked around the currant bushes up to the bean row.









15:45 - 15:55 Clean and put and put away the tools ( Potting Shed ) (Indoors)

Wednesday, 27 January 2010
08:30 - 08:50 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
08:50 - 09:10 See to the greenhouses ( Greenhouses )
Had a check round and did some watering.
09:10 - 10:30 Digging ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
Made a start on digging plot 1.
10:30 - 10:50 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:50 - 12:45 Digging ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
Made a start on digging plot 1.
12:45 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 15:50 Digging ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
Finished off digging plot 1.









15:50 - 16:00 Clean and put and put away the tools (Potting Shed) (Indoors)


Thursday, 28 January 2010
08:30 - 08:50 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
1) Checked and counted the sheep.2) Checked to see if they need more hay.
08:50 - 09:10 See to the greenhouses ( Greenhouse and Conservatory ) ( Greenhouses )
Had a check round and did some watering.
09:10 - 10:30 Moving Red Currants ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
I had a couple of Red Currant bushes in Plot 1 of the veg garden and after seeing some grown against the north facing wall at Ripley Castle last year I thought I would try the same as it seems a better way to grow them. The two bushes that I moved were only two years old so should take no harm from the move.
10:30 - 10:50 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:50 - 11:40 Moving a Tayberry ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
The Red Currants I moved earlier were a little close to the Tayberry so I moved it along the wall a few feet. I only planted it last summer so it should move ok.
11:40 - 12:45 Moved a Black Currant bush ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
Now that the red currants are gone from Plot 1 I decided to move one of the new Black Currants along a bit to give it and the other new one more room.
12:45 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 13:55 Plant Rhubarb ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
Plant a new Rhubarb called Victoria.
13:55 - 14:45 Split and replanted one of the old Rhubarbs ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
Dug up one of the old Rhubarbs from the east shrub border and split it before moving it to the veg garden. Saved a piece for forcing in the greenhouse.
14:45 - 16:00 Plant the Peach tree ( West Wall ) ( Walled Garden )
Planted the new Peach tree against the east facing wall.
16:00 - 16:10 Clean and put and put away the tools ( Potting Shed ) (Indoors)
16:10 - 16:20 See to the bins ( Hall ) ( Hall & Pumpend )
Put out 1 green bin, the black bins are still there full and now overflowing from last week when they once again never got collected. Also put out one recycle tub.



Friday, 29 January 2010
08:30 - 08:50 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
1) Checked and counted the sheep.2) Took across some hay.
08:50 - 09:35 See to the greenhouses ( Greenhouse and Conservatory ) ( Greenhouses )
Had a check round and and planted a root of Rhubarb in a pot for forcing under the greenhouse bench.
09:35 - 10:00 Tidying up ( Potting Shed ) ( Indoors )
Tidied one of the benches that was full of Begonia's that had been drying off. Also swept up.
10:00 - 10:20 Took in some logs ( Summer House ) ( Misc )
Took in some logs ready for the beaters shoot day tomorrow.
10:20 - 10:30 Change a light bulb ( Pumpend ) ( Hall & Pumpend )
Put a new light bulb in the bathroom.
10:30 - 10:50 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:50 - 11:55 Sweeping up ( Main Drive ) ( Public Gardens )
Swept the main drive and path through the churchyard.
11:55 - 12:45 Harrowing ( North Front ) ( Public Gardens )
Harrowed the gravel on the North Front and in the Courtyard.
12:45 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 15:50 Sowing seeds ( Potting Shed ) ( Indoors )
Sowed any seeds that it was time for.
15:50 - 16:00 Clean and put and put away the tools ( Potting Shed ) ( Indoors )
16:00 - 16:10 Put away the bins. ( Hall ) ( Hall & Pumpend )
Took back one tub and one green bins, the rest were still overflowing with rubbish.
23:00 - 23:10 Check round ( Greenhouse and Conservatory ) ( Greenhouses )
Had a quick look round and checked the heaters were working as they should be as it was frosty.

Saturday, 30 January 2010
08:30 - 08:40 Check round ( Greenhouse and Conservatory ) ( Greenhouses )
Had a quick look round
21:15 - 21:25 Check round ( Greenhouse and Conservatory ) ( Greenhouses )
Had a quick look round and checked the heaters were working as they should be as it was frosty.

Digging (Plot 3).

Today I have spent all day digging over the third and final veg plot, plot one. Like the other plots this has been extended but unlike the others I didn't manage to get the new bit dug over before Christmas so today I had some heavy digging to do. Yes I know when you look at some of the finished pictures you'd think I had help, infact looking at that picture you would think he dug the whole flippin' lot all by himself, well he didn't - ok?

Digging (Plot 3).

Today its been the turn of plot three for the digging treatment. As with the plot yesterday this has been extended slightly and it was the original piece of ground plus amoungst the currant bushes that I was digging over today. You may be able to see a trench around the back of the plot, the main reason for this is to seperate it from the fruit section as that is full of bindweed and the trench helps keep it confind a bit. It also deters me from continuing rows of potatoes etc. through in to the currant bushes.

Digging (Plot 2).

Most of today has been spend digging plot number two of the veg garden. I have three plots in all. This year I've extended the plots a little, the freshly dug soil you can see in the first picture show the extent of the addition as I had dug over the new ground just before the Christmas break so what I was digging today was the original area of plot two.

Sony Clie (Todo & Date Book).

The Weaver of Grass asked what it was she said that prompted me to show you my little computer last week. Well it's to do with her comments about making lists. I've mentioned their benefits to me in the past and I know some of you don't like to be tied to lists, especially where gardening is concerned as you see it as a pass time and I understand that as I would be and indeed am the same in my own garden. But because this is my work its important that everything gets done and on time and to that end I need to be organized. I guess I keep two lists really, the 'Todo' list and my 'Work Book' that I publish each week for you to see. The 'Todo' list is of jobs to be done and the 'Work Book' are jobs done.

Every once in a while I walk around the garden with my handheld computer and add every job that I notice to the todo list.

Todo list view

I have the garden divided in to categories, for instance 'Main Garden', 'Walled Garden' and so on. This is basically so I can organize jobs so that I'm not having to move from one place to the other so much although that's not too important, the important bits are to prioritise and try to work to a due date, all of which can be added to the todo list along with any notes about the job. Once this is done I will usually take the list home and synchronise it with the desktop software that goes with the handheld.

Desktop date book, the todo list is in the bottom right corner so all you have to do is drag and drop the jobs on to the date book and roughly set the time needed for each job. Unless you like to put yourself under pressure its best to leave a few small gaps as jobs usually take longer than you think they will.
I could do it all on the handheld but its easier on the computer. I plug it in and press a button and it all gets syncronised either way. The date book and todo list sit side by side on the computer screen and are displayed in order of due date and priority so its just a matter of dragging the jobs in to vacant slots of the right size in the date book. I then sync the handheld with the computer so that it has the new copy of the date book.

The date book on the handheld replicates that of the desktop.

Of course as you can imagine nothing ever goes to plan so the times often have to be edited as each job is completed so that I have an honest account of my work. The account has to be honest because in a years time I will often refer back to what I was doing last year so that I know not only what I need to be doing at a certain time but also it acts as a pacemaker. For instance because of the snow we just had I can see from looking at the date book for last year that I am behind with work in the veg garden but have time in hand as far as the conservatory and pruning of the fruit trees so I know that this week I need to concentrate on the veg garden. I also know that last year there were two weeks in February that we had snow and ice so if we have no more bad weather I should be able to get back on top of things. So my pocket boss keeps me on track and focused on what needs to be done. These are his two main jobs but there are many more he undertakes to aid me.

Work Book (Week 3).

Hello everyone, here is the latest week from my work book, as you will see most of it has been devoted to pruning the apple and pear trees. Anyway take a look below, maybe there will be a few jobs there that you can do in your garden.

Sunday, 17 January 2010
10:00 - 10:20 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
1) Took across half a bale of hay.
2) Checked and counted the sheep.
3) Put out some minerals.
10:30 - 11:00 See to the greenhouses ( Glasshouses )
Took off some dead leaves and flowers.

Monday, 18 January 2010
08:30 - 08:50 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
1) Took across half a bale of hay.
2) Checked and counted the sheep.
3) Put out some minerals.
08:50 - 09:30 See to the greenhouses ( Glasshouses )
Checked and watered round.
09:30 - 10:30 Collect Christmas things from the church ( Church ) ( Misc )
Collect the crib, log and trees.
10:30 - 10:50 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:50 - 11:40 Fetch a propane bottle ( Farm ) ( Misc )
This is the 4th bottle I've had.
11:40 - 12:45 Prune the apples and pears ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
Made a start on pruning the apple and pear trees in the walled garden.
12:45 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 15:30 Prune the apples and pears ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
15:30 - 16:00 Clean and put and put away the tools ( Indoors )
15:30 - 15:50 Pruning ( Indoors )
Pruned some Fuchsia's that I brought from home, they are now in the conservatory waiting to see which ones survived the cold spell.

Tuesday, 19 January 2010
08:30 - 08:50 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
Checked and counted the sheep.
08:50 - 09:20 See to the greenhouses ( Glasshouses )
Took off some dead leaves and flowers.
09:20 - 09:50 Dead head the pansies ( Hall & Pumpend )
09:50 - 10:30 Prune the apples and pears ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
Started the big tree near the steps.
10:30 - 10:50 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:50 - 12:45 Prune the apples and pears ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
Continued to prune the fruit trees.
12:45 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 15:50 Prune the apples and pears ( Walled Garden )
Finished off the big tree near the steps.
15:50 - 16:00 Clean and put and put away the tools ( Indoors )

Wednesday, 20 January 2010
08:30 - 08:50 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
08:50 - 09:35 Fill logs and coal ( Hall ) ( Hall & Pumpend )
Took in 6 baskets of logs.
09:35 - 09:50 Brought some plants from the Hall ( Glasshouses )
Brought back a Christmas Cactus and Orchid.
09:50 - 10:30 Repair work ( Dog Kennels ) ( Hall & Pumpend )
Repaired the bolt on the dog kennel door.
10:30 - 10:50 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:50 - 12:45 Prune the apples and pears ( East Shrub Border ) ( Walled Garden )
12:45 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 15:50 Prune the apples and pears ( East Shrub Border ) ( Walled Garden )
15:50 - 16:00 Clean and put and put away the tools ( Potting Shed ) ( Indoors )

Thursday, 21 January 2010
08:30 - 08:50 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
08:50 - 09:20 Take the car ( Personal )
09:20 - 09:45 See to the greenhouses ( Glasshouses )
Checked and watered round.
09:45 - 10:30 Pruning ( East Wall ) ( Walled Garden )
Finished pruning the fruit trees in the walled garden.
10:30 - 10:50 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:50 - 12:45 Clearing up ( Veg Garden ) ( Walled Garden )
Made a start on clearing up all the prunings from the fruit trees.
12:45 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 15:05 Clearing up ( East Shrub Border ) ( Walled Garden )
Finished clearing up the prunings.
15:05 - 15:30 Sorting out Gladioli ( Potting Shed ) ( Indoors )
Netted the Gladioli corms, there are just over 80.
15:30 - 15:50 See to the bins ( Hall ) ( Hall & Pumpend )
Put out 7 black bins.
15:50 - 16:00 Clean and put and put away the tools ( Indoors )

Friday, 22 January 2010
08:30 - 08:50 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
1) Took across some hay.
2) Put out some minerals.
3) Checked and counted.
08:50 - 09:00 See to the greenhouses ( Glasshouses )
Had a check round.
09:00 - 09:30 Check round the gatden ( Misc )
Made some notes on what bedding seeds to order.
09:30 - 10:30 Seeing to a seed order ( Home ) ( Misc )
Made a start on putting together the seed orders for the summer bedding.
10:30 - 10:50 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:50 - 12:45 Continued with the seed order ( Home ) ( Misc )
12:45 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 13:45 Go to the office ( Misc )
Went for cash I was owed for the peach tree.
13:45 - 14:30 Sowed seeds ( Potting Shed ) ( Indoors )
Sowed Tomato 'Alicante' and Cauliflower 'Mayflower'.
14:30 - 14:40 Clean and put and put away the tools ( Indoors )
14:40 - 16:00 Finished off the seed orders ( Home ) ( Misc )

Saturday, 23 January 2010
10:00 - 10:20 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
10:30 - 10:50 See to the greenhouses ( Glasshouses )
Had a quick check round.

The Lawn Ranger & Tom.

Hello everyone, I hope you had a good day and I’m pleased you could find time to visit me.

Today I finished pruning the Apple and Pear trees in the walled garden, I just have one more Pear tree to prune on the end of our row of cottages which shouldn’t take me too long.

Today we had to take in one of our cars to the garage just to have a light bulb changed. I had a look at doing it myself the other day but the way they build them it’s impossible to get a new bulb in without stripping away several parts of the engine which I could probably have done and may even have done if it had been summer but in the end decided to take to our garage. The bill came to £25 just to have a new bulb fitted! The garage’s charge for fitting it was £5, the bulb £20. I don’t begrudge the garage their £5 but £20 for a light bulb is ridiculous.

Well I think the best thing to do after a dose of nasty medicine like that is to have some fun and a smile so I took a look at some pictures and picked these three of me and my mate Tom from Christmas as its smiles all round.

The hat is a Christmas present to me from my sister but as you can see someone else took a likin' to it. Below is a better look at the motif on it.

Pruning Apple Trees.

Today has been another day spent pruning apple trees during which I noticed there were still quite a number of greenish leaves still hanging on there. They aren't now of course because they were on the new growth that I was pruning back.

A Touch Of Frost

Today I have been able to get back to some outdoor gardening which seemed strange after not having done much out of doors for a month now. I’ve made a start on pruning the apple trees which I can’t say is one of my favourite jobs but it has to be done and they do look better for it I suppose.

During a walk around this morning I discovered this earn on the south front looking like it’s been split in to by some mad axe man.

In truth I think it was probably old Jack Frost up to his tricks. I’m not sure what will be done about it as its one of a pair so the other one is looking a bit lonely now.

Vicki has been at home tidying our own garden and she found me some Fuchsia’s that we had there in the summer and sort of got forgotten until now so she gave them to me to do something with. I trimmed them back a bit and put them in the conservatory to see who wants to grow and who wants to be compost.

The Boss

After a comment The Weaver of Grass said the other day I’m going to show you some pictures of my boss. This boss is not to be confused with the owner of the estate, I’m saving that picture for the day after I hand in my notice. The boss I am going to feature here is the most used and useful gardening tool I have at my disposal and when you see it you will think that strange considering what it is. So anyway let me introduce you to Sony Clie.

Sony no longer make these but they are still readily available on Ebay and Amazon in one or other of their various forms, this one being the NZ90. Of course there are numerous other devices that will do a similar job, the Sony Clie is the one I choose though.


So useful to me are they that there is far too much to tell in this post alone so I will content myself with just showing you some pictures on which I have highlighted the various controls.

Work Book (Week 2).

Sunday, 10 January 2010
09:50 - 10:10 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
1) Took across some hay.
2) Checked and counted the sheep.
10:10 - 10:25 Check the greenhouses ( Glasshouses )
17:05 - 17:15 Check the heaters are working ok. ( Greenhouses ) ( Glasshouses )

Monday, 11 January 2010
08:30 - 08:55 Lit the fire ( Summer House ) ( Indoors )
08:55 - 09:15 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
1) Took across some hay.
2) Checked and counted the sheep.
09:15 - 09:55 Clearing snow ( Front Passage ) ( Public Gardens )
Cleared snow from office steps and front passage.
09:55 - 10:05 See to the bins ( Hall ) ( Hall & Pumpend )
Put the bins back.
10:05 - 10:30 See to logs ( Hall ) ( Hall & Pumpend )
Took in 7 baskets of logs.
10:30 - 10:50 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:50 - 12:45 Painting ( Summer House ) ( Indoors )
Started glossing the third bench.
12:45 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 16:30 Finished glossing the rails of the third bench ( Summer House ) ( Indoors )

Tuesday, 12 January 2010
08:30 - 08:50 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
1) Took across some hay.
2) Checked and counted the sheep.
3) Took across a few sugar beets.
09:30 - 09:45 Clearing snow ( Potting Shed ) ( Walled Garden )
Cleared snow and ice from the potting shed and greenhouse paths.
09:45 - 10:30 Checking the ved seed order. ( Home ) ( Indoors )
Checking to see what has come and what is still left to be received.
10:30 - 10:50 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:50 - 12:45 Clearing snow ( Walled Garden )
Clearing snow from the shrubs and hedges as it has become heavy and is crushing some of them under the weight.
12:45 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 16:00 Tidying up the greenhouses ( Greenhouses ) ( Glasshouses )
Spent the afternoon tidying the plants up in the greenhouse.

Wednesday, 13 January 2010
08:30 - 08:55 Clearing snow and ice ( Front Passage ) ( Public Gardens )
Put down some grit on the office steps and front passage as they were covered in ice.
08:55 - 09:20 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
1)Took across some hay.
2) Checked and counted the sheep.
3) Put out some minerals.
4) Took across a few shugar beet. The farmer put some in the field just before the snows came but unfortunately he put them at the other end of the field where the sheep don't go when there is snow so I took a few across to the hay racks for them.
09:20 - 10:20 See to the greenhouses ( Glasshouses )
Did some more tidying in the greenhouse.
10:20 - 10:40 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:40 - 12:40 Painting ( Summer House ) ( Indoors )
Painted the metal framework of the third bench.
12:40 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 16:00 Tidying up ( Conservatory ) ( Glasshouses )
Cleared out the conservatory with a view to washing and disinfecting it shortly.

Thursday, 14 January 2010
08:30 - 08:50 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
08:50 - 09:10 Clearing snow and ice ( Front Passage ) ( Public Gardens )
Cleared snow and ice from office steps and front passage.
09:10 - 09:20 See to the greenhouses ( Glasshouses )
Had a look round and did a bit of watering.
09:20 - 10:30 Burning boxes ( Burn Pile ) ( Misc )
Burnt some boxes and other rubbish that was gathering in the barn.
10:30 - 10:50 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:50 - 12:45 Painting ( Summer House ) ( Indoors )
Assembled the second bench.
12:45 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 16:00 Tidy up the potting shed ( Potting Shed ) ( Indoors )
The working part of the potting shed was in a mess and needed a tidy ready for seed sowing etc.

Friday, 15 January 2010
08:30 - 08:55 See to the sheep ( Field ) ( Misc )
1) Took across some hay.
2) Checked and counted the sheep.
08:55 - 10:30 Power washing ( Conservatory ) ( Glasshouses )
Power washed the wooden staging, brick walls and floor.
10:30 - 10:50 Break for tea ( Home ) ( Misc )
10:50 - 12:45 Did more work in the conservatory ( Conservatory ) ( Glasshouses )
12:45 - 13:30 Break for lunch ( Home ) ( Misc )
13:30 - 15:50 Reasemble the third bench ( Summer House ) ( Indoors )
Assembled the third bench, just needs to have the bolts tightened and touched up with paint as its easier to paint the bolt when they're in place than paint each individual bolt before assembly.
16:00 - 16:30 See to the bins ( Hall ) ( Hall & Pumpend )
Put back the recycle tubs.

Saturday, 16 January 2010
10:10 - 10:30 See to the sheep{Field} ( Field ) ( Misc )
1) Took across some hay.
2) Checked and counted the sheep.
10:30 - 10:50 Light the fire ( Summer House ) ( Misc )
There is a shoot today so lit the fire for the beaters.
11:30 - 12:00 See to the fire ( Summer House ) ( Misc )

Wash & Disinfect.

Most of today has been spend washing down and disinfecting the conservatory along with fixtures and fittings. This is a good job for anyone to do who has a greenhouse that it enpty. It wouldn't be good to do it if you have plants in because it isn't good to have a lot of water around the place at this time of year as it take forever to dry and can cause rot in certain plants such as Geraniums. Most of the plants from the conservatory are in the greenhouses at the moment where there is heat so for me this is an opportunity not to be missed. All of the washing was done with the pressure washer as was the applying of the disinfectant, you can't beat it for blasting the slugs and other nasties from their winter hiding places.

Re-assembling The Second Bench.

The re-assembling of the second bench went pretty much okay. I kept all the pieces in order so that I was able to fit them all back together in the same way they were before being taken apart which is important with anything that has been hand made because no two pieces are exactly the same.

When Global Warming Came To Doncaster.

I've been trying to avoid posting pictures of snow and ice but as all I have to show at the moment is paint drying in the summer house I thought I would divert my attention from gardening to the effects of global warming in a village near Doncaster.

The view I have from my desk.

Our little cottage.

Outside our garden.

The village church.

Work Book (Week 1).

Here are the pages from my work book for this week.
[Click each page to enlage for easier reading]

Dancing On Ice.

...eee by gum - southerners!

[Click Here]

I wonder why they thought it was safer to jump out of the car?

More Bench Work.

After the usual jobs of seeing to the sheep and greenhouses I decided to clear some of the snow from the main drive.

I don’t usually spend too much time moving snow as it usually does a good job of removing itself given time but they have a shoot tomorrow so I thought they might be wanting the drive and outside the front door clearing and if so it’s best done before people drive all over it and make it hard work. Thankfully the drive is under trees so there is never a great amount of snow gathered so it wasn’t a big job.

After my tea break I carried on with my bench painting. I have the second bench already for re-assembling but the paint was still a bit damp so as I didn’t want to get grubby finger marks all over it I decided to leave the re-assembling for another day.


So instead I set too dismantling the third and biggest of the three new benches.

I now have it all in bits and ready for undercoating tomorrow if nothing else comes up.
I tie up the metal frame to the ceiling as this makes it easier to paint round all the twists and turns.

A Constructive Day In The Garden.

Hello Everyone, I hope you all had a good Christmas and are ready to start some more garden work after our little break. I actually started work yesterday but couldn’t really get motivated enough to start talking about how I’d spent the day catching up with filling log boxes, removing Christmas trees, disposing of all the card board boxes, I felt a bit like an inverted Santa Claus, he brought all the boxes full of goodies and I took them away full of rubbish, I somehow feel that I got the worse deal. There was also work to be done in the greenhouses as I’d just been doing the minimum while I was off work. I also went to the farm for some sheep hay, not a pleasant job as the stack has been there years and is rat infested, the hay is rubbish too. So as you can see the first day back was a bit of a non productive day as far as the garden goes. Today on the other hand has been much better even with all the snow that’s been falling heavily all day I was able to get cracking on a job that is going to pay dividends all summer long. When I was learning my trade I was often told by the old gardeners that a proper gardener will always be able to find a job to do. I didn’t believe it at the time but today, and many days in the past have been proof that their wisdom was true. Many would think that a day such as this would have been better spent in the house keeping warm but come the summer and the benches are gleaming like new around the gardens I will look back to this day and feel quite smug that I spent it in such a constructive way while others trudged round and round on fools errands.