I have a dream and it goes like this.....

I'm laying there in the soft lush grass, the warm sun is feeling so good upon my face, I can hear my daughter laughing and singing to herself and I'm thinking what a lovely summer this is at long last! I sit myself up and marvel at the sight before me! The potatoes are beckoning to me because they are almost ready to be gobbled up. The peas are bursting through their pods and the runner beans are covered with so many flowers that the bees and butterflies just don't know which one to pollinate first and as I glance to my left the strawberries look almost over ripe, I lick my lips in anticipation at the thought of the juicy sweet fruits reaching my mouth. Then the sound of the sweet corn blowing gently in the light summer breeze catches my attention and it's almost too much of a temptation not to go and pick and peel and just nibble at the delicious yellow buds until each and everyone of them have disappeared down my throat!
I'm just about to drift into the beautiful place between dreams and sleep, my mind is almost there and then I feel cold wet drips on my face and for a few seconds I think it's my daughter fooling around with the watering can, but then I'm snapped out of my dream by what feels like a whole bucket of water being tipped over me! Of course it's not the watering can, it's the flipping rain yet again and without any concern for my soaking I look around me and take in the wet soggy mess which is right there before my eyes! The potato bed is completely empty and almost begging to be dug over, but because of the blight that rampantly ripped through the whole two crops the dream of dribbling butter laced over the delicious new spuds was just never gonna happen, well not this year anyway! The tomato frame had yet again spewed all of it's contents from a furious gust of wind all over the lawn! The cauliflower and broccoli were being invaded by the cabbage white butterfly and each and every plant had little holes in them, which looked quite artistic really! Oh yeah and most of the sweetcorn had ripened but they were such tiny little things and nothing at all like the great big juicy fruits that I thought they were going to be!! Then of course there were the peas which had been attacked by my Jack Russel dog who hadn't yet learnt how to pick the pods gently, instead she had just ripped at them willy nilly making a pile of messy pea everywhere!
By now my hair was completely matted to my head and my clothes were stuck to my body, I thought that I should probably go into the house and get myself bathed, so I did and as I was running the water I sat there watching the bubbles frothing away and I got to thinking that maybe the veggie plot idea wasn't such a good one, but then I got to thinking that maybe it was, because the garlic was a complete success and so too were the peas (luckily I'd managed to freeze many before the dog had attacked them), the strawberries were too and oh yeah the carrots were growing very nicely indeed and so were the parsnips, which would be ready for Christmas dinner and then of course I mustn't forget to mention all of the salad crops - you know the beetroot, the lettuce, the rocket, the spring onions etc etc etc and of course the wonderful onions!
So what I'm saying is no matter where in the World we live we're always going to have to deal with adverse weather conditions, but if I want to enjoy the thrill of nibbling away at my fresh home grown veg then I have to expect disasters as well as the successful, because in many Countries disaster is constant but they keep soldiering on and so then will I!!!

The Forest House Hotel and Bluebell Restaurant

I do try to stick to a weekly routine where my gardens are concerned because it just makes life that little bit easier and we all know where we are, but unfortunately due to the dreadful wet summer that we seem to be having then my routine gets thrown right out of the window!
But usually on a Wednesday I arrive at "The Forest House Hotel & Bluebell Restaurant" not a minute before or a minute after 8.15am!
The first thing I do when I arrive is to mow the lawns!
There are three lawns, one which is to the side of the house and then the other two lawns which are both at the front of the house, separated by a path that runs straight down the middle!
I have to say that the house is so very beautiful and almost to the point of Stately, but it's not quite big enough to call it that, although it has Historical Significance in the Forest of Dean, because it was the home of David Muschet and his son Robert Forester Muschet until about 1850 and they were pioneers in the steel making process!
I must say that I feel so privileged to be tending the gardens at such a lovely place. I quite often glance up at the beautiful property in complete awe!
So it being a not too bad a Wednesday I arrived at the usual time! I mowed the first lawn and then began to mow the two at the front of the house! As I did I could smell the delicious aroma's of the breakfasts being cooked for the guests and my stomach rumbled with jealousy, I glanced in to the windows and noticed that the Restaurant was quite busy as it always seemed to be!
So without another thought for the lucky diners I carefully finished mowing the two remaining lawns.

My Gardening, My Work and Me!

Over time I will write about my Clients, I will write about them because they are all wonderful people with terrific characters! I will also write about different aspects to gardening, wether it's how to prune a Rose properly to keeping the lawn's green and lush! The knowledge I have on growing fruit and veg is what I have just picked up along the way and also by my own failings and disasters, so I will write about that too...I just hope that people will want to read all about it! LOL

Yet another soggy July at Mr Such and Such's!

Well today I should have gone to Mr Such and Such - I call him that because I don't think it's fair to disclose his proper name on the Internet? But due to the awful weather, yet again I've had to re-arrange with him to go tomorrow instead!
I've been gardening for Mr Such and Such for almost three years now and over those almost three years I've got to know him extremely well! He's a charming elderly gentleman who before I came along had very little knowledge about gardening and plants etc. Oh he knew about Pansies and Poly's but very little else!
Now Mr Such and Such has always insisted on joining me out in the garden to work and so on doing so he has picked up a huge amount of knowledge from me and with his willingness to learn, we have between us transformed his garden from quite a boring, daffs in the spring and then bedding plants for the summer months and then almost nothing else for the rest of the year, to a garden which has flowers for almost all of the time!
As you can see in the above picture, the wall to the front of the house has a kind of rockery that was once home to hundreds of daffodils...OK so they did look lovely when in full bloom, but after they had died back, all that was left was just green stems, so I would have to dig them up and discard them ready for a new lot to be planted in the Autumn, which to me was such a horrible waste of money! So yeah this last spring just gone we did dig them up, but we didn't throw them away, we've put them into storage to dry out ready to be planted in to a much more suitable spot in the garden in the Autumn. Of course we've left some bulbs in and so there was room to put other plants in. Most of the smaller conifers remained but three had to be taken out because they were just too big! Unfortunately when Mr Such and Such went to the garden centre to buy the conifers he was led to believe that they would remain miniature, but of course if the plant label says that the plant will grow to 3ft in ten years, then it probably will, but after that then it will probably just keep on growing! But if the label says it will grow under 2ft in ten years then yes that is an ideal conifer to plant for a small area!
In removing the conifers we then planted several small shrubs, which would flower from the spring through to the winter and they included Sarcococca (Christmas box), Abelia Grandiflora, Ilex Crenata Golden Gem together with a variety of grasses and a small variety of perennials, which included Hellebores, Heleniums, three various Hostas and of course a selection of bulbs! So now that part of his garden really has come alive and although he wasn't convinced he definately is now!
During the almost three years that the two of us have worked together we've become extremely close and although we are complete opposites on almost every issue we both respect each other enough to be able to listen to one an other's points of views and I have to say that I have also learnt to respect someone Else's point of view, no matter how much I disagree with him, but at least I can safely say that I will be working for him for many years to come...especially as Mrs Such and Such will insist on bringing me out a lovely cup of tea or coffee (usually laced with something suitably warming, especially through the cold Winter months) and a very nice piece of cake or a selection of delicious biscuits!!!!