Apr 22, 23 & 24

Well I know it has been a few days since I updated but will try and bring you up to date. Weather wise this week has been absolutely lovely. Sunshine, light breezes and temperatures around 20 for the high and about 10 for the low. I have been able to get up early each day and have a nice walk to the gardens. Sometimes I am greeted by a rooster crowing as I pass by its pen on the other side of a hedge before I get to the College gate. Yesterday morning there was a heavy fog in the air that caused a coolness on my bare legs as I have started wearing shorts to work rather than changing part way through. However with a sweater on I am very comfortable. This will be the earliest I have ever had a tan.

As for work, I told you on my last post that we were expecting to plant 25,000 plugs. Well that figure has been updated to 31,000 and I believe that figure is closer to reality. On Wednesday, Rob, Steve, Chris and I continued to plant several different beds around the college. On Thursday Steve was replaced by Dennis, a student from Holland for the day and we finished planting the beds around the college including an area outside a tennis court on the river Lavant that flows through the gardens. Some of the soil in this area was quite flinty, which meant a lot of pounding the dibber into the ground to make a hole big enough for the plug to fit in. Then in the late afternoon, we went to the arboretum with Jim, Garden Manager and the five of us continued to plant plugs for the remainder of the day in some lovely open areas; not quite glades but places that show the flowers very well. By now we are mainly planting primroses. After the primroses were all done we took the remaining trays full of cowslips and went further into the arboretum. We finished the day here knowing that tomorrow we would be finished the entire planting. Transportation for this stage was in an open wagon on the back of a tractor. This is a rough form of conveyance over mostly a dirt track and some times over a cattle gate. Jim has been known to say to the tractor operator “those aren’t potatoes in the back” when the passengers might feel a bit of a bumpy ride.

Yesterday, April 23 was St. George’s Day and I did get an email reminder of this from Margan and Richard. Google’s home page was all done in the red and white for the occasion. I had made contact with the Chichester Priory Rotary Club and indicated I wanted to go to their regular meeting. I spoke to a Mr. Hall who informed me that they had switched the night to Thursday in honour of ST. George and that the usual venue was changed but I was indeed welcome to come. And in the true Rotary fashion he offered to come and pick me up, drive me to the event and take me home afterwards. He picked me up outside the Selsey Arms, an easily recognized landmark and drove me through Goodwood, telling me about the various events that are held there. We ended up in Oving a small community outside of Chichester at a large hall. The parking lot was full. The cost of the meal was 20 pounds and a good bottle of wine could be had for 5 pounds. I bought the wine for my host and myself. I was seated by several Rotarians from the Midhurst club that I had visited two weeks ago and renewed acquaintances. I was introduced to the President, Bernard who I had corresponded with prior to coming over and he had been very helpful in suggesting things to do while I was here. They had a meal which was a fabulous meat pie with vegetables and potatoes and a nice chocolate dessert. They served coffee but so help me I just can’t take another cup of this. During the evening which lasted about 3 hours they had various toasts by celebrities including someone with the title of “Sir” and a very funny pageant about St. George and the slaying of the dragon. It was the hit of the night. It concluded with the singing of three British songs, one about Sussex by the Sea and There’ll always be an England. Quite rousing indeed. One of the requirements of attending was to wear something red and when I told my host I didn’t have anything, he offered to and did bring a tie for me so I wasn’t out of place. Of course I forgot to give it back to him so will have to try and find a way to return it when I am next in Chichester. I didn’t get home until after 10:30 and was right off to bed.

Friday morning was the latest I slept in -6:30. No problem as I have good routine now. I still had breakfast and made my lunch and was off to work by 7:10. The sun was shining and it was likely 15. Jim had told us that a troublesome pheasant was out last night picking out some of the plugs that we had put in by the sunken garden. He was setting up a sprinkler and the pheasant was oblivious to his presence and no doubt shouts. There is someone involved with pest control in the gardens and he had been alerted to the interloper. He wasn‘t seen today. As I knew was to happen, Rob and I alone were left to plant the remainder of the cowslips in the arboretum. We took the tractor and trailer up the hill and got to work. In order to get the plugs out of the trays in which they were grown (by the way they were started as seedlings on Aug 1 last year) you invert the trays and drop them from a height of about 2 feet onto a table. This is most effective at releasing about 95% of them and the remainder can be taken out by hand. There are about 100 to a tray and two trays fill a bucket. While Rob dibbered, I plugged and we continued right through lunch and finished at 12:30. We gathered up the gear and drove back to the staff room where we had lunch and then finished off the afternoon, which stops at 3:00 on Friday by cleaning up boxwood hedge clippings so that the gardens would look neat and tidy for the weekend patrons. There is no doubt that Jim and Sarah have instilled the staff with the fact that in these gardens, appearances are very important.

Tonight I have been invited by one of the volunteers, Derek of the bowler hat to have supper with him and his wife and he is picking me up at 6:00. Must go and get ready.
Today’s pictures include, one of me planting, the Orangery at the Gardens and a picture of the fridge in the staff room. Talk about being made to feel welcome.