Apr 27
Up and off to work at 7:00. The day is dreary looking but no rain yet. I brought my rain gear but decided against the wellies. My job today is to work on the rock garden and I have it nearly finished by 9:00 tea time and Jim suggests I work in the grape glasshouse with Rob as it is raining quite steady now. This is a nice dry job and I get to see the grapes developing. This is the third time I have been at them and they are really coming along. The process is to ensure espaliered branches have two twist ties on them, trim the ends where growth has extended to the desired limit and cut off any offshoots we might have missed. (There is a picture showing the grapes today)This lasted until 2:30 and then Rob, Steve, Chris and I were asked to replant about 1000 plugs that had been pulled up over the weekend we think by a rogue pheasant. The plugs were simply lying beside the holes so we didn’t know if it was a game they were playing or what. Anyway by this time the grass we were in was quite long and very wet and my decision not to wear the wellies was shown to be a mistake as there is only so much water that can be absorbed by regular boots with the obvious result.
Off work at 4:00 and walked home in a light rain. Had a nice shower to warm me up, then a beer to cool me off. Supper was a lovely roast beef carvery. I was pretty tired and started to read a book but fell asleep about 8:00. I think the dreariness of the day did me in.
April 28
Woke up at 4:00, no surprise here. Finally got up at 6, and after a light breakfast left for work at 7. Even though it was a lovely sunny morning the temperature was only 3 and there was a fairly heavy frost. I don’t think anything was damaged. Today Anne and I worked on planting the rest of the laburnum arch. Jim had laid out all the plants in the desired design. We mainly used cyclamen, asarum and ferns. We finished this by 10:30 and continued to work on the rock garden. It is really coming along and I have spent a lot of time doing the lower path by the water. I finished the job after lunch. In the early afternoon we took delivery of 60 bags of mulch delivered by Rob. Anne and I worked together mulching the entire bed on both sides of the arch and finished up just at 4:00 though we worked through our tea break. It was gratifying to see this completed and the plants really stand out against the mulch. The laburnum is just starting to put out blossoms and I know it will look stunning when it does. Pictures today show the mulched arch and the laburnum in blossom.
On short notice I had invited any of the staff who wanted to go to the Selsey Arms at 6 when they open. Shirley, Brian and Anne were able to go and we enjoyed a couple of drinks and had some friendly conversation. At 7:30 I was back at the house and had another good meal. Nigel and Cathy and I watched Chelsea vs. Barcelona in the first leg of a two game soccer match in the world championship It was a 0-0 tie and they played an extra 6 minutes. This game was in Barcelona and the next game is in May here at home. I must admit to falling asleep part way through the game and may have missed about 30 minutes of it. Off to bed at 11:00
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