Norton Conyers: mowing

Sunday, 31 March 2019

Into March at Norton Conyers - 2019

This month began without ceremony. A colourless sky enveloped the cool atmosphere on the morning of the 4th of March. But walking around the gardens, further glimmers of colour were beginning to emerge. The peach trees - with their soft pink and vibrant magenta blossom - were a particular highlight, offering a stark and uplifting contrast to their dull, monotone background.

Peach blossom

But the first task of the month involved no gardening at all for me. The dull skies mirrored the lustreless scrap metal that lay in a heap in the old piggery. Giles and I were to load it into the van to be taken to the scrapyard. Although there was nothing of value amongst the scrap, each piece had a story - a purpose and place on this estate. I considered this as I loaded the van, imagining how each piece would once have been used.

Giles' van was loaded, and it was time for tea. As the van's tyres flattened slightly under the weight of this redundant rust, we all 'guessed the weight' of the metal. Giles promised a 'mystery prize' for the winner - remarking that the last 'mystery prize' he promised remains a mystery to this day...

Guesses ranged from 350 - 600kg. But after Giles and I returned from the scrapyard, it was Sharron who claimed the prize (chocolate buttons) with her on-the-nose estimate of 560kg!

Plum and Shandy enjoying the ride to the scrapyard

Back to the garden in the afternoon. The 'bigger picture' of our work is always considered by Giles; every minute at work is carefully considered, and there is always great purpose and planning in all that we do. With this in mind, last summer's drought meant that watering of the garden was a daily necessity. The garden well was quickly depleted, and this presented a problem, because many of the garden taps take water directly from the well, rather than the mains supply.

I helped Giles to connect the mains supply up with the well, ensuring the easy flow of water around the garden all the year round. On my first day working in the gardens in February 2018, a new tap was introduced into the vegetable garden; this year's work builds on this further as a crucial time-saver over the busy summer months, whilst also ensuring the whole garden is able to thrive all the year round.

Connecting the mains supply with the garden well

One of the many highlights of working at Norton Conyers last year was pollarding the White Willow (Saxis alba). Once again, we went about cutting back the fading golden russet branches. It was incredible to consider the sheer extent of the growth of the trees in that time - long, thick and healthy branches had developed since the last annual pruning.

White Willow (Saxis alba) before pollarding

Pollarding willow is a painstaking, yet therapeutic process, requiring much attention to detail and careful consideration; it is important to leave a few branches of medium thickness to 'weave' back along - training the trees into a striking linear shape.

After pollarding

In the afternoon - resourceful as ever - Giles tasked Sharron and myself to repair supports in the main border using some of the willow branches.

Giles often says, 'Rome wasn't built in a day!'. There are so many plans for the future development of the garden. But, as with life, priorities change, and plans evolve. I suppose that's the very essence and nature of gardening and land management - there is never really an 'end goal', because there is never a finishing point; instead the gardener builds on last years' successes; learns from the failures and strives for continuous improvements.

With that in mind, the mammoth task of gravelling the garden paths began this month. And a new wheelbarrow was brought in to help! In some areas, a layer of the existing surface was removed and relocated to 'build up' some of the path surfaces.

The tonnes of gravel arrived, and the paths were gradually transformed - backbreaking work; the gravel has added further brightness and refinement to the garden, whilst providing improved conditions underfoot!

With paths nearing completion and the view across the willow border unimpeded once again, the entire garden had a makeover in this month. To top it off? The first grass cut of the year.

With the previous lawnmower showing some wear and tear, Giles brought in a new machine. As I pushed the mower around the walled gardens, I could almost taste the summer in the air - having completed this task on a weekly basis during the height of last year's season.

And with the autumn and winter grass growth now cut, the garden once again felt refreshed and primed - ready for the beauty and transformation within the year ahead.

Tuesday, 8 May 2018

April Miracles - Norton Conyers, April 2018

The gap between this post and the last wasn’t intentional. Sorry if anyone(!) has been waiting for the next instalment. I’m glad to report that this post will give you a good summary of the intervening weeks and bring us up to date.
However, I also think it’s quite appropriate. The last month has seen the biggest transformation I have seen in the gardens, and surely the biggest transformation of the year.

April brought the full British spectrum of weather - we had snow, rain, a heatwave; indeed it was like a year unto itself.

Perhaps this weather was the ‘perfect mix’ for healthy Spring growth; as I write, the gardens are flourishing, and growth has been incredibly rapid.

Peach Blossom

The lawns are now being mowed once a week, and visitors are appearing regularly.
So, the weather and the flora have both undergone almost miraculous transformations. But the biggest achievement for the workers at Norton Conyers this month was the transformation of the physical space in the vegetable garden. Giles had a masterplan for new paths to be installed in this space. He isn’t one for sharing his plans however, and keeps us on our toes!!
In late March, Giles ventured off in his van, and returned with huge planks of wood and stakes. I was fairly tired, having turned manure grass for much of the day, but Giles and I shared the job of hauling them from the middle garden gate to the vegetable garden. We laid them at intervals. Perhaps I wasn’t listening properly, but I vaguely remember Giles saying something about path building at this point; up until then I thought we would be creating borders…
A series of blogs are on the way detailing the building of these paths, which, all being well could still be here in a century or so. One thing Giles is certain of - no one will ever move the foundations we laid!!