Young Lycidas

  

Young Lycidas

When I retired and closed my nursery down I vowed I would have lots of roses in my new garden.  Two years ago I purchased 3 Young Lycidas from David Austin Roses.  I am one of those people who want everything in a rose, it must have a very strong scent, be repeat flowering, be of "old rose" type, disease resistant, a shrubby growth and not red, orange or yellow.  Having said all that Young Lycidas seemed to fit the bill, but I have been so disappointed.  The stems carrying the flower buds grow twice or three times taller than the rest of the bush.  The flowers are large and heavy, magnificent in fact, but so heavy that the stems bend over and end up all laying across each other on top of the bush.  In desperation this year I emailed the good folk at David Austin and they tell me Y.L. is prone to do this and this year to only prune by one third which should strengthen the stems.  By now I must have forty or fifty roses in my new garden nearly all from David Austin  but this is the only one that's been a problem and I am just hoping this method of pruning will put things right.

A little help dismantling the floor of the glass house in readiness for the new garden.

A Fishy Story

Despite the forecast of imminent bad weather Heather was determined she wasn't going to miss competing in The Dale Rogers Fishing Cup.  We arrived at the river bank and she left to pick out her peg number.  Within minutes the thunder started to rumble and the lightening flashed and then it rained, not your ordinary shower by a long way, no this was more like a monsoon.  However by the time they were due to start fishing it turned out to be a dry evening.  Three hours later the whistle blew and the marshals did the rounds for the weigh in.

The final catch

Our girl was a little apprehensive because she thought her catch may have been a bit less than the previous event and it could be a close thing.  We all stood round and held our breath  while the results were announced in reverse order - and finally Heather was proclaimed winner of the Cup with a total catch of 3lb 12oz - what a girl !!!!!!!!  Another fantastic result - You are a STAR !!!!!

Presentation by The Club President

Meanwhile her biggest fan was in the audience and applauded loudly and enthusiastically as the Cup was presented and official photographs were taken.  H's baby cousin then asked politely if she could please have her photo taken with "the man" (Club President) and he kindly offered, however she then went very shy and coy and decided it would be safer to settle for a handshake with Daddy instead.

Congratulations Daddy

Fruits Of My Labours

In Spring all our fruit trees were covered in blossom, apples, pears, plums, peaches and gages and we were eagerly anticipating a bumper crop. The fruit formed and then for some reason it all fell off, it wasn't the "June Drop" it was just a total avalanche.  So now we are left with one  lovely pear, about a dozen plums,  half a dozen Cox's, Bramley's and Gages, what a joke but it's hard to be amused. My peaches are grown against a south facing wall and those that were left grew huge but when they were picked many were rotten on the back (the wall side),  probably due to all the rain.  On the bright side there were plentiful redcurrants and enough gooseberries to make some chutney and at the moment the raspberries are beginning to ripen up.  I am left wondering if other parts of the country have suffered as I have or perhaps it was just this area or even just my garden, hopefully time will tell.

This peach is Avalon Pride and does not succumb to peach leaf curl, the fruit is sweet and full of juice.

I love to just stand and look at red currants, they are perfectly round and look like clusters of shining rubies.

On a happier note the grape vines have really benefitted from all the rain, so now we just need some sunshine to ripen them and then we just need to stop the birds from getting there first.  Perhaps I won't start designing wine bottle labels just yet.

Grandad Hat

Posted by Erin - Age 3 3/4

My Grandad always wears a hat and I think it's fantastic, so much so that since I was very tiny I have always called him 'Grandad Hat'.  Tonight he gave me my very own hat to wear which is just like his and I think I look really cool.

Tonight we went out to see my cousin Heather take part in a fishing competition and Grandad and I splashed in all the puddles on the way there.  We had loads of fun.

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