I try to keep the labels of the plants that I buy.  I try to then log them into a book.  I try to remember where I have planted the said plant.  I try.  The trouble is I wait till I have quite a few labels by which time I could have forgotten where I planted them.  I have started to make a note when planting but I have a tendency at this time of year to move things about and not to make a note of that!  When we first arrived here a bought a great many plants, all of which were new to me, and they were delivered here in one go.  I did not keep a record of what I had ordered but felt that I would keep records and I planted each plant and kept the label.  All went well, plants arrive (all with labels) and were stacked by the greenhouse till the following day when they were to be added to the then new long boarders.  When I came out to plant them I found my 6 month old Doberman sitting on the lawn surrounded by labels!  In fact she had removed every single label from every single pot, all 32 of them.  

I must say sorry to anyone who logs into our site and find that some time the pictures are missing.  We have been having trouble with the Server.  They were working on the site a few weeks ago and since then the pictures go missing with remarkable regularity.  They do have a very good support team who are able to get things up and running again but as I appear to have problems most times I update the site, now the support team and I are practically on first name terms!

I spent this morning doing a talk about opening our garden for the NGS.  It was very well received and great fun to do, however this meant that the under gardener and I have had a day off so it will be back to work tomorrow.  With the sun light now not holding the warmth it had I shall be removing the shading from the greenhouse.  This will of course mean that I shall have to clean all those windows. 

Before we moved here in 2004 I would go every Wednesday to a talk given in what is called "the garden room" at a then local garden centre on the Stratford Road in Shirley.  They are part of a large group and a very big concern.  However, every Wednesday the same collection of keen gardeners gather to listen to talks and demonstration about gardening.  This is followed by a cut price cup of coffee and a sticky bun!   I sent an invitation to those I know best when we opened the garden back in June and was delighted that when the under gardener returned from putting up the NGS signs reported that he had bumped into a group from Notcutts.  I was amazed just how many of that gardening group found time to come and support us on the day and you can say that I was pretty gob smacked when I was invited to go there to give a talk on opening the garden.  Well tomorrow is the day.  I have made my notes which are now all on "q" cards and downloaded photos to add to the talk.  When I was working I took many seminar presentations but this is very different.  I might know a bit about what I am talking about but this time the audience is not being paid to listen to me, so I had better get it right.  Time I think for a little presentational practise so I shall go and talk to the roses while I continue to tidy the terrace garden for the inspection of visitors this weekend.  The under gardener is clearing the final damsons away in the orchard so that we can mow the grass on Friday.  Wish me luck for tomorrow. 

I started stripping some of the pots which stand on the steps into the gravel garden today.  The under gardener thought that this was sad, but I think of this time of year as the right time to start reflecting on what has worked well and correct what has not.     

 I turned out the leaf bin a couple of days ago and divided the three years worth of leaf compost to the four other bins and gave it a good mix up.  The leaf bin is now empty all but, however more importantly it is ready to re-filling.  It has been a dull day here and we have been doing lots of little jobs.  I have been planting sweet williams and forget me nots and the under gardener has been harvesting the cooking apples from an old tree which stand in front of the cottage.  Those which have not been deemed suitable for us, neighbours or the milk man have just been fed to the sheep in the adjacent fields.  I must say that today has been the first time that with a moody sky and leaves both turning and falling to the ground I can say it is starting to feel like Autumn.

The job a like the least is washing all the plastic pots.  I do feel that a great deal of time is spent in the mind numbing job and today is no exception.  There is a gentleman who works for Kew or some parks department who has been given an OBE by The Queen for doing this job for 50 years!  I feel he deserves a Knighthood!

It is at this point of the year that I have to fight hard to resist the temptation to do some very serious tidying up.  As things go over I want to rush in and cut them to the ground.  Not for me the practise of leaving things standing so that they might be "caught" by the frost.  I am much too tidy for that.  There is still a good deal of colour in the garden, however things like the Pot Marigold have started to look very leggy and the Nasturtiums I have all ready started to pull up. We are going to put in a new boarder in October and also extend the shrubbery that is in the orchard and I am itching to get going.  Lifting and dividing is high on my list of things to do and to try to correct some of the mistakes of this year.  The new boarders will feature on the web pages as we work on them so look out for the results.

I have spent the last few weeks collecting seeds and drying them in the greenhouse.  When dry they are stored till needed in brown envelopes.  However I have a bad habbit of leaving some of the seeds so long I can no longer tell what the burnt offerings are and have to start again.  I do save quite a bit on seeds this way and it provides a good deal of "free" plants which we can sell for the NGS or at our local gardening club.  Some of the seeds I sow in grow bags which I find works well and I have no dedicated seed beds in the garden, thought I did spot some Sweet Williams for sale yesterday obviously grown straight into pots to be planted out without splitting and have decided to try this next year. Well the rain has stopped here and I think that I shall be able to squeeze a quick hour into the garden before supper.  The under gardener has been playing squash today (silly old fool) and has retired to watch deal/no deal.

As head gardener I have only just started to work on the web site and I do hope that all who see it will enjoy our endeavours.  However having got my head around this part of the technology I thought I would turn my hand to the blog.  I suppose this is the 21st centuary equivelant of keeping a diary and keeping a diary I was never very good at but as I love the computer perhaps this will be a better effort.  Time will tell.