Exciting, Challenging and Relaxing - Three Very Different Days.

I've just had 2 weeks off work - I didn't go away but I did do lots of things.

The most exciting thing I did was a 20m tree climb.  Using ropes, knots and karabiners I climbed right into the tree canopy.

The tree was a 30m high, 200yr old sycamore in Marks Hall Arboretum

I'm the circled one, about to go through the canopy!

Once we'd got to the top (there were 6 adults and 2 children in my group, including the curator of Marks Hall), we did a free-fall abseil back down to earth.  This is where you don't put your feet on anything but control the descent through the ropes (picture the SAS climbing down a rope from a helicopter) - it was amazing.

The most challenging thing I did was to make a new deck for in front of my shed.  The old one was made of pallets and was rotting.

The reason I need a deck here is because underneath it is a big hole.  A old brick lined drainage chamber (old cess pit) which dates from when the houses were first built and before they were connected to the main sewer.

It's about 15ft deep and is not what you want to fall into (although it was very useful for chucking the old rotting wood into!).

It was challenging as the normal way of constructing a deck wouldn't work as there wasn't enough solid ground to lay the joists on, but I persevered and adapted as I went along and this is the finished result - it's very solid and looks good too (though I say it myself!).

The most relaxing thing I did was visit Wicken Fen - I'd not been for many years and it was just as lovely as I remembered it.  I took a boat trip along Wicken Lode where we watched dragonflies darting all around.

It was a glorious day and I went for a long walk - ending up at the mere before returning back to the visitor centre.

I also visited Fen Cottage, which is one of the last remaining buildings of the hamlet that once existed by the reserve.

It's constructed of local materials including peat, wood, sedge. reed and clay, all of which would have been harvested from the fen.

It was occupied until 1972 and has been restored pretty much to how it was when the last people lived in it.

The cottage gardens are gorgeous!

It was a lovely, relaxing way to end my fortnight off.

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Going, Going, Gone.

At the bottom of my garden is my veg garden and beyond the veg garden was a tree.  A beautiful paper bark cherry with coppery peeling bark.

It was here when I moved in and has grown steadily ever since.  It had got big.  Too big.  It was casting shade over the entire veg garden and had reached 1/2 way across my neighbour's garden too.

Sadly I made the decision that it had to go.  It's never easy deciding to get rid of a tree, especially a beautiful tree, but there was no other feasible option.

I started by taking the canopy out and immediately the light flooded back into the garden.

It was at this point that I realised that cutting the canopy out had done some damage to the tendons in my elbow and I was going to need help to finish the job.

Cue handy friend who came round and sawed the rest of it down.

I now have a bench that I can use again as it's not totally shaded, a sunny veg garden and a large pile of logs to deal with - when my arm is better and I can lift them that is.

After the Storm

Yesterday's storm passed through here with very little immediate effect - a few branches down in the street and that was about it.  But a 5 min walk to the river Stour today showed just what power it had.

Willows have been cracked and snapped.

Some have already been cleared from the path and cut up - left for wildlife to snuggle down in during winter I hope.

But it wasn't just willows that were damaged, across on the other bank a broader leaved tree (an alder I think) has had a limb snapped and is resting in the river.

I was pleased to see that the swan family were ok, although there was only 1 adult around today (if you enlarge the picture you might be able to see the now rather large cygnets in the background).

Today everything had returned to a restful calm.

The trains are still not running and there was no sign of anyone clearing the branches up from the line (I guess as a single track branch line we don't have priority) - I wonder how long it will be before they're back?

I hope you all survived the storm ok.

Autumn's Arrived.

Autumn appears to have arrived.  It's not my favourite season.  I do love the colours that it brings, but what I don't like is that it heralds the dark, cold days of winter.

Today though was all about colours.

The Snake Bark Maple looked as if it was just starting to turn into its fiery autumn colours,

but then I looked more closely.  It's not the leaves that are turning red, it's the seed pods.

I've never noticed them do this before.  The tree is absolutely dripping with them this year.  Is it because its getting older, or is it to do with the weather?  I don't know, but they are magnificent whatever the cause.

In the front garden the verbena is also full of seeds.  They are snuggling underneath the flower, again I'd never noticed this before (maybe I've just had my eyes closed before?).

And the clematis seed heads are wonderful as always,

as are the skeleton leaves on the hydrangea.

But I'll leave you with a close up of those amazing pink maple seed pods.

Isn't nature wonderful.

It's That Green Time Of Year

It's the time of year when everything is green isn't it?  Everywhere I look in my garden is the bright green of spring.

Top Row:  Cerinthe, Box, Feverfew

Middle Row:  Choisya, Euphorbia, Philadelphus

Bottom Row:  Heuchera, Fern, Campanula

And hiding amongst the green leaves are poppy buds full of the promise of beauty still to come.

(This is actually one I don't remember planting and has appeared next to one that is normally orange flowered.  I guess it will all be revealed soon!)

And remember these trees in Elvedon Forest in the autumn?

Well today they looked like this - all green and young and new.

My favourite avenue of trees, and an extra bonus was that it wasn't raining and I didn't get mown down by passing traffic!

A Pittosporum No More

When I moved in I inherited a very tall tree-like pittosporum, in the centre behind the table in the picture below.

before (2008) - doesn't the garden look narrow?

Over the last 2 years I've had to periodically cut branches off that were too low or causing too much shade.  This year I wanted to let more light into the garden without having to loose my lovely snake bark maple, so I decided the pittosporum had to go.  I used various brute force and ignorance techniques with extendable loppers, a step ladder and, once most of the height had been reduced, an electric saw.  It took the whole afternoon, and was much taller than I'd realised (between 15 and 20 foot), but I had a great feeling of satisfaction when I finally sawed through the trunk at ground level.  

I can't even attempt to get the roots out so I've painted the stump with stump killer.   This whole area of the garden is so much lighter now, and I hope that the plants will be much happier.  I will add some height with an obelisk that a clematis can grow up, but that's a whole other tale! 

after (Aug 2010) - no tree and the garden seems wider!