Catching Up here, at home and with you all

I don't want to bore you to tears with nursery updates all the time, even if it is exciting, we are working so hard and making such a difference already and really enjoying it. We are weeding the planted beds and finding the plants there, filling in gaps then top dressing with bark to minimise weeding and my work load. We have more tables built waiting to be filled with plants as I get them sorted and tidied. David build a water feature using the troughs and wood we had on site, more of that later. I have been doing lots of propagating which will replace all the dead plants there were and give us lots of new fresh stock for next year. But other things happen too (not much at the moment ha ha) but there is life beyond the nursery.......

The office and sales area with bunting up

I am enjoying the 15 to 20 minute commute to the nursery, it is so easy and through beautiful countryside, a relaxing way to begin and end the day. I am loving the cow parlsey with it's frothy white flowers along the verges.

Cow Parsley in flower on the way to work

After several weeks of working every day, working hard to get the nursery tidied and back up and running we decided to take a day off, officially the nursery is closed on a Monday and Tuesday, so that we can take a break. It ended up being a bit of a bus man's holiday! After a much needed long lie we headed off to look at a new job David has to survey a derelict nursery about 15 miles from home. It was good to get away some where different, much as I love my own nursery, and a chance to take some photos of somewhere else.

One of the two ranges of derelict glasshouses

One of the boiler houses that heated the glasshouses

Inside and out Mother nature is taking over and taking back

Looking back along past the boiler houses

There were plenty wild flowers too, wild roses and orchids, forget me nots and Vinca gone wild.

Orchids and Forget me nots were every where

Lots of lovely flowers amongst the derelict glass houses

After David had done the necessary work we headed south to a reclamation yard we knew of to hopefully buy some stuff for the nursery, which ended up being closed that day, sadly no opening hours or contact detail on website. C'est la vie, instead we ended up at my favourite nursery (apart from my own of course!) We had a lovely lunch on the terrace in the sunshine, feeling like we were in Italy not Cumbria. That is the beauty of Larch Cottage nursery, it it unique, quirky and transports you away some where else. It is definitely somewhere to aspire to. We had a wander around the gardens and nursery in the welcome sunshine and I bought a few plants for me. If you are ever near Penrith this is definitely a place to  visit and spend time. Here is a previous blog I wrote about our visit there in February this year.

The cat was enjoying a sunny spot in the nursery too

Lunch on the terrace at Larch Cottage Nursery

An Italian style corner of the nursery

In the shade plant sales area

The restaurant and terrace at Larch Cottage

The Paeonia beds and glasshouse

The new vegetable garden

In other news oldest son heard he got an A pass for his HND in Mechanical engineering, now he just needs to find a job, not an east task in this day and age. Youngest is finished up for summer, seven weeks of summer holiday. He came into the nursery with me today and did a lot of potting up, excellent work and lots of propagating done too, I was tidying and dividing plants and he was potting them, team effort. 

I have been adding to the seating area at the nursery, a perfect spot to sit and enjoy the view and plants

I can now add pig herding my list of skills as twice I helped chase one, the same one from the nursery yesterday. He decided the shade was better on our side of the fence and when I arrived at work yesterday morning Heather was trying to get him out and back round to the field. We eventually got this bad piggy back where he belonged. An hour or so later I was weeding one of the borders at the side of the entrance track to the nursery when I glanced up, only to see Mr piggy trotting back down the farm track and up into the nursery, despite my best efforts he was back under the hedge and spent most of the day there. After lunch which we had in the cafe with David's daughter who was out to visit he was on the move and eating. Damned if he was going to have my plants! So the three of us eventually managed to get him back in the field and he hasn't been back since (that I know of). 

These are the only pigs I'd be happy to see in the nursery, these were at Larch Cottage

The past couple of days have been really hot, too hot for me, it is nice to have summer weather but with the humidity and such high temps I can't cope. It was such a relief to get home for a shower, especially as my hayfever is kicking off. Typically the heating is playing up, we have temperatures of 25C and the heating comes on with the hot water despite being switched off for summer, the radiators don't have individual valves to tuen them off either! I emailed the estate agent we are renting through on Sunday evening but haven't heard anything, guess who is getting a phone call tomorrow.

Hope you are all enjoying the summer weather and I guess I talked about the nursery a lot again didn't I?

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