Ripley Carnival

The Ripley Carnival is a large celebration of several thousands of people set in the small village of Ripley with a population of 2,000.  Which from my research is the birth place of Eric Clapton.  Our day began with getting our float ready for the parade.  We drew on our pumpkins rather than carving them because we ran out of time and the candles would not have stayed lit in the parade.  In the picture is Leila my roommate designing one of the pumpkins.  After that we took all of our supplies to work to put the float together.  We borrowed a tractor and trailer from work and you can see the trailer empty before we started.  Leila and I made the two grave stones seen on the float this past week using boxes and paper mache it really took me back to the good old days.  Some of the trainees from the other houses made the cauldron and the broom sticks.  It was quite the float when we got it done.  We stated throwing things on the float and it really came together.  The group went with a halloween theme and it really came together with their float and the costumes. 

 We all met up and walked the half hour to Ripley as a group and found our float and float driver.  As we came in we saw the bonfire already set up just a massive pile of wood and sticks.  Also the carnival was all set up with rides and food stands.    Once we got there we had to wait forever for the parade to actually start but once it did we walked along side the float handing out candy and Wisley apples to the crowd.  We were near the end of the parade which was about 10 floats and went about five blocks small parade to our standards and by the end the crowd was overtaking us walking to the bonfire.  Right after the parade they lit the massive bonfire which burned for hours.  We walked around the carnival I got some cotton candy.  We went on a ride and then the fireworks started so we went to watch them and once they were over made our way to the bonfire we sate around it for a while and then headed back home.  It was a little chilly last night about 40 degrees but we bundled up and standing by the fire was quite nice.  It was a long cold walk in the dark but the night was so much fun it was worth it.    

Making History

I got my first experience in mowing english lawns and boy it didn't dissapoint.  My first mowing job was helping to mow the very important canal borders.  They are one of the first views visitors get when entering the gardens.  The picture to the right shows one of the two long panals that lines the canal.  Usually the panals are cut with a stripe panal however with the river of cornus we installed last week in formal on the canal landscape they wanted to try a new pattern that continued that feeling into the grass cutting.  This is only the second time that the canal panals have been cut in a pattern other than the straight line stripe pattern.  So we cut a nice relaxed wave into the panal.  We used our honda push mowers with rollers on the back to create the different colors.  Depending on which way you were headed up or down the bed determined if you got the dark green or the white.  It took me a while to get the hang of it but working with my supervisor Dave he helped me and gave me some pointers.  There was only one hicup on the end of the panals the formal department had just stuck in some pansies into the beds.  I didn't stop the mower soon enough and I ended up with my mower in the newly installed pansy bed.  Luckily I shut off the mower blades soon enough that I didn't suck up any of the pansies so I didn't damage any of the pansies.  I quickly covered my tire marks and carried on.  Dave my supervisor who was right behind me reassured me that it happens to everyone which made me feel a little better.  I just had to laugh at myself though at least me and the mower didn't end up in the canal which there was a pretty good chance of happening.  Dave and I got a laugh out of it at least.  After finishing the two panals we went up and took a look at our mirror panals and they look great.  It is cool to take the ideas/theme of the bedding and capture it in the turf.  Next we headed to the top terrace the other main enterance that visitos see upon entering the garden.  I got to work on my own after getting a quick overview as to what they wanted to be done.  I'm not the fastest mower or the neatest but for being new to the whole push mowing patterns it wasn't half bad.  The mowers are very nice but a little difficult to manuver.  It was cool to see all of the mowing come together you don't really appreciate the pattern while you are creating it but once you can look back at it it is quite something.  After finishing the push mowing we had some left over sod so we went to repair a patch in seven acres.   First we prepared the site which is one of the most important parts of turf repair.  We stripped the old pour turf and scraped of the dirt which was ground in with gravel.  Then we put down our top soil and got our sod pieces laid out.  Then we placed the sod down and forked up the good sod around it and neatly tucked them together to help keep it in place.  I worked with Dan most of the afternoon repairing he sod and finishing the mowing.  Below you can see Dan mowing another pattern in one of the drop down beds with another river themed turf pattern.  Also there are several pictures of our turf repair.     

 

Sloppy Straw

 
The weekend was nice I went to the taste of autumn festival early Saturday before the crowds arrived I bought a squash which I hope to bake for a thanksgiving dinner here in England.  The squash was grown by the gardens trials team the pumpkin to the right was at their stand.  The trials team grows different cultivars of certain crops or flowers to rate them on certain qualities.  I bought a bon bon buttercup spuash which is a sweet winter squash.  Saturday afternoon I went on a girls day out with my roomies and we did a little shopping.  Sunday I went with Leila to the gardens to collect plant material for a plant indentification test.  Well today was my first day in the turf department.  The first thing we did was move some large square bails of straw that were not used during the taste of autumn to a covered area.  It was quite difficult not having small enough equipment to fit into the small polytunnel we put it in but having large enough equipment to handle the large bails.  Everyone was quite impressed with my pallet fork directing skills.  One of the guys said you must have done that before yah I just thought to myself nope not my first rodeo! Thanks Dad for the mad pallet fork skills turns out my farm knowledge has come in handy!  The rest of the day was spent raking up all of the straw we threw down last week to try and protect the turf.  The straw did a pretty good job protecting the turf but it is a pain to take back up.  Below are a few pictures of some of the damage that was done to the turf and beds from the taste of autumn.  After getting up the bulk of the big stuff we went through and blew it with the leaf blower to get the smaller stuff as well as attempting to fluffy and air the turf.  You could tell the difference the turf we treated is looking pretty good.  We still have a lot of straw to get up.  My supervisor said today he wanted to be done by Friday I hope he ment with repairs not straw because I don't think I could handle four more days like today.  I really enjoyed my first day on turf everyone is really friendly and my supervisor has really made an effort to get to know me, help me, and he seems really interested in teaching me what he knows. 

Colorful Cornus

Hey
Just finished my last week in the formal department.  Tuesday was spent doing fall clean-up in the famous mixed borders of Wisley.  We dug out dahlias for overwintering as well as cutting back perennials. 















Wednesday moning was spent spreading stray because the night before we had quite a bit of rain and there was standing water all over the place and the taste of autumn started that day and with a lto of the public walking around we needed to try and protect the grass.  So an all call went out to the garden to bring your barrow and your pitch fork because there was straw that needed spreading.  Everyone worked for most of the morning trying to get the grounds ready for our guests.  The rest of the day intailed digging out trachystemon and replanting them. 

Thursday morning I worked in the herb garden doing I fall clean up and the afternoon I volunteered with a special show that is going on right now at the gardens called taste of autumn it show cases the fruit and vegetable department and all they have grown this season.  Also the trails department sells pumpkins and gourds they are testing out.  So I got to help out in the apple tasting booth where I cut apples for customers to taste test before they bought.  It was a lot of fun interacting with the public and I learned a lot about apples along the way.  There was also an apple press there so I got to taste some of wisley apple cider which wasn't bad considering I'm not a huge apple cider fan. 

Today was a rainy day quite dreary but we were getting the canal ready for bedding next week the design calls for a river of cornus to create a backdrop for the bellis that is going in.  So most of today I spent plugging sticks/twigs into the ground.  It was quite the site when we were done we got lots of compliments and questions. 

Did someone say bamboo?

 Monday morning in formal was a little dull with rototilling and raking beds for planting however the afternoon was the highlight of the day.  I went to a masterclass for trainees on pruning and caring for bamboo.  So I spent my afternoon in the wild garden pruning bamboo.  We took out all the dead bamboo canes from the columns.  Some of the canes broke off, others could be cut with a loppers, and some had to be cut with a special handsaw.  Once the columns were in good shape we had to dig a trench around the base of each one to cut any roots that were growing out horizonatlly and would spread the clump where it was not desired.  I managed to find what seemed like every root on my clump.  Once a root was found it was then lopped off.  It was a very fun afternoon.  The weather wasn't bad today either.  Some of the pictures are of us forking a trench around the bamboo clump looking for the roots and below it is a root that I dug out and cut.  And the other picture is of some of the canes we removed. 

First week of Formal

 Hey Everyone
One week down in Formal and man was it an interesting week.  Monday was a nasty day it just poured so all the trainees went to the seed department to clean seeds it was interesting but got a little dull after a while.  We got to use seives and an asperator to seperate the seeds.  It was nice to be dry and out of the rain.  Tuesday we started installing the winter bedding scheme in the walled garden and we continued that into Wednesday we barely finished but we managed to finish with half an hour left on Wednesday.  We started Wed morning by continuing to install all the plants we had laid out on Tuesday.  After all the plants were installed then we had to go back through the beds and plant the spring bulbs in amongst the pansies.  Then finally once all the bulbs were popped in we tidied up the area and we were finally done.  You can see the final result in the pictures below.  I have also included some pictures of where I am staying so you can get an idea of my living quarters.  Thursday I spent working in what is known as the AGM borders where plants that have recieved the AGM- award of garden merit are planted.  It is a border that highlights plants that have been trialed and selected as good plants and cultivars.  They stand out amongst other plants similar to it and are planted for their hardiness, color, or other special quality.  We worked on cleaning up the beds and removing plants and cutting them back for winter.  Friday morning was spent cleaning up leaves and such to make the formal parts of the garden look cleaner.  After the clean up we got ready for some planting.  We replanted some pots at the garden enterance and around the canal.  About 3:00 on Friday out of no where a big black cloud rolled in and started dumping some pretty heavy rain and all the sudden it started hailing it lasted about five minutes and then it stopped and the sun came out again.  And yes there was a rainbow! and I managed to get a faint picture of it.  Enjoy I did it was a nice end to my first week on formal. 

Violas Violas

 Well the weather cooperated with us today the rain let up and we were able to install our winter bedding scheme.  We were working in the walled garden you can just see the hedge and the walls in the background of the pictures.  The theme is black and white but we got blue violas instead but we went ahead anyway with our millions of blue and white violas.  There are phormiums as well in the beds and there will be more stems added to the beds to add more vertical intrest as well as some color contrast.  So you can see through the picture progression we started out the day with empty beds and you can see what we ended up with at the end of today.  They are not done but all the plants are in place.  The first step was to create the edge for all the beds then lay a border of plants to that line and then the rest of the plants could be filled in inside.  We used our trowl to measure plant distances it was very important so all of the beds looked uniform.  It took most of the day to place all of the plants and after lunch we started to plant the violas.  So tomorrow we will pick up planting the rest and hopefully we will finish tomorrow!  I have been asked numerous times since I have been here where I am from and I respond from the states and then they ask where in the states I respond Wisconsin and they then ask is that near Canada because you have a bit of a Canadian accent.  This has happened to me several times and by now I just laugh no I'm not from Canada and the funny thing is we Wisconsinites often make fun of the Canadians for their accent.  How funny.  Hope everything is well where you are and look for something later in the week.  Dani