Friday, November 30, 2012
Ripley
Monday, November 26, 2012
Trials
I just started my second week on the trials team so far the weather has been very dreary being rainy and very windy. Much of my time has been spent tying the hybrid berry trial that is going on. We are tying them into a wire and post system to train them into a fan shape for astetic and fruiting value. It gets quite cold on the hands tying the twine around the stems but a nice cup of hot chocolate is waiting for you at break time. Another task I have been working is removing the chrysanthemum trial. The trial is finished so we had to remove the plants as well as all the posts, fencing, and plastic mesh, and irrigation used for the trial. It took all day and we still did not finish the project everything went fast until it came to ripping out the plants which took forever and was tiring work. This week started out with putting a new edge on the national rhubarb collection bed. We used a string line to make sure we got a straight edge since the beds are so long it would be tough to get a nice line otherwise. I got to use an electric leaf blower today pictured below. It also comes with another attachment an electric hedger. The unit is very expensive though between the battery and the attachment it cost around one thousand dollars. It is very powerful for being electric I was quite suprised and the battery will last you all day. Quite the piece of equipment! The bed looks so much better with the new edge on it now we just have to finish filling the holes where some of the rhubarb plants had been removed to plant elsewhere. So far trials has been great except for the exceptionally bad weather!
A very special thanksgiving
Even though I was away from my family for this thanksgiving I was able to still celebrate. With a lot of help from my amazing boyfriend Dan I was able to have my own thankgiving here in the UK. Neither of us wanted to clean a turkey so we opted for some nice chicken. We also had green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, squash, diner rolls, and baked beans. For two beginners we did very well. I attempted to make an apple pie for dessert. The pie was ok, but the meal was amazing. As we cooked we listened to some holiday toons on my computer to help get us in the holiday spirit. I was so thankful to celebrate thanksgiving with Dan, the holidays just aren't the same if you're not with the ones you love. Our first thanksgiving was a huge success and after the meal we treated ourselves to a night out at the cinema. Being the huge James Bond fan that I am I wanted to see the new Bond movie Skyfall which was awesome! We took the train to the next town over and caught the show which was in a shopping center that was decorated for the holidays. They had put up their trees and strung them with lights which signaled the begining of the holiday season for me.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Garden Museum and Kew
Last weekend I went to London again there is just so much to see and do there. On this trip I went to the museum of garden history as well as Kew gardens again. The garden museum was very interesting to see they had modern exhibits as well as some historical exhibits. They had quite the selection of old tools which was very interesting to see. They had everything from hand tools, knives, gentlemens walking sticks with various tools built on the end, apple pickers, and lawn mowers. The modern exhibit focused on new techniques that are being thought of to beautify the public transport of england like the rail system lines as well as more effective ways of using their space to grow ornamental and food crops. The museum also had a small garden in the back which featured a very nice box hedge knot. I really enjoyed the garden museum to see how the profession and the tools have changed over the years.
The trip also included another stop at Kew botanical gardens. It was nice to see it later in the season when the trees are changing and starting to drop their leaves. It is such an amazing vast garden that there was areas I saw this visit that I missed before. They had also installed the formal bedding in front of the glasshouse which was not done when I visited last time. The rock garden was looking amazing as well with its fall color.
The trip also included another stop at Kew botanical gardens. It was nice to see it later in the season when the trees are changing and starting to drop their leaves. It is such an amazing vast garden that there was areas I saw this visit that I missed before. They had also installed the formal bedding in front of the glasshouse which was not done when I visited last time. The rock garden was looking amazing as well with its fall color.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
A waffle a day keeps the doctor away?
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Fruit and Veg
This past week and a half has been spent on the fruit department doing a wide range of things. The week started out tying in raspberries which you can see from the pictures a certain knot was used to keep the canes tied in for the winter. Other tasks included preparing the bed that the national collection of rhubarb will be planted into. We propagated new root stock and removed the old root stock from a bed that is being replaced. During the week I was able to go to a talk put on by the fruit specialist as well as another member of the fruit department. The talk was on trained fruit which included both apple and pear trees. They talked about different patterns for pruning like fans and espaliers as well as pruning techniques and timing. Toward the end of the week we did some apple picking as well as the beginning of this week. We also raked the apples out from under the trees into the windrows so they could be mashed. So far fruit has been amazing and I can't wait for the rest of the week!
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Another Trip to London
Saturday was another trip to London. I got the train in around noon and was there nearly the entire day. I walked around central London. I saw this crown made out of plants. They used a plastic and metal frame and then placed plants in the frame to create this amazing specimen. I walked around St. James park and surrounding attractions like the palace, Westminster, and big ben. After that I took a tour of Picadilly Circus. It was not to hard to figure out the underground if you had you trusty map. I also went to both the victory and alber museum as well as the natural history museum. I spent nearly the entire day in London, when I returned home it was dark and I was ready for bed.
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