A grey, dank and damp weekend but a few cheerful winter-flowering pansies, primroses, polyanthus and violas have helped brighten up our backyard - which is rather gloomy even in the better months.  I also squeezed a few additional flowers into the window-box and rescued a geranium (now in greenhouse 2).

I've also tidied up the greenhouses.

I am also in receipt of the thousands - literally - of seeds which I ordered on-line two weeks ago, and I'm now doing a 'plan' and comparing the advice of both Monty Don and Geoff Hamilton in the accompanying notes.  Get me!?
 
  So, not bad for a horrible day in late November!

Good idea!  Especially as it's cold and wet and miserable...

Not content with the vagaries of the Christmas Festival the other thing that has taken up time and energy recently has been the initial preparations for next year’s Open Gardens (Sunday 14th June 2020).  

I may have mentioned that I have been (basically) roped-in to taking the lead on this event.  I do feel rather on the back-foot with this and it of some concern.  There is only one other person who is ‘officially’ involved so I need to encourage some volunteers to join the Committee and, rather importantly, need additional people to agree to actually open their gardens to the [nosy] general public!!  To that end, I have designed some posters and flyers and last week, popped into the monthly Winchcombe Gardening Club meeting which takes place in the Methodist Church’s hall which is secreted behind the church itself, but is still therefore in the centre of town.  
 
Well, it was a hive of activity! I spoke to two old boys on the door who were keeping a track of members and visitors, and also taking payment  of £1.00 for the evening talk on ‘Pub Signs with a Garden Theme’, and they directed me to the Chairman as they said they would get into trouble if they said I could distribute the flyers without his knowledge (bless!).  Anyway, the Chairman was a delightful chap and he has invited me to go to the December meeting (4th) when he will give me five minutes on the agenda to enable me to introduce myself and plea for volunteers, seed-and-plant gardeners and donors, garden openers, tea-and-cake-makers and helpers of any description!!  The Chairman then said the rest of the meeting would consist of eating mince-pies and singing carols?!  

​So – that should be fun!!  

​Bearing in mind I’m officially middle-aged, I was still the youngest of all the people in the hall by a good 15-to-20 years!!

​Fun and games!

Greenhouse No 1

Agapanthus, Geraniums etc. in GH2 for over-wintering

GH 2 - sweet-pea, onion and cauliflower seedlings

In between work and committee stuff I am taking the opportunity to plan for next year in the garden!  I'm still juggling my allegiance between Geoff and Monty (Hamilton and Don) (sounds like a bad mafioso film), so by combining their words of wisdom and advice, I spent a happy time ordering all my seeds for next years vegetable produce and floral 'display' (!).  I also managed to get some really good bargains - 50p each for some tomato seed packets - and free delivery.  They have been dispatched apparently so I am looking forward to organising my plan of campaign for all of the following:
​

• Feverfew 1500 seeds
• Hyssop 400 seeds
• Chamomile 1500 seeds
• Aster Carousel Blended Mix 150 seeds
• Canterbury Bells Calycanthema Mixed 600 seeds
• Morning Glory Clark's Heavenly Blue 50 seeds
• Nigella Jewels Mix 500 seeds
• Stock Virginian Mixed 1500 seeds
• Tomato Black Cherry 100 seeds
• Cucumber Burpless Tasty Green F1 Hybrid 15 seeds
• Carrot Nantes 2000 seeds
• Beetroot Boltardy 300 seeds
• Broccoli Early Purple Sprouting 500 seeds
• Tomato Alicante 100 seeds
• Carrot Amsterdam 2000 seeds
• Dwarf French Bean Tendergreen 40 seeds
• Hot Pepper - Habanero Orange 25 seeds
• Leek Musselburgh 400 seeds
• Pea Purple Podded 100 seeds
• Runner Bean Painted Lady 25 seeds
• Sweet Pepper Long Red Marconi 50 seeds
• Sweetcorn Swift F1 40 seeds

I now have to work out a sowing guide - that will be keep me occupied as I want to figure out the companion and succession planting too.

If they prove to be prolific, I might be taking orders in the spring?!
 

Here are the posters (above) and flyers (below) that I designed.  1500 of the latter have just been printed and are now distributed throughout the town and local area.

It continues to be mad at work; I won’t go into the nuts and bolts of it because it’s probably boring, but suffice to say, it’s busy-busy and there’s always lots of politics and drama and – sometimes – histrionics (and that’s just me!).  I enjoy it on the whole – but it can be exhausting juggling all the people and personalities, and quite a few egos.  Outside of work I have been busy too – as I’ve been donning my various volunteer ‘hats’. 
 
Winchcombe Christmas Festival takes place on Tuesday 3rd December (less than three weeks to go), and I recently spent two hours with my Festival partner-in-crime organising the stall placement allocations, I then spent the weekend sending out 60+ personalised emails giving stall numbers, physical location and instructions for set-up and so on.  We have one road completely closed (North Street) and then restricted parking and access on Abbey Terrace.  Altogether there will be 52 stalls and 5 catering providers, this year.  And there is also Father Christmas and his sleigh, various ‘entertainment’ posts, and the Police, First Responders and Fire Brigade also bring vehicles so the kids can get inside and see what it’s like and have a go on whatever they are allowed to do?*!  It’s quite a logistical conundrum…. and all for just three hours of trading!  All the shops and cafes / coffee-shops in the town stay open too and most of these have good Christmas tree displays (having purchased them through the Festival organisation).  It is a real community affair with the local primary school kids performing carols, and singing and playing from various choirs and bands, the Morris Men also do a bit of dancing, and I managed to get the Youth Group from the Everyman Theatre involved last year – and they are really keen to come this December too.
 
Coincidentally it has just been confirmed that two friends will be visiting from California – and they arrive on the 2nd December and leave on the 4th.  The Christmas Festival is on the 3rd!!  However, my friends (who I haven’t seen for 9 years and eighteen years+ respectively) are very easy-going and I also figure it will be a good example of UK community winter fare – and therefore a cold but cultural eye-opener for the Americans!  Winchcombe received about 2000 visitors to the Festival last year, so it should be busy again this year too.

Fingers crossed that that the weather errs on the side of “deep and crisp and even” as opposed to damp, chilly and miserable.