Bountiful Garden

Well, dear reader, the kitchen garden has been most productive, if I say so myself. I have kept a close council with the Head Gardener, visiting the estate whenever my busy schedule will allow, and over the weeks watched the beds burgeon. The gardeners have been most diligent in their attentions, particularly through the hot weather, and oh my, my these ministrations have proved bountiful. Why last evening my female guardian did return with a basket filled to the very brim and more with  produce; lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, salad potatoes, cabbage, plums, baby carrots, tomatoes, french beans and so much more.

The potatoes have been lifted, as have the large harvest of red and white onions - now all set out to dry. The pumpkins, much prized during the November festivities, are coming along nicely, as are the squash, leeks, and so forth. I can only marvel at the productivity for a garden in this its first year . It has to be said that the gardeners are a most jovial bunch, going about their work with a keeness that is most becoming. They think nothing of a hard day in the garden only sustained by a cup of the finest English tea and a little sweet morsel of something prepared in the estate kitchens to keep them going.

 

My brother and I have, for our part, spent some time reviewing the estate as a whole, thinking ahead to the next season and preparing. Still in the garden, we have prepared the gardeners for the next task which will be the hedges along our boundaries with our neighbours. Some will merely need trimming but others will need renewing. Much discussion and costing is underway, as well as walking of the estate boundary, which in clement weather, can be most refreshing. However, much as it pains me to note, the evenings are becoming cooler and drawing in much earlier; My brother and I find comfort and warmth together at the end of the day after our work is complete.