Notes from a Head Gardener ~ Chapter 9 ~ Tying knots with gloves on

Rose pruning. Of all the garden tasks this is one of the most satisfying. I enjoy a puzzle. To take a jumble of stems and train them into a pleasing and ultimately floriferous form is immensely rewarding. 

With every year that passes, my adoration of the rose multiplies. 

A thorny mess......

........becomes an attractive arrangement......

......with just a pinch of knowledge, a few moments of thoughtful invisioning, several clean snips and careful tying-in. Without the bitter wind it would take but twenty-five minutes. With the unfriendly breeze, seemingly straight from Siberia, it took rather longer. My knots were clumsily tied because I could not bring myself to remove my gloves. It was of no consequence. The rose was successfully pruned and trained and my fingers remained toasty in my favourite winter gloves. A happy day indeed! 

  

Notes from a Head Gardener ~ Chapter 8 ~ All is quiet at www.nicolahope.co.uk

All is quiet on the blogpost front and I have the most marvellous excuse. I am a Royal Horticultural Society Master of Horticulture candidate. In three years time, if all goes to plan, I will be able to put the letters MHort after my name. 

Far more important than the letters is the knowledge, authority and confidence that this course will afford me. Three months in and I am surprised by how much I am enjoying academia again! The first unit, 'Horticulture Now', has sent me diving head first into research on the benefits of horticulture. The benefits are many fold. Health, both physical and mental, can be greatly improved by getting involved in gardening or even just being surrounded by green spaces. 

Reading the research is reinforcing what I already know. Being involved with horticulture on a daily basis is life enhancing. Take today for instance. A cold, dark January day. Not the most inviting, yet a few hours of rose pruning and a break in the clouds meant that by the end of my working day I was almost skipping. I cannot think of an another industry that I would rather be employed in. The Master of Horticulture course is the icing on the cake.......or rather, the hoar frost on the seed heads. I will be working my steel toe cap boots off to do the very best that I can. 

I will be blogging as much as possible. I hope that I will be so used to researching and writing that, after my course is completed, nothing will stop me spreading the horticultural word.