Rurry cold out there this morning

The candle in the pot is working nicely in g/h No. 1. Forgot to write down the temp but think it was about 11o.

Lots of composting to be done today, the aubs are just taking up space and are not "happening".

Got to dig in the mustard to release the garlic bed and have loads more bulbs to plant.

Think I'll just have another cuppa and fag and wait for the mist to clear first.

Losing the plot

Well not so much "losing" it as things are beginning to wind up now .... in some cases anyway.

I've still got the odd Gartenperle hanging from the basket, and am down to about half a dozen Totems. I've managed to collect at least 10 different varieties of toms for next year ... many thanks to all my benefactors. You know who you are, Lish, Superprout, Mum, MrsNesbitt.

The onion sets arrived from Dobies yesterday (Swift - early, Radar - late), so had a very pleasurable few hours measuring and marking out the plot, and then just arranging them into a neat grid before throwing a fleece on top of them. The sparrows obviously thought it was Christmas and spent a good hour trying to get them back out again, so now I have a (not so) intricate framework of sticks, string and cds to keep the little blighters off. It has worked so far.

The chillis just keep producing and ripening and the Musselburgh leeks, which we had for tea, are doing well. The mini leeks, in the same pot, not doing very well at all, but those in their own pot look good - just smaller.

The strawberry bed is finished but need to ask SS about mulching it. Should I or shouldn't I ? SS is queen of mulch, so she's the person to ask.

My one and only aubergine dropped off this morning. Guess it's just too damn cold for them now and when I get back from town today, they will be going in the bin. My yellow pepper is doing great though. Not huge but definitely looks like a pepper. I wonder if it will ever get to be a Yellow Pepper like it says on the label. The other plants are definitely producing fruit, but whether or not the sun will be around to do it's job for much longer is anyone's guess.

My honeysuckle has finally produced another two blooms ! Hoorah !! Trouble is the plant is bald until you get to the top of the arch, so the effect is lost lmao. I really have got to brush up on my pests and diseases because I'd really like it to do a bit better next year.

Through a couple of very nice people on A4A, I have finally identified which is which out of the blackcurrant and redcurrant bushes and I think I'm getting to grips with how to prune them next year. Being first year plants, I'm leaving well alone at the moment.

My second blueberry bush has just been delivered, so after going into town today, it will be a trip to B&Q to get soil for it.

What I am really pleased about atm is my Alstroemeria ligtu have actually germinated finally ! The instructions seemed quite complicated, in the warm/in the fridge etc etc. I sowed them on 18 July and now they look like this. I just hope they're big enough to withstand the winter. I may have to give them an extra fleece overcoat to keep them warm. I have another Alstroemeria in a pot in the garden which I think is pretty dainty, but the ones I really love are the bright scarlets and oranges. Next door has a lovely orange one which crept over our side of the fence. I may just dig a few up and move them to my front border. Enmasse they look wonderful. Am off in search for some scarlet ones.

Last but not least, for now, I gave my Prince of Denmark fuschias in the hanging basket a good haircut last week and took some cuttings which are happily rooting away in the g/h, but then I spotted all this happening today. Don't they know it's WINTER !

I suppose it does get pretty cold in Denmark.

Darn Sarf

Well MY pilot had the right idea, the silly sod that overrun the runway that closed Luton on Wednesday obviously didn't !

RW was great, he looked a bit tired though. I wouldn't say Milton Keynes Bowl is my favourite venue, and is a nightmare to navigate in and out of. Lost mobile/found mobile. Missed train/got taxi. The weather was really kind to us and it was a lovely day. Word of warning though, if you're short, sit up on the banks even if they do look a million miles away.

Spent a lovely couple of hours with Mum, Dad and Nan on Wednesday having missed the M25 turn off and ending up at Wembley ! We must have blinked and shot passed it.

Essential must haves when travelling. A good book ! Because of the "crash" I ended up staying another night with my daughter and spent all day at the airport on Thursday sitting in the carpark in glorious sun reading. Finally got home Thursday evening totally shattered and quite emotional. I shall write to easyJet about my stress.

A bit blowy out there

and I'm flying south in a couple of hours. Don't like the look of it at all !

Let's hope the rain doesn't follow us, much as I want to see Mr Williams, I don't fancy standing out in the middle of MK Bowl in lashing rain.

On the upside, everything looks as if it's held in place and everything outside is getting a good watering. No obvious storm damage that I can see (but then it is still dark lol).

Will just keep my fingers crossed that the pilot knows what he's doing. :-)

Work is for horses

but playing in the garden all day is great fun!

Up at the crack of dawn and an early visit to B&Q to get improving stuff for the onion bed. Couple of hours digging that in and raked over a couple of bags of manure to form a perfect square of virgin soil. Didn't help of course when I cut the hedge and the leaves went everywhere lol.

Washed down the two mini g/h with a dose of Jeyes, moved ickle mini into ickle grand g/h to provide extra insulation for the overwintering babies. Staging arrived for No. 1 g/h so erected that and repositioned all the peppers and smaller chillis. Looks fab and there's so much extra space now that things are off the floor.

Moved the bird table and now the little darlings are chucking seed all over the patio, but they're so close you could touch them, and they don't seem to mind me pointing a camera at them. Not that I got one pic today worth printing, but not to worry.

I think I have a visitor in the cupboard under the stairs where the birdseed is kept though as I found lots of shredded black plassie bag mixed in with the seed. Something tells me Mr Mouse is up to his old tricks again. Ah well as long as I don't see him (or grab him when I put the jar in to get the seed out) I don't much mind ........... today anyway. I'll save that clearing out adventure for when the OH is otherwise unoccupied and he can tackle the beast lol.

Spoke to a lovely woman for funding for the deck. Which floor are you on ? Ah yes, the ground floor, would be a bit silly wanting a deck if you were higher up eh ? Cooked tea (that's a first) for when the OH walked through the door.

Now off to pack and get seeds ready for mum and photos printed for nan who I'll be seeing on my lightning visit down south to see Robbie W with my kid. Not seen any of them since March ! That's a whole half year ago :-O. Doesn't time fly when you've got a shovel in your hand.

Cheerie bye.

Right, now where are the onions ?

Yesterday was another day of digging, moving, composting, tidying, and washing.

The two lavender bushes, and honeysuckle, the final remaining residents of the ex wildlife flower garden were rehoused. The lavenders have gone in the front border which I can now dig down to a reasonable depth, and the honeysuckle to a pot until I can work out where I want it. I took a few cuttings of one of the lavenders and put them in the cold frame so see how they get on.


So with the aid of my big strong man, we created the edges of the onion bed from left over patio door accessories kindly donated by Mr Window man. OK, white is hardly attractive in a garden, but free is free and it won't rot !

The new corner was squared off and dug up, but that has made the bed really heavy soil again so I can see another trip to B&Q today to get some improver/manure and then it will just be a matter of waiting for the onion sets and garlic to drop through the letterbox. My garlic came to not a lot this year (planted late on a whim), so this year they're going to get a good long time sitting in the cold.

Mr Robin has disappeared for the last couple of mornings, but I've been invaded by tits on the feeders today. As much as I love my sparras, I do enjoy it when the tits return (blue and coal this morning) and yesterday a pigeon got a rare treat when I dropped one of the seed feeders ! I never put loose seed out anymore because we get flocks of pigeons pooping everywhere, so this was his one chance in a million to scrabble amongst the bark for his breakfast. Something weird is happening with the sparras today tough, whereas they usually sit in the hedge before flying onto the feeders, this morning they're sitting on the overhead cables, taking a leaf out of the tit's book maybe ? I've not seen the mog yet today, but they're obviously wary about something.

Some of the strawberry plants went into their new bed but there are still some fruiting in the other pot, so I'm going to leave it until they've finished before completing the job. The the two beds of mustard are coming along nicely and really do create a solid ground cover keeping out the weeds. The early PSB is still struggling along but not really producing very much. It's been nibbled to shred by some varmint, but I'm just going to leave it be atm, it's bed is already earmarked for the broadies next season so it won't hurt to leave it and see how far it progresses.

My slight sniffle is turning into a full blown cold now (grrrrrrrrr), am almost totally deaf in one ear which keeps ringing and popping alternatively. And I'm due to fly on Tuesday morning, so I'm less than chuffed with that.

I made a start on the small g/h. I had half the base as bark,
and half gravel (as I'd run out of gravel when I was laying it) so removed all the bark in preparation for my big bag of gravel coming on Thursday. I'll give the whole innerds a good old splash about with Jeyes fluid before putting up the bubble wrap and that will be one cosy room done for the chillis which are still ripening, slowly but surely. I'll definitely over winter at least a couple to get an early start next year to tide me through until all my new ones are ready .......... and I've got loads of new ones to try thanks to my very kinds mates on A4A. I have still to complete the Gardeners World survey for the Numex Twilight as I still haven't harvested any yet, but I've got until mid-October I think so just hope my babies hurry up and ripen before the closing date.

Totems are still producing nicely. Going to have to eat some today though as the fridge is getting full to bursting. Aubs are producing flowers like mad now, but sadly I still think it's too late to get a crop. I'll not give up on them just yet as I really can't face washing out any more pots! I have spied one wee green pepper forming in the big g/h though and am looking forward to seeing how big that gets. I wasn't religious enough in recording the sowing and labelling of the peppers but I'll start everything off in March next year and do the job properly next time.

Now I've got to attack a mountain of paperwork before allowing myself to go and play. I don't know where it all comes from, I think it must self propogate !!!

Oh yes, and the mighty Lions lost again yesterday. Now there's a shock !

There's only so much you can write about digging

But I do find it strangely therapeutic ! The onion bed needed finishing, but as it was raining quite heavily for most of yesterday, nothing much got done outside. I guess we can look forward to more of the same over the next few months.

Got loads of seeds in the post from some friends I've not yet met, so have a wonderful selection of toms and peppers for next year. I was even sent a little Boule de Turquie intact as the sender hadn't had time to dry the seeds. A most attractive seed holder !

I've ordered a tonne of gravel to be delivered next week while I'm on my hollibobs, so at least one of the greenhouses will have their base finished by Thursday. I've got two lots of staging coming for the big g/h too, so that's another part of the jigsaw complete.

AND most excitingly, Mr Window man phoned with a quote for the decking, which wasn't too far off what I'd budgetted for, so am going to phone the nice mortgage people and get to see them next week too. This really has been an exciting year, a million miles away from last years gloomy one.

But the biggest news of the week is that we got tickets to see The Killers in November! They were our fave band of last year, and tickets are already on ebay for ridiculous amounts. So the OH got a big pat on the back for that one.

One last day at work today, which will be manic, and then a lovely long 11 day break which sees a quick visit to London on Tuesday (for Robbie W.) and then Wednesday to visit the rellies before flying back up the road to potter in the garden. Idyllic.

Ain't life grand ?

Things that go bump in the night

The upstairs wean managed to wake me up at about 5am this morning obviously needing to climb in beside her mum. grrrrrrrr :-)

It's been very damp and humid the last few days. My sage was suffering from just beginning to appear mouldy spots, so I removed the affected leaves and left it outside. Will see if that clears it up.

Aubs have plenty of flowers now but not setting fruit as far as i can see. Perhaps I should give up on them this year after all. OK maybe in another week.

The peppers are just starting to set fruit but lord knows if they'll reach any edible size. Totems still producing some fine specimens. I've taken to having tomatoes and phili on toast for my breakfast at work. Nice. The remaining Gartenperles have started going mouldy on the occasional fruit so I'm having a double daily inspection. I suspect they will end up in the bin at the weekend. It's not as if I haven't got enough to last us a while.

All the courgettes have been discarded to the bins now. I had a final cutting of two, but nothing else what happening, so I've been busy disinfecting pots and chocks ready for .... well, anything ! The green manure mustard is growing away nicely. The yellow lilies are finally going over, although there are still a few as yet unopened blooms. And the bulbs are still not in the front border. Best laid plans eh ?

Where did the sun go ?

Still under the duvet I suspect. Soooooo dark this morning, just to add to the impending gloom of the getting closer every day winter. Don't like it one little bit.

I had a good old clear out of the country garden bed yesterday. I was surprised how easy everything came out. Very shallow roots. I was having to skirt around the Cosmos cos I really would like to see it bloom before it gets consigned to the bin (which are filling up quickly again).

The country garden is currently a quarter circle bed outside no. 1 g/h. This will shortly be squared off and edged (with stuff the very nice window man left behind) so I can sling the onions in there in nice pretty regular rows. I've got to find new homes for the two lavender bushes and honeysuckle which are currently lurking in the corner, get a couple of bags of poo and give it all a good old dig.

I've managed to avoid weeds this year, primarily cos all the growing medium was imported, but I can already see strange and wonderful unidentified seedlings going to be popping their heads through next year. My Setton onions were grown in the bath this season and did reasonably well I thought. I have a small bunch hanging in the shed which will see us through another month anyway. My selection for next year is Swift and Autumn Champion from Dobies.

I must get round to cutting that part of the hedge though so I don't have to stamp on it after the sets and have gone in. That privet gets everywhere doesn't it ?

Pulled another bunch of Autumn King carrots last night and once again, was happy with what I found. My main crop are in the half whisky barrel tub which has got to be moved to accommodate the onions so I'm pulling stuff as fast as I can to make it easier on the back when the time comes.

The Early Nantes were sown in the bath, my attempts at deterring the evil fly and keeping them raised above the flying line really does seem to have worked. Not one carrot has been ruined. Could have been beginner's luck of course.

I will not buy I will not buy I will not buy

...... the entire catalogue! Thompson & Morgon's 2007 cat dropped through the door today. I can just browse though ... can't I ?

The Grand Opening

Ta daaaaaaa! You have all just been cordially invited to the opening of the patio doors. They're in ! It was a glorious day yesterday, bright sunshine throughout, which was just as well as there was a huge hole in the living room for the majority of the day.

I was under strict instructions not to tidy up last night as the dust would stick to the silicone like a magnet .... so I didn't ! So double cleaning today as everything was covered with a fine layer of brick dust (including the leeks and everything else within a 20 yard radius). I gave the outside a good hose down last night but everything else will be cleaned today (it's gonna be a long one).

I'm thrilled with my doors, or should I say door. It would appear that only the right one opens. :-O Perhaps I should have been more specific lmao. (oops strike that, the OH has just showed me how to open the other door roflmao). Ah well I'm dead chuffed anyway, and the drop isn't too severe so I managed to climb out and back again to take the photo without breaking my neck ! I think we're going off on a pallet hunt today to make temporary steps. We've got a tile warehouse just round the corner, that has so far been very generous as we've got all the wood from them for the raised beds and retaining wall separating us from next door. Just hope they fit into the new car which is a bit smaller than the old one. Will just have to get smaller pallets!

No. 2 workie also builds decking, so measurements have been taken and a quote requested.

Yesterday also saw the front (rock hard) border being dug over and is now plantable so I cleaned off my bulbs and semi-sorted them into obvious daffodils and ...... the rest. The rest being crocus, chionodoxa, bluebells, snowdrops and muscari. I think I can ID the crocus but everything else will just be mixed up. They will all be planted today and then cover the whole bed with a mulch of rustic red softwood chips.

I managed to sort out the cold frame on Friday, so that's now been moved and is hinged at the front. I doubt if it's in it's final resting place yet, but for the moment it can soak up whatever rays of sunshine we do get quite happily.

I also realised yesterday that I'd been relying far too much on the rain for my watering and the outdoor toms, and mariettas were suffering. So while I was washing off the dust I gave everything a good old soak.

We had a good old sing song last night watching the last night of the Proms. We do like to wave a UJ in this house. Rule Britannia !

I fancy a deck !

Tomorrow the patio doors go in. I can't wait. Obviously the wrong time of year but then my timing has never been great. I've cleared the patio of all moveable plants and will be taking down the curtain rails and stuff tonight.

One minor problem will be having to throw a rope ladder out the doors every time I want to get in and out. The original plan was to build some concrete steps, but tonight I have had a brainwave. (They come naturally to me when I'm sitting with a can of lager). I fancy a deck !
At the moment I've got a split level patio, with the higher side outside the office window, the lower side outside the soon to be magnificant patio doors. No excuses for not calling them "french windows". At the risk of alienating the europhiles amongst us, I don't want anything gaulish in my garden thanks very much.

Now the patio is sinking in the southern corner (where the chimnea is) due to a now demolished lleylandi. The surrounding low brick wall has cracked and although not dangerous, is unsightly. The slabs really need to be raised, levelled and replaced. So rather than do all that, the grand master plan is to have a deck running the whole width of the flat, high enough that I won't need any steps built, and will form a fairly large area that I just just open the doors and step out onto to sup my morning cuppa (or evening gin) and over look my veggie plot from a slightly higher elevation than just now. Queen of all she surveys if you like. There can be some cute decking steps both up onto the deck from where you're standing in the first picture, and down to the veggies where the pallet is in the second with a nice ballustrade all round the edge.

What do you think guys ?

He's back !

Earlier in the year I had no less that three robins in the garden. Two of them seemed very friendly but usually beat the other one into submission. They were quite a common sight, but since the babies left the nest (hidden somewhere well away from me), all three disappeared for the summer. I guess this is normal for robins.

This morning, one is back ! I'm so pleased cos I missed his cheeky wee face. He didn't seem interested in any of the edibles but I've been loath to put out any loose seed as the pigeons just invade en masse. I'll try and hide some just for him.

Robin's rock !

Oh what a beautiful morning .... tra la la

Not a cloud to be seen but found this thing hanging over the opposite chimney. Rubbish zoom, but lovely moon.

You just can't buy common sense

As some of you are aware, I moved into this ground floor flat a year ago last week. It's a semi-detached, four in a block affair but given that we've got a 12' privet hedge separating us from the "joined" neighbours, we actually chat more with the two families on the other side.

The flat above us had been empty for quite a while according to the chap we bought from, apparantly the owner was not at all well, and infact never recovered. RIP never met upstairs neighbour. The flats (of which there are many in the area - ex council) are notorious for travelling sound. Our bessie mates who handily live two minutes around the corner, already had false ceilings when they bought theirs, to muffle the noise from above, so we enjoyed our peace .... while it lasted. I even thought I'd do them a favour by cutting their hedges and mowing the lawns and even digging a couple of their flower beds, just to attract some potential buyers (nothing to do of course with the fact that I'd run out of space in my own garden and needed somewhere for my beetroot and climbing beans) :-P.

The estate agents dealing with the property came and went, signs went up and came down but still no sign of neighbours, until about a month ago. I heard clumping and banging one evening and went to investigate and found the previous owners son having a clear out as the new owners were getting their keys that weekend. Filled with fear and trepidation we peeked out from behind the blinds occasionally to see if we could spot our new neighbours.

Turns out it's a young lass with an 18 month old nipper, minus other half as I think he got cold feet! As you can imagine, a flat left empty for over a year wasn't going to be in the best of states and there have been armies of various workies ripping stuff out, reinstalling, gradually piling up a tonne of rubbish in the front garden (her side). This wasn't a problem, until this morning when I discovered the fruits of their labours all chucked into one of the brand new wheelie bins.
Various lengths of nail ridden skirting and other assorted lumps of wood all squeezed in to the bin which had joined the rest of her rubbish. Who in their right mind ever thought that the bin men were going to remove this stuff was beyond me and ruining a brand new bin to boot. Worse to come when I got home tonight to find that the major heap of trash gone but leaving rubbish all over our gardens, next doors AND the whole street. It looked as if the whole dustbin lorry had just upended spreading crap everywhere. Broken glass all over the shared path and various bits of rubber strip scattered all over. Me not happy. We also live by a school and the amount of sweetie and crisp wrappers being chucked in/under my hedge has noticeably increased since school started again. So instead of spending my first hour at home tending to all my babies, I ended up sweeping. Oh and they never did clear the bin which is still sitting there full of (useless) wood. Now there's a shock.

Glad to have got off my chest. I can sleep peacefully now.

Night night.

Gartenperle overload

Would you adam and eve it. There I was thinking that I was all organised and had recorded all my sowing times in my very nice Jack Vettriano desk diary, and can I find when I sowed the Gartenperles ?? Can I heck as like. So based on the fact that I sowed my Totems on 30 April, I'll go with that for the cherries too.

To begin with the GPs were slow to take off. Reaching for the sky with not a bit of "Ideal for Hanging Baskets" in sight. This was also mentioned on A4A and others seemed to be suffering the same fate ..... till the fruit started appearing and then it was a matter of tying up stems with various bits of old string and cord to almost every available hole in g/h No. 2.

I have seven. Four in the g/h in a ring culture type idea. Black Morrison bucket (8 for 99p when you can find them) filled with jolly old multi-purpose compost, sat in a blue Morrison crate (5 for a quid) base filled with various mixtures basically involving multi-purpose and John Innes something or other. Not very scientific I'm afraid. One went in a hanging basket along with my old favourites Naughty Marietta marigolds and the other two in a huge-ish pot with the same multi-purpose mix and NMms.

All have done exceedingly well (just like Mr Kipling cherries) ! Now we're not the biggest cherry tomato eaters in the world. There's just the two of us and before I started growing them, I don't think I'd ever bought a cherry tom in my life. I was attracted by the packet PR blurb "Ideal for growing in baskets, containers and window boxes, where you will be rewarded with bumper crops of delicious fruits in summer. Easy to grow, naturally trailing, needs no stopping or sideshooting". There were various words that attracted me. "Easy" being one and "bumper crops" being two others.

Messrs Thompson & Morgan did not lie. Tonight I had another picking and came back in the house with about three big bowls full, and there's already two large plastic bags full of the things in the freezer ! If I had a glut, this was it. Managed to palm off a colander full onto the M-i-L tonight .. I think she was pleased/impressed. We've been chucking handfuls of the little darlings into almost anything that demanded a tomato. Chilli, spag bol, etc skins and all. Probably sacrilege but hey ho, we were never going to eat that many raw !

The pic is of my very first tom picked. It ripened at least a week or so before any others and tasted lovely. I made a huge fuss of him and took loads of pics before popping him in my mouth and killing him. lmao. There was no way I was sharing my first born.

I've made an attempt to save some seed and also have a few left over in the packet, but I'll not grow so many next year, you can have just too many cherries.

Tonight's Excursion

Was to shift some muck about. One of the courgettes was totally past it, so out he came - into the bin with you and be gone ! The carrot bath (which worked very well for keeping out the evil fly) has been sitting behind g/h No. 1 half empty (where the carrots were) and the other half still housing some of my anti fly companion Naughty Marietta marigolds. So I replaced the courgette with four NMs and dug a load more of their compost onto the raised bed nearest the shed. That bed is nearly full now, so just slung on some mustard seed for a bit of green manuring. Must get the OH to nail the top bed frame onto the sunk one before it skews off.

Everything is just a case of moving things about and consolidating atm.

It was a good job that I did open the g/hs this morning as the day turned out quite pleasant and temps were still reading 100o inside both. Clear sky tonight though so I expect it will be a bit nippy.

I'm considering which bases to lay once the majority of the growing is done and am trying my hardest to coerce big strong men into laying them for me. Slabs or gravel, or both or concrete. Decisions decisions. Wish I was a bit more clued up on the diy-ing side of things. I'm not sure how many 2'x2' slabs I could transport from front to back when delivered though. Dependency has its price.

I noticed some of the late sown Autumn Kings poking out of a pot today and picked the first crop (5 !!!) of climbing beans. I reckon next March is going to be manic.

Played with the cold frame a bit (still haven't worked out exactly how to use one). I mean what is the difference between a cold frame and a mini g/h ? I want to put it on the boundary to next doors plot (oop sorry, back garden) next year, but the slope would face in the wrong direction, so I'm trying to take the thing apart and have the hinge on the lower edge so that I can get into it from the tall side (confused ? stick with it ...). I think it's going to need a bit of brute force, so ended up putting it back where it was with the lids off. Ah well there's always tomorrow.

The next morning

Everything is still as wet as wet, but I can actually see sky above the clouds. Still relatively breezy so my major decision of the next half hour will be a) do I open the greenhouses b) or not !

I've still got 5 Black Beauty aubergines that are needing a good kick in the pants if they're to get anywhere before the big chill takes over and the useful daylight disappears. They were an afterthought this year but are doing so well now that if I don't get at least one, I shall be a little unhappy with myself.

Some unknown peppers have just started to bloom now as well (note to self: label properly next year). I'm wondering just how pricey it would be to stick a growing lamp in with them. Would probably have half the local constabulary down on me like a tonne of bricks and all looking for interesting varieties of 'erbs.

The Totem tom plants are ripening off nicely. Like I said this was my first year and I only sowed two varieties of toms, the Totems and hanging Gartenperles. Three of the first, about seven of the cherries. Nice fruit, shame about the plants ! I shall be more adventurous next season.

There's some salad leaves busy growing in g/h No. 1 just now. Red & Green salad bowl mixed, Delicato and a couple of trays worth of Little Gems. It will be a learning curve to see how far they get before they decide they've had enough.

Out on the patio there's a couple of pots of newly sown Autumn King carrots, all my fruit bushes (blackcurrant, redcurrant, blueberry), once again all first year plants and consequently not a berry to be seen on any of them. The strawberry plants seem to be flowering harder now than when they should have been and the strawb runners seem to have settled nicely. I'm filling up a deep raised bed with good things and shite to have a dedicated bed next year rather than the one pot I've crammed this years plants in. I think the OH would be more interested in what I'm doing if he thought he could get more than one strawb at each picking.

Nearly killed my grown from a cutting in a previous garden standard fuschia earlier on in the season by overwatering with inadequate draining holes. But it has definitely revived since being given some air to breath around its roots, but sadly all it's energies were taken up regrowing lots of green rather than any blooms. Still, next year it should be a lovely show.

No sign of my birdies this morning. I wonder if they're still in bed ? Saw a bit of a kerfuffle in the hedge yesterday morning only to see moggie sauntering out with it's breakfast firmly clasped in it's jaws. I was sad and realised the batteries must need changing in the scarer device. I hope my little feathered friends haven't been scared off.

Much as I'd like to sit here all day and tell you about all the happenings from the beginning of the season, the big hand says "get to work".

Ciao for now.

Having Fun !

I've deleted and recreated a handful of versions of this blog today, but by george, I think I'm getting the hang of it ..... and so to bed (Slumberland not raised) :-)

Day 1 - and what a day !

You know when September has arrived. The flip-flops and shorts get packed away, and out come the jeans and boots.

Miserable weather all day today, non-stop drizzle and rain and gusty winds played havoc with my late yellow lilies which have been blooming like mad since the weekend. One bright spot in the gloom.

It's almost dark outside now, when not long ago I'd still be playing out on the plot.

Still, not a bad day to start a blog.

Winter drawers on !