A Very Special Visitor !

 I know this is a very dark picture , it was quite early on this very gloomy morning and pouring with rain ....but look who came to visit me and is sitting on my front gate ! On my front gate ! Wow !

Sparrow hawk or Peregrin falcon ?  What do you think ? 

Very handsome boy ! He made my day !  :)

Veg Trug -update

 

The seeds that  I sowed a couple of weeks ago are all coming along nicely in the Veg Trug . Especially now we are having some rain . Lovely Lettuces , Pak choi , Coriander and Dill , Kale and lots and lots of Spring onions .

                                          I am so happy !

The compost has sunk down quite a bit and probably doesn't have much goodness left in it after a year of growing things . It must be quite exhausted , but I thought I,d get one more crop out of it . I,ll top it up with fresh compost next Spring .

 These young seedlings are at least sheltered from the wind . I will be rigging up some sort of a cloche with environmesh to go over it , for when the weather turns really wild and chilly , but for now , this,ll do .

Weeding , weeding , weeding !

A beautiful Sun-rise across the meadow this morning . The weather bright , quite mild now the wind has gone .

I have looked at the weather forecast and it seems that today is the last day of sunshine for a long while ....infact it seems that we are to have rain pretty much every day for the whole of next month ! So I did a huge pile of laundry and got it all dry on the line , feeling very pleased with myself .

We have been admiring the white Japanese Anemones in peoples gardens , that we have seen whilst driving around Helston....and were thinking about where we might aquire some for our garden . We remembered that our daughter had lots of  different ones in her garden and she very kindly allowed us to go and take some .

So whilst she was out walking their new puppy , in we went armed with fork , spade and some old compost sacks :)

We got a nice clump of Shasta Daisies , a piece of a Geranium Johnson's Blue , a small clump of Dark pink Japanese Anemones and a very good sized clump of the gorgeous white Japanese Anenomes  .Very happy me !Then we dashed home to get them planted as fast as we possibly could, because Japanese Anemones don't really like being transplanted .

On arrival home , I realise that I needed to do some serious weeding and tidying in this bed before I could even think of planting them .

                                      Before .

                                      After .

I spent a good couple of  hours weeding and as you can see that big pink wheelbarrow is full ! The new plants are waiting and wilting in the orange wheelbarrow .

They did look sad,but we got them into the ground and gave them a drink to settle them in . The lovely white one ......

             ..........and the dark pink one ,which will look lovely in amongst the pale pink ones which we already have . 

It will be lovely next year. 

I still have a fair bit to do but I have to be careful as I have already pulled a muscle which is taking a very long time to heal . I am glad of the rain coming ,to water them all in , so I dont have to carry the heavy watering can .

Actually my husband kindly gave them a drink, by this time I was gasping for a cup of tea too !

After lunch we set off for our walk along the cliffs , to see the Choughs. Not a very good picture of them this time , sorry !  

                         We watched the sun begining to set across the sea.

And this evening I watched the Moon as it rose above the meadow .The end of another beautiful day .

 

September Harvest - Clear away - Start again .

 The Wheel of Seasons turns and brings in Autumn .  Leaves begin to tumble from the trees . The leaves on my Tomato plants are also fading away , but I,m not letting it end here..we must try and keep the veg garden going and remember to feed and replenish the Earth .
   My order of Autumn planting onion sets arrives . 200 sets of a variety that I have not tried before , Winter Red .

 I harvest all of the remaining Tomatoes that have reached a good size , both red and green . I cut down and clear away all the vines .
  I carry out all the pots of spent compost  . I will add this to the to the African Keyhole Bed  after I have cleared away all the Courgettes and Butternuts in a couple of weeks time . I,m still hoping for more Butternuts !

                                  Very pleased with all the Tomatoes !

  I had a good sweep out of the shed and planted the onion sets into modules .

 I could just plant them out  , but find that this way is better , because if they grow a bit of a root system , when I finally plant them out in a couple of weeks time , the birds can't pull them out so easily .
  The birds mistake the little green onion shoots for worms !
 I put grids over them as an extra precaution .
This also gives me a couple of weeks , to make ready the bed where I am  going to plant them out .

 The sun is shining into my greenhouse , where the small sweet peppers are still swelling and ripening .

 Through the window  I peer to see how the Tomatoes are doing in there .

 They are looking healthier and greener than the ones in the solar shed , I will leave these to carry on swelling and ripening .

    Husband keeps asking when these mini sweet peppers will be ready !

   I must plant them earlier next year and also try and give them more compost and a better quality compost too . However , I think these are the best Sweet Peppers  I,ve ever grown .

Here is the Veg Trug , I know it looks a mess , but I couldn't afford to buy a proper Veg Trug cover for it so I,m using whatever I could find to cover it and keep the birds off .
  I have sown a variety of seeds , lettuces , pak choi , coriander , dill , spring onions in here .
 The compost needs topping up in here and it has sunk down quite a bit , but I think I,ll wait until next Spring to top it up .

                            Grids and plastic mesh to keep the birds off .

                                      Teeny tiny Onions germinating !

                                                    Pak choi

         Lettuces , lots of different varieties and other leaves for salads.
It makes me feel so happy to see these growing away as we  go into Autumn .
 In the Veg Trug everything is at a nice height and easy for people with aching backs to tend to it .

                                      Feed and replenish the Earth .

 Our neighbour brought round a wheelbarrow of lovely horse manure for us . Thankyou Colin !

I decide to clear a space for it on each of the veg beds, cover it and spread it over the beds next Spring when the worms have worked their magic on it .

 I begin to take down all the bean poles and am planning on re-doing the chicken wire fence around individual beds and tidying up all the edges again .

             Taking out all the chicken wire posts, bamboo canes etc .

 The manure looked liked so much in the wheelbarrow , but doesn't  look  like much when I tip it out !  .....but I am told that I can collect more if I need it .
 Yes please ! :) 
 

                                              Luxury Worm Hotel
 I have covered it over with cardboard and a plastic sheet to keep it dry over Winter .

                                          Apples , Pears and Plums

                                  Lots of lovely Apples for the freezer .

                  Time to think about bringing in my Pelargoniums  .
                          I hope it is all going well for you too .
  Hoping and praying for a vaccine so we can begin to live a normal life again .