🌿A Happy Little Harvest 🌿🦋🐝

                    A happy little harvest gathered from my garden this morning .

           A nice quiet hour tending to the cucumber and tomato plants in the greenhouse  .

                               The sun is shining here this morning 🌤️

                                    A peaceful start to the day  🌿🕊️

Onion harvest 🧅🧅🧅

 

                                Hover-fly and the Great Mullein 

Yesterday was very warm and sunny . ☀️I can't work in the garden when it is this hot  .☀️

I did get a huge load of washing dry on the line , which really pleased me . I don't have a tumble drying machine . 

I also don't have a dishwasher and quite enjoy washing up the old fashioned 🎶"for hands that do dishes"🎶way in my cheerful lime-green washing up bowl full of lemon scented bubbles with my yellow rubber gloves . And through the kitchen window I enjoy watching the blue tits, goldfinches , robins and squirrels on the bird feeders .....and  the occasional woodpecker . The blackbirds come in for grapes here ....then fly over to my friend's garden where they dine on apples and fat-balls ! 

Washing up time , is time to quieten my mind . 

However I do appreciate someone else grabbing a tea-towel and giving me a helping hand .

Sorry - that was a bit of my waffling on  .....

Back out into the garden , I'm enjoying all the wild herbs and this is one of my favourites .

  I love the stately Great Mullein  with it's velvety soft leaves . 

   It pops up wherever it will and the bees love it . 🐝

                     It is my flower of the week !

                        🤍  Looking deeply meditation time 🕊️

Then work to be done .  The weather is changing ...rain coming tomorrow ...may be heavy rain with some rumbles of thunder thrown in......as they say !

I decided to take up the pathetic onions and get them on a rack to dry in the shed . 

If I do a close up photo ....I could pretend they were lovely big onions ! 🤣

   But the truth is ,  they are all just a pathetic bunch of tiddlers !

                                                     lol !

                             The log pile is growing !   We are so grateful !  🙏🏻🤍🌿

While I was taking up my onions , I noticed a couple of parsnips coming up ! 

Very surprised to see them . Of course that little sprunch of leaves might just be only one parsnip !

Made me chuckle ! 

I threw down a whole packet of seeds back at the beginning of March or thereabouts .

I had given up on them ! But now .....well .....  🌧️⛈️🌧️....hmmm ......

Hopefully , if we get the forecasted rain tonight/tomorrow , it might help to germinate a few more !

         ⛈️   Hoping for rain again ...sorry everyone !  ⛈️🌧️⛈️🤣 lol !

                                        Have a great weekend ! xxx 

                                        

 

🌿Meanwhile up in the Vegetable Garden 🌿

 

All is going well ! The slightly cooler weather than normal over the last month or so , has meant I have  been able to be outside in the garden doing things .  I have a feeling that the hot weather will be with us soon .

Time to take up the onions . 

I knew it was a waste of money buying those onion sets and I wish I'd grown even more leeks . 

Leeks are just so much more reliable for me and can stand out to be pulled as and when I need them all through the Winter months .  (note to self - the leek bed needs hoeing again ! )

French beans are beginning to wind themselves up the canes and the Dwarf Beans are flowering .

The Runnerbeans have reached the top of the frame and are blooming like crazy .

The Bees are happy .It is so nice to hear them humming and buzzing around and about the flowers.

I planted out six nice healthy looking Lavender plants to replace the big old bush that was withering and dwindling away and not coming to much anymore . I want lots and lots of Lavender . I want to make Lavender bags .

I think they will look pretty growing all around this pink Rose .

 You can't see them but at the back I have also planted a Curry plant and a hardy Fuchsia , can't remember the name of it  .

I have been so busy with getting the vegetable garden up to speed , it is nice to be able to relax a bit with my herbs . My Herb garden up near the greenhouse needs sorting out . Maybe tomorrow morning, while it's cool , I'll get stuck in to tackling that .

I need to gather the seeds and deadhead the Marigolds/Calendulas . I sowed lots of seeds this Spring and they are all coming up . I think I'll save these seeds for next year .

Other news -

 

I have been waiting over two weeks for a Schlumbergera cutting to arrive in the post . I have been so worried about it  ! 🌿Poor little segment cutting in the post system for over a week and in hot weather too .Anyway , the nice lady sent me a message to say that it had been returned to her address because of a damaged address label and that she would send out another one to me .

It arrived ! Yesterday !  So happy me !

I only ordered one and she has generously sent me two double segments of the one I ordered which is a bit of a special variety that has orange flowers ...and ..another one...I have no idea what colour that one is going to be . I have sent her a message to ask , but not sure if she will get back to me . It is red tinged around the edge . These segments are not really true leaves as such but Phylloclads .

So away we go up to the shed .

Where I get them gently potted up in a mix of multi-purpose compost and perlite .I don't water them in , but just leave them with only the slight moisture that is in the multipurpose compost as it comes really .

 I will leave them until they show some signs of growth before I give them any water . 

 They are now up on my bathroom windowsill , the plants intensive care unit , where I will be watching them like a hawk ! 

 

p.s So there are labels on them S. Aclea which I know is a gorgeous large orange flowering one and S. Agatha which I don't know and can't find anything on the internet about it . 

The Courgettes are coming big time now !

My lovely botanical brother sent me a packet of Geranium maderense seeds ..(.which I didn't think was in my ability to even germinate ! ) I think I now have enough plants to give one each to everyone in the village !! 

Geranium maderense has amazing flowers !

 I think I will plant them out tomorrow .....see if my next door neighbours would like some too .

                                        All fer now !  🌿💚🌿

❄️Preparing for Winter ⛄❄️

                                          My amazing Son-In-Law ....

                              .....  he turned this  .....

                                     ...... into this !    😱🤩💚

🌿🌿 Thunbergia alata -update 🌿🌿

 My wonderful son in law shifted a ton of gravel to refresh  our very worn out gravel area . I originally created this gravel area about fifteen years ago ....I created it and shifted all the gravel last time , so I know what  hard work that was ! 

What a difference it makes  . It gives a break on the eye as you look around the garden  . It really looks fabulous again ! 

Looks great from the upstairs window too . So pleased with it ! 

                                I just need to get that bramble out !

Now then ..see that red tub ? The old Sweet Pea tub , in which I planted Black Eye Suzies  .

I was told that these are really fast growing , like six inches per week .

Well , they are really slow going . Maybe they are still getting their roots down ? They are also quite badly nibbled ....I can't see any slugs or snails . I'm thinking maybe caterpillars , but there are new shoots coming and hopefully once they begin to wind themselves around the bamboo canes and also when we start having a bit more sunshine , then they should grow a little bit faster . I know it was a bit late to sow these  Thunbergia alata really , but hopefully we will get a few flowers before the end of the season .

               ...and my mum loves them !  🌿🦋🐝

Anyway .....

Last evening we took our walk across the fields near to us and were delighted to see these two Roe Deer does . 

( I had to look that up - the plural of doe is does .....Doe a deer a female deer  🎶🎶)

            ......  and a Stag ! 

....who came bounding in and chased the two does into the woods and away they went !

We kept well back not to disturb the does  . My son in law tells me that it is rutting season  . 

My pics are not brilliant , but it really was lovely that we were all there to share in the delight of seeing them . 

Son in law pointed out some deer tracks .🦌🦌🦌

I have only ever seen three deer , each on separate occasions in my garden over the whole time I've lived here and no one ever believed me  !  

                  So this really made my day and we had a beautiful sunset .

                                    🦌   All fer now folks  😃

The Sweet Peppers are coming ! 🌶️🌶️🌶️

 

                                        The Sweet Peppers are coming !

                                         The Tomatoes are going !

     Cheeky Blackbirdy boy flew in and helped himself  . Oh well , there will soon be more .

I had gathered a few of our very first tomatoes and left them here on the garden seat ,while I went to check on some seeds I had sown a few days ago .     

 ............. and they are doing well ....

                                  Tasty  Beetroot 🌱🌱🌱🌱

                                       Spinach 🌱🌱🌱 🌱🌱

                    Beautiful Red Pak Choi  🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

Up in the shed  I have sown Black Tuscany Kale which are germinating already ..to replace the ones the rabbits took   .       Also sown a pan of Early Purple Sprouting  Broccoli today .

Lots of courgettes starting to appear . Not too many ,but we are having them at every meal now .They completely failed last year, no idea why ? I'm sure I didn't do anything differently .

The cabbage plants that I harvested last week are already putting out new leaves  .I'll see how they do for a while and maybe plant them out under netting as and when I get space . 

                 I can't remember which variety of cabbage I sowed ...think it is Greyhound .

Anyway ......

Having said that ..hmmm....priority will go to the P.S.B and beautiful Black Kale . 

The P.S.B.  , Kale and Leeks will fill the so called " hungry gap" over the Winter months . By then we should also have Butternuts , some Garlic and Onions in storage . Tomatoes and Beans in the freezer .

 The onions aren't brilliant for me again this year , so that's why I prefer to grow lots of Leeks instead .

Yes , the beans are coming ...in dribs and drabs . Into the freezer they go ! 

We had a couple of rainy days which refreshed the garden beautifully and now the sun has returned .

We have had lots of mini cucumbers ...Beth Alpha and Femspot .  🐝🐝

Husband making me drink Cucumber Water ....it's very cooling and very good for you ..he says ....it's all the rage in America .....apparently . 

Yes , very refreshing ........ but I think I'd prefer to stick to my favourite Coconut Water thankyou .

Sweetcorn , Leeks , a couple more Courgette plants and Butternuts really getting going now in the African Keyhole Bed .  Butternuts always a bit slow to get going but now they've got their roots down and the rest of the lovely warm Summer days to come , they'll be fine . 🐝🐝Lots of happy bees buzzing around waiting for those big yellow flowers to open . They will be ready to pick about the end of October .🐝

 Oh , I sowed another lot of peas for shelling in here . I chucked the whole packet in here ! They will scrabble over the pig-wire hopefully and my Grand-daughter can learn the pleasure of shelling peas and tasting the odd one or two .🫛🫛🫛

I didn't get round to growing potatoes in tubs ...oh well ..we'll do that next year . 😊

 Hope the weather is behaving for you where ever you are . Going to put my feet up and do my embroidery this afternoon .

It's sunny , with a few clouds here today , not as warm as it was yesterday .... visitors coming .... feeling happy . 🌤️☀️

                           🤍   Poor little Robin ..it was chilly this morning !   🤍