Pumpkin Harvest 2018

So here they are ! A fine selection of Squash ...not as many Butternuts as I would  have liked , but lots of other interesting varieties . We usually make soup or chop them up and roast with our Sunday roast potatoes .

There are still a couple more to harvest .

The weather is glorious again here in Mullion , blue skies,n,warm sunshine and set to continue for the next few days .

Time to clear all the Squash vines and plant out my onion sets .

Autumn Love !

                              I love Autumn ! It is my favourite month !

                                         It makes me want to dance !

                            We are reaping the fruits of our hard labour ....

                                     Lots of Hazelnuts this year .

I made a basket from some of our willow...o.k ...so please don't laugh ...it is my first attempt ! .......and I,m very proud of it ! lol !

Our young Oak tree has produced Acorns for the first time ...I gathered some to plant .

You have to plant Acorns while they are fresh , so I planted them up and have put them into a crate to be left outside through Winter .
 I will plant these out into our hedgerow , when they are big enough , in a couple of years time hopefully.
 We must plant more trees !

                       Gathering colourful Autumn leaves is irresistible  !

We brought a favourite potted Dahlia into the porch to enjoy for a little bit longer .....it had blown over in the gales...the weather has been beautiful again the last two days...but with that comes the chilly nights .....no frost though .
 We have decided to leave the other Dahlias that were planted out into the garden  ....we will cover them with a thick mulch to keep them protected from the cold weather . This one, in the picture above , I will eventually dry out , cut off the top growth and put it into our woodshed to over-Winter and start it off again next Spring .

 I am always delighted to see the Hummingbird  Hawk Moths at this time of the year ! They seem to love Verbena bonariensis and also the Valerian(Centranthus rubra )
and I plan to plant more of these into and around my garden .

 I have taken the window boxes down and potted up the Pelargoniums to over-winter in the greenhouse . I always do this with my favourite ones . I,m just making a note to remember to fix up the insulation stuff in the greenhouse and also get ready the bubblewrap to go around the outside water tap .

 Apples ! Did I tell you about the Apples ? A bumper harvest ! Very happy !

 Lots of Appley - cinnamony cooking smells coming from my kitchen .

        Peeling and freezing and bubbling and baking ...mmmmmm..... !

                                    A little bit of Autumn joy stitching .
This afternoon I harvested my Squashes too  ..... I haven't uploaded the pics yet !
                                                 Speak again soon !

Veg garden update -August 30

Autumn is slowly creeping in and there are glimpses of flame coloured Blackberry leaves appearing here and there in the hedgerows. Glistening Blackberries and Elderberries to fill  our foraging baskets .
  The Blackbirds  have disappeared for three weeks now , though I sometimes  hear one singing . They keep hidden in the bushes while they moult and grow new feathers. I am missing my Blackbirdie  girl who is usually close by whilst I work in the garden and comes in for grapes .

    The Swallows are gathering in the sky overhead , preparing for their long journey back to Africa .

Warm and misty days , the trees are lush and green.. after such a long hot summer Autumn should be a gloriously colourful display this year .

 I dug up the potatoes . I wish I,d bought a larger variety and I will next year .

                               These will be nice with a salad anyway .
 I need to improve this bed and will be boosting it up with layers of newspapers, cardboard , spent compost , seaweed, horse manure  shredded sticks and Autumn  leaves etc  from now through until Spring .
It will be completely covered and so suppressing any weeds too ..the worms can do the work of taking it all deep down and improving the beautiful earth .

Climbing French Beans " Blue Lake " are the good old reliable beans that have done well for me even during this extremely hot summer .

                                                     Delicious too .

The climbing variety of Courgettes were very slow to produce and also very disappointingly slow to climb....I had to help it by pulling up the branches through the pig-wire frame . Was the weather too hot for them ? Or was it a poor variety ?
  I,m going back to the maybe not heritage but the old fashioned , dependable varieties next year .

            I have a stinking rotten cold sore throat and feeling miserable .
Husband will be having his hip replacement op next week and we are trying to get things done before his op , in readiness for the winter ,the big jobs such as him splitting the logs and me wheel-barrowing them and stacking them up in the woodshed . The back door needs painting again urgently ....so do the cottage windows and so off to the hardware store to get the paint  ....we have quite a list of things to do , but will have to give in at some point as he wont be able to drive for a while . The chimney sweep is booked , the oil has been delivered  .
  On a happier note , my sewing machine has been fixed ! I am so happy about this ! I will be making my rag dolls and poppets again !
              Yes ... I'll bid you goodbye on that happier note !

8th August Veg garden update

            Still hot and dry....I gathered some lavender this morning .

                            I,m going to make some Lavender sachets .

                                           I leave plenty for the bees !

                                       French Beans a plenty now !

 The Squash surprise me as I come across them hidden beneath those shady leaves and the vines are scrabbling and beginning to climb the pig-wire frames ,

                          I lift them gently and replace to rest on old slates .

 I think that is a Gete-okosomin Squash in there ! I wonder how the people I shared seeds with are doing ? Please do get in touch and let me know ! :)

  Tomatoes are doing nicely now ....not pounds and pounds ...but a good bowl full most days ...enough for the two of us .
                                      I love the plum shaped tomatoes ...

                                     My husband likes the round ones ....

 He also loves these hot hot hot Chillies..I cant stand them..yuk !
 I must admit they are beautiful though....husband is very proud of his Chillies .

 We,ve sown more Lettuce seed coming up in the tray on the right ...we,ve sown some Aquilegia seedsin the tray on the left...but I think these might need a bit of a winter freeze spell before they germinate ...we should  have waited until early Spring to sow these maybe ?

 It has been so hot and dry here...only in the very early  morning , might you see dew on the grass and tiny spider's webs glistening in the Labyrinth .....

                                       ......and all across the meadow .

 Then the Sun rises and it all dries up again...the Lichens on the gate is dry to a crisp ....waiting for the rain .... it is a wonderful survivor .

 The clouds have  been billowing up to the north of us....but they are drifting away from my thirsty garden .

                       Beautiful towering clouds against the blue sky .

                                               Still waiting for rain !

Hot and dry , then comes the rain !

The hot weather is making me feel so tired and I have hurt my back from carrying watering cans ( my husband's discovery of the old hoses in the shed came too late ! )..I am up early 5.30 am to walk the dog while it is still cool and then again late evening along the cliffs .
We walk along this footpath ..... and always stop to rest and admire the view over the gate at the top .

                      This is my favourite Mullion view over the old farm gate .
   You can see how dry everywhere is here .
Then we had a "weather warning "....we used to call this quite simply  "a weather forecast " ..for strong wind and rain !

 So I put out all my house plants to catch some rain ...sorry , that's a bit of an over crowded picture isn't it ? lol !  Click to enlarge my pics by the way .
                     Schlumbergeras , Haworthias and lots of Gasterias .

                                                I love Gasterias ! :)

 I am very mean to the Gasterias  , I rarely water them , but this coming rain will refresh them greatly .

It rained during the night and the wind was strong ..we were worried about the fence blowing down again..but the trees and bushes that I planted on our side of the fence did a good job of buffeting the wind coming in from the South...together with the expensive concrete post that I put in .
   The hot weather is forecast to return , so I rushed to plant out our leeks and all the brassicas that I have grown from seed , sprouts , purple sprouting broccoli and cabbages .These have been waiting in the wings until we used up all the lettuces that have done so well here this year !  This way of doing things seems to have worked out really well ...... apart from the no rain thing .

 I have carrots and lettuces just beginning to come up from a second late sowing..I also have sown today quite a long row of spring onions .
 I haven't been so successful this year with Leeks . I use a lot in my cooking I love their mild flavour , so I,m trying to grow more onions and will use Spring onions too in my cooking instead when the Leeks run out .
 There are a few Celery plants in here for my son in law , who loves his celery and peanut butter .

My beautiful black kale is growing taller , I gave everything a good watering in too .
 My back is aching terribly !
 I have finished my work in the veg garden today by putting another environmesh cloche over everything ,to keep the pigeons and Cabbage White butterflies off them .The whole bed is surrounded with chicken wire and canes .

 Although we got some quite heavy rain last night ( we didn't get any thunder and lightening ), it is still quite dry just below the surface of the earth  in my garden. The puddle where I stamp about to wash my wellies , is evaporating  fast .  We need more rain !
  I put out fresh water for the birds and other poor thirsty creatures .

                          Over all the garden looks refreshed anyway .

      This evening's walkies..looking the other direction towards Gunwalloe .
    A cooler less windy night will ensure we all have a better night's sleep .