Hop picking fun !

 A couple of years ago I had a bumper harvest of Hops from the several vines that I have about my garden . I use them to make Hop sleep sachets and pillows .
 The ones I am holding in this top picture ,  may be just a bit under ripe and still look a bit green to me , they need to be just turning brown around the edges .

My Hops are left to scrabble about on a couple of  trees and they are easy  for me to reach and one called "Fuggles " an old English variety which I have in a large tub ( but it really needs to be in the ground )
The ones on the trees are the lovely golden yellow leaved  Humulus lupulus " Aureus" . 

 This year despite the lovely summer , not such a large harvest , as  you can see here on my little kitchen table .

             Enough to twist into a pretty wreath and to stuff one small Hop Pillow  .

 Stormy weather coming tomorrow and over the next few days , glad I came across my hop vines today or they might have been blown away  !
 Our storms are not so bad , but we hope there's not too much damage .
  We are watching on the news the progress of Hurricane Michael in Florida ,over the other side of the world .
 Please get yourselves to a safe place and take care of yourselves , your children and pets ,while there's still time . Our thoughts and prayers are with you .
      Speak again soon ! Daisy x

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 !