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 .

The Sweet Peppers are coming !

 I said  I,d show you the Peppers in the greenhouse . Well I grew these from seeds that  I saved from a pack of supermarket Mini Sweet Peppers ...so I had not been too sure of what these seeds would produce . All going well so far , they look like little Sweet Peppers  . Husband very excited as he loves them !

I think we will wait until they colour up to a nice bright red before picking them .

 I dont think they will grow much bigger  now , mainly  because I just couldn't  get any good quality compost back in the Spring due to all the nurseries closing down during "lockdown". What I did manage to get hold of was very poor quality and very expensive .
  Normally I would have them in much bigger and deeper pots .
The tomatoes in the greenhouse are not as fast growing as the ones in the Solar shed which had good quality compost left over from last year and in much bigger pots .

  Our juvenile Buzzard flew over my head as I walked down to the vegetable garden , screaming out to it's mum loudly .

 Here you can see , after the dwarf beans failed I threw down a mixture of veg seeds . Carrots , beetroots, Pak choi ,Rocket , Lettuce , I planted leeks and a few Gardeners Delight Tomato plants that I,d grown  from seed up in the shed .
 It needs a bit of weeding again after the rain we,ve had the last couple of days .
 We have been eating a few things everyday from the vegetable garden . Lovely  to smell and taste such fresh vegetables .
 I would,ve liked more to freeze away , but I am thankful for all this at least .
 The vegetable garden has not quite gone to plan this year . The autumn planted onions were a complete fail and waste of money , effort and likewise the French Beans ...and I have no idea why , other  than to say that we didn't have any April showers at the time I was sowing seeds and beans . Runnerbeans and French beans are usually so easy , but this time they kept being cut down by something despite all the protection  I gave them .
  I sowed another lot of beans a couple of weeks ago , so I am hoping they might give us  some end of season pods , about as late as can be sown .
     Fingers crossed !

                     Carrots are looking good to pull in a few weeks time .

 A few Gardeners Delight Tomatoes , I think my best ones are the ones  I have grown in the shed .

                                         Some beetroot , I love them !

                                 Romaine Lettuces in amongst the Leeks .

 The Leeks are picking up now at last , thanks to the lovely lot of rain we,ve had .

 Under cover Brassicas and Kale and the first lot of Leeks that I planted out are almost at a usable stage now  . I want them to be a whole lot bigger though before  I harvest  them .
 The tomatoes and courgettes are fantastic , we are freezing them and eating them every day .

 Looking through my Runnerbeans to the labyrinth . We had a few Runnerbeans , but something  kept cutting them down at about two or three inches from the bottom and they did not regrow . I have sown more , but it is late now .
 Some you win , some you lose , This is the way it goes with vegetable gardening , so just don't ever give up !
    I,m thinking of pulling them all out and it will soon be time to plant another lot of Autumn  planting  onions . I will give it a good old weeding , take out the Tetrapanax papyrifer rex and all its pups ( let me know if  you want one , if you are local) feed the earth up with something , not sure what yet, chicken pellets maybe or seaweed ...and plant the onion sets to over winter here .
  I,m just thinking out loud , but I think that is what I,ll do .

 The kitchen windowsill at the moment . Mint and Pelargonium cuttings rooting in the hyacinth vases and tomatoes ripening in the sunshine .
  I love early Autumn !