Sunflowers

The little bit of garden on the outside wall at the front, has caused so much pleasure to those walking by, that I shall plant it up again next year. 

People have loved watching the beans and tomatoes grow, and the sunflowers have garnered much admiration and even some photos!

The wall is 6 feet high, so the sunflowers must be about 8 - 9 feet tall.

The foliage has died down on the pumpkin so it can be seen and is also admired.

Of course somewhere down under the ground are a lot of potatoes that must be dug before the frosts. But, for now they are stored in the ground and out of the way. We just dig some up when we need them, very convenient.

Beginning of Autumn

This week saw the official beginning of Autumn. 

Roses

These are not edible, however, from the little plants that I planted in the spring, we now have these lovely roses.

Red

These are chilli peppers that I grew in the garden, no greenhouse.

Picked all these red things this morning.

 Lots of lovely sun ripened tomatoes and a couple of chilli peppers.

There were a few things that were other colours.

Then cut up all the tomatoes along with a red pepper and a red onion.

Roasted them in the oven with some olive oil, basil and salt and pepper.

When cooked they looked like this.

They were then liquidised to make wonderful tomato soup.

Now in the freezer for a cold winters day treat.

Damson Down

Sadly the damson tree has fallen down. 

I think that there is another small one growing further down the orchard and must remember to label it so that it is not dug up later!

However, its demise is not totally in vain as I picked some of the damsons and they are now sitting in brandy awaiting Christmas consumption.

Onions

I had planted some onions in the spring and now is the time to dig them up.
You have to see that the leaves have fallen over and are looking a bit on the dead side then you can dig.
We really did not grow many, shall be increasing numbers next year, but, my goodness the few we had 
GREW! 

The trowel is there to give an idea of size.

The weather forecasts that we have seen have been for miserable wet weather, we have planned activities accordingly. However, the weather people have been wrong. We have had some glorious days, so picked lots of plums, took the stones out and made apple and plum chutney, plum jam, brandied plum and lavender jam and elderberry jam.

Also planted some broad beans to overwinter and get an early start on the spring. 

Yesterday we had more 'Andy' clouds.

Toy Story Wall Paper Clouds

No doubt you remember the clouds from Andy's room in Toy Story.

Today we had clouds that were pretty similar.

We had been promised rain and a generally miserable day, so had plans for all sorts of indoor jobs, then the clouds cleared, the sun came out and we had to rethink the plans for the day.

SeaSide

We do not often get to the sea. 

However, we went today and it was pleasant if not particularly sunny.

No sand, just loads and loads of pebbles and some old boats along the North Sea coast.

Caterpillars

Really and truly I have spent lots of time over the summer putting sticks in the ground, then placing butterfly proof netting over it, staking the edges and putting bricks along the bottom to secure the netting.

All in an effort to protect the brassicas, (kale, cabbage and brussel sprouts).


Well, no doubt you have guessed what has happened, 

some sneaky little cabbage white has managed to place its ovipositor on the very edge of some kale leaves and WHAM, infestation!


Denuded cabbage leaves and hundreds of caterpillars.

A long time later I had collected many of these, now rather fat, caterpillars and took them so that the birds and pheasants might find them.



Warning
If you are of a squeamish nature look away now....

September

Sadly August ended in a soggy mess and September has been only slightly drier.
However, the plants are continuing to do their thing and the plums are looking rather good.

While the sun is shining on the plums, you may notice the rather ominous clouds behind, rain was on its way.

Hope to get out and pick these as soon as they are a little darker purple. 

Wonder if there is a real 'plum pudding' recipe out there to make for Christmas.