My garden in October

Last month I teased you and said we had plenty of crab apples but didn’t have a photo to share - this month then, let’s start with them. It’s only a small tree, but it has definitely been fully laden this year - unbelievably I took this photo after I’d picked two kilograms of fruit (and in case you’re wondering that’s a large washing up bowl full).

Those first apples have been made into the most gorgeous coloured chilli jelly, and I’m still hoping to get another picking in to make some plum, apple and chilli jelly before it’s too late to harvest the fruit. I’ve still to share more on that jelly making episode, but look out for that soon.

I’m surprised that our pepper plant still has peppers, there’s at least another ten on there though some are very tiny. They’re not ripening however much I hope they will, so I might have to bite the bullet and bring them in to see if that helps to sweeten them any. If not, we’ll be trying them green even though green peppers are my least favourite pepper.

We didn’t have any peaches on the small potted tree this year, there were a couple of fruits early on but they didn’t make it. It’s continued to earn its spot in our garden though with the colour changing leaves as the year’s gone on. Such gorgeous colours.

This month we had some more unusual looking mushrooms appear in the grass overnight. First there was one, which was joined by a couple of others - then a few days later, they were all looking decidedly less attractive. We’ve had smaller, flatter mushrooms appear in the grass before, but nothing quite like these - and none of which I’m even tempted to try to eat!

We’ve also had some fog this month, though thankfully that didn’t hang around for too long either.

The few olives we have on the potted olive tree have started to turn from green to an almost berry red, I assume this is normal as despite having another olive tree for many years I don’t think I’ve ever seen fruit as large on this on that, but then again it could be a completely different type and variety. Either way, I don’t think we’ll be going into Olive Oil production anytime soon.

It’s a year or so since I shared my herbs by the back door, and they’ve really established themselves - both the plants, and the practice of having herbs growing close to the kitchen. Since it was first planted up I’ve added two varieties of thyme, and some chives as well as refreshing the flat leaf parsley plant. The mint, is of course taking over, but that’s what it does - and it means we use a lot more mint than we ever have before - it’s been a great addition, and it looks great too.

We’ve a small flowered rose bush further down the garden and it’s been flowering prolifically this year and it’s still going strong - I think October has been its strongest month. It’s growing into a fairly substantial bush and I’m not unhappy about that.

The mahonias are getting ready to put on their show too - we have three in the garden - the photo above is early in October, and below is later in the month, and while this one is near our wheelie bins it really does brighten up emptying the bins!

The fuchsia bushes which I was so worried about earlier in the year (when I decided to cut them almost back to the ground) are thriving - and it’s hard to believe that they were giving me so much garden grief. They are definitely a case of ‘isn’t nature wonderful’!?

The rowan tree is also putting on a show and it’s been great to watch through the window - though the weather has hardly been cold here. There was a threat of a cold snap, but that was only brief - we do have our heating on downstairs, and it takes the chill off, but so far we don’t have the upstairs radiators on (and it’s early November!)

I said last month that the succulents had been the stars and real discovery in the garden this year, so I could hardly do a monthly update without them could I? These two plants which overwintered in the garage last year in individual pots, have really thrived and I’m sure doubled in size now they’re in a bigger shared pot and have enjoyed the summer outside. They’re still outside, though I have plans to put them and all the other succulents (I think it’s six larger pots this year - last year it was only two and these two in their small pots) away for the winter, but I’m leaving it as long as I can…

The wallflowers look as if they’ve really established themselves this year, and with many more stems than last year I’m hoping for even more of the pastel ‘Chelsea Jackets’ flowers when they’re ready, which I think will be a while yet. That’s ok though, as I can wait as there’s still plenty else to see (and do) around the garden - and I really should add sorting out my bulbs to that mental list, especially while the weather is mild.

This October...

We have made progress in the garage - and so much so, that the garden sofa is also in there and there’s more floorspace visible than ever before. It didn’t take as long as I expected and we managed to finally empty some boxes from our move. It looks a lot different now to the before pictured below, which is good news. We need to make some more time to do a bit more but we’re getting there.

It’s been a month for random new stuff - including a new kitchen bin, and the shock of realising how expensive kitchen bins are! Though I think the one we ended up is worth it, it was over £100 and reduced at that. I looked at some half the price and the quality was awful, so I guess it’s a cost versus quality decision.

We’ve also had a new internet router which meant an afternoon reconnecting so many devices - two TVs, one dishwasher, one printer, laptops, ipads and phones, the Alexas, the doorbell and numerous Tapo plugs and I’m so over it. Once we were done, and it was the printer that was the most troublesome, our provider app started working offering a quick way to move everything over - if only that had sprung into life a couple of hours earlier. But we’ll know for next time…

I’ve joined a new patchwork group who meet twice a month about 30 minutes from here, so that’s two sewing groups now which mostly, but not always, seem to meet on consecutive days. Ah well, it is what it is. I’ve also finally persuaded MOH to start Reformer Pilates with me, as I think we’ll both benefit from it and the introductory offer was too good to turn down. I’ve since signed up for extra sessions, and we’ll both go once a week. I know that MOH is finding it hard, which I think is partly because he’s not had a lifetime of attending exercise classes, so things that I don’t need to think about, such as cat-cow stretches, he is completely bemused by. He was also given ‘hamstring homework’ which I don’t think he was too impressed about, but he knows they are tight.

I’m a bit peeved with the NHS decision to move to 28 day prescribing, which in effect would double the cost of some of my medication and triple the cost of another if I didn’t already have a pre-paid prescription. I do thankfully, and one of my medications will stay on a three monthly cycle, which I discovered when I challenged the information provided. It’s also a whole host of more admin, and needing to tie in trips into Newark to be when the chemist is actually open (so not evenings and Saturday afternoons). The chemist will now pick up the admin for my now monthly prescriptions, which I’m grateful for - but it does seem like a job creation and cost based exercise, which has nothing to do with the reasons the NHS cite and give very little consideration to those living more rurally.

Preserving and foraging

I’ve not spent much time in the garden gardening after the sprint to get all our lavender bushes cut by the start of the month, but I have enjoyed seeing the autumn colours develop. I have plans of where I’ll move our succulents and pots to to overwinter, some will be in the garage (now there’s space for them) and others will be deep in the borders. A job for next month, before it gets too cold. I also want to sort out my bulbs as some are in quite small pots, and I think I can probably upgrade them and give them some new soil too, but that’s on my to do list.

This month we’ve been foraging from our neighbour’s garden - foraging in the loosest term though, the chestnuts and walnuts were handed over in a carrier bag on their doorstep, but you know what I mean. The chestnuts were hard work, and I think we left them too long before roasting them, lesson learnt for next year.

The walnuts are amazing - we dried some in our plant room overnight (pictured above) though most of the ones with the black on didn’t make it. They are quite hard to get out of the shell, but once you do the reward is amazing.

We’ve had so many crab apples this year. I’m not sure if that’s because they’re responding to the pruning the tree had last year, or because as others have said it’s a mast year. I’ll share another post on my chilli jelly soon, but it was quite the operation and resulted in the most gorgeous jewel coloured jars, even if there were a few more than I expected.

I’m planning to make another type of crab apple jelly if I get the chance, as there’s definitely enough little apples. But this jelly strainer from Lakeland was invaluable, and I don’t think I would have tackled making a jelly without it. Highly recommend.

The other thing I’ve loved this month was my Bernina day in London. Not only did I get to learn even more about my Bernina which I’ve been able to put into use at home, but I also got to wander around old City haunts, seeing how things had changed and how things had stayed the same. It’s strange though that after spending nigh on thirty years working in the City, it’s possible to feel like a bit of a visitor and not bump into anyone I knew - though it’s been ten or so years since I commuted to the City every day (and in the days when you mostly did go into the office every day).

While wandering around the shops I saw a skirt in M&S and fell in love with it. I didn’t buy it at the time - as the regular length dragged along the floor - but I have since ordered it, and I still love it but I’m not quite sure how I feel about the fact that it’s made from recycled polyester.

It’s not an everyday skirt (!) but I’m also not sure where I’ll wear it, but I have it in case the appropriate situation arises…

Castles, crows and Great Dixter

We’ve been out and about a fair bit this month seeing Divine Comedy in Nottingham and the Counting Crows in Wolverhampton. We’ve seen Divine Comedy before, many years ago at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich - at the time I didn’t have much knowledge of their songs, but since then I’ve been educated by MOH. The Nottingham concert was fab and we had great seats booking them months in advance. There’s a recurring theme with me and concerts though, as I often don’t know much about the band before we go to see them (happened with The Killers and The Courteeners too!), and it’s the same for the Counting Crows - I probably do know some of their songs, I just don’t associate songs and bands together very well (which is why I was so impressed with the Google music search last month - a total revelation for me!)

Towards the end of the month we had a few days away with my in-laws in a cottage near Robertsbridge in East Sussex. The cottage had a view over Bodiam Castle from its back windows, and despite Storm Benjamin we did get out for a quick explore and breath of fresh air, and without getting rained on too which was quite the achievement.

I was keen to visit Great Dixter which was also close by, and we spent some time exploring there the next day before heading into Rye for lunch. What I loved about Great Dixter was how lived in and how un-gardened the garden was, which may sound like a criticism but isn’t. It was a joyous mix of colour, even at this time of year and I’ve now more posts to write, photos to edit and share here.

It’s definitely seems true that as we get towards the end of the year the months speed up, does anyone else feel like that?

If you want to read my previous monthly updates in my ‘This is’ series you’re very welcome.

My garden in September

Moving the pots around the garden last month was a big success, we have had a few more roses but mostly the pots have added some interest, if not flowers, to our view while we’ve made full use of the garden sofa while we can. The succulents on the patio, and elsewhere in the garden, have been the story of the garden this summer for me, and a new favourite that’s for sure. I’ve been adding to them, and they’ve been flowering and it’s been great to watch, though I have to find some winter homes for them all - about six or seven pots - in the garage, which is easily double what we had last year, oops.

At the start of the month some new garden furniture arrived - and sadly it’s remained unused and in the garage, which if you read my September update you’ll know that they’ve added to the challenges we’ve had sorting out the garage!

But they were too good a bargain to turn down, and we spent an afternoon ‘birthing’ them from their very large and heavy box. Everything was cable-tied together and the only way to get them out was to lay the box down and pull it out whole - it made us laugh though. The chairs needed a back plate screwing in place, and seven out of eight of the holes (across both chairs) were in the correct place. The final one needed a bit of persuasion, but we got there.

Ah yes, more succulents - enjoy.

We’ve been prepping the garden for the winter months, and this month that’s mostly meant trimming the lavender bushes. All eight of them. Which is a lot of trimming. I’m surprised though that I haven’t managed to take any pictures of them, and they’ve taken a few sessions to get through them all. Though when the garden bin collection happens next time I will have the sweetest smelling garden bin!

There’s other ways I’m noticing that the season is changing, we have many more spider webs in the garden and the daddy long legs are also making themselves at home. I’m ok with this one in the bay tree, much better than them spying on us through the windows!

One of my small roses is still flowering, and still has buds as well as the smallest rosehips. It’s sheltered by the mock orange and hebes which surround it, and so that’s perhaps why it’s still going strong.

Just along from the flowering rose is the pink fluffy smoke bush, which is fast becoming a favourite. We’ve a couple of dark leaved smoke bushes too, but this one in the inside border just makes me smile. I also need to cut the buddleia bush before the weather changes, but not yet as I’ve no space in the garden bin. The butterflies will be pleased by that I’m sure, though I’m spotting them in other parts of the garden too, still enjoying the sun.

Amongst the weeds, and corks, in the bay tree pot I spotted a cyclamen growing - I don’t think I’ve seen one in this pot before, and I was thinking we don’t have any in this garden yet. Well now I have one, but I think I’ll need to add some more at some point.

The rowan tree sums up autumn, the colours, the berries and I love the leaves too. We can see this tree from the house which is great, and while I won’t be doing anything with the berries - other than watch the blackbirds forage them - I do plan to do something with our crab apples this year.

There’s loads of crab apples this year - our little tree also got the mask year memo - and my plan is to make some chilli and/or herb crab apple jelly, though having read the recipe through properly I’ve now ordered a jelly strainer to make life easier - I’ll share how I get on when it arrives. Wish me luck!