My garden in October

I know, just like buses. There’s no in my garden post for a while, then in two weeks you get two. Most of these pictures though were taken on two trips out into the garden, although when I was out there this weekend I was wondering why we’d not been out there more (wasp incident aside).

Our mini cyclamen have gone into overdrive. When they flower they’re quite pretty, and actually the leaves are pretty spectacular too, so that’s not such a bad thing. MOH gave the lawn its final cut this weekend, and a couple of cyclamen also got the chop, as is his want.

The cyclamen isn’t the only one with pretty leaves, the heucheras are also getting in on the act. This is one of the many plants I’ve acquired from dad which are all going strong, and all very purple.

I’ve had a bit of a light catastrophe though. I hadn’t managed to bring them in before all the rain started. It turns out these “shades” were paper, and very popular with the snails. Whoops.

The shades went, but the lights still work. I’m sure I’ll find a use for them in the garden next year. I say next year as our garden’s being put to bed now. Now that the wooden garden furniture is finally dry, it’s under the tarpaulin along with the metal table and chairs. We’ve still to move the pots into more sheltered places, but hopefully the frosts are a little way off.

At the back of the garden I was pleased to see my new sage plant thriving. And even the sage I thought was on its last legs is doing well too, a bit leggy but still full of sage. I’m thinking I’ll harvest some and freeze them so they’re on hand over the winter when I’m even less likely to want to head out into the garden in search of herbs.

I’m a sucker for ferns and luckily they grow on part of our wall. I’m forever (or it seems like it) sticking them into pots, and it’s always nice to see when they survive and grow into proper sized plants. MOH isn’t a fan of these ferns, but slowly I’m winning him round to the whole free plants thing.

See, more ferns. The larger leaves are Lords and Ladies, the ones with the orange “hand grenade” as MOH calls them. He’s got alternative names for most things, some of which I can share here.

There’s still some summer bedding plants in flower. These geraniums over-wintered last year and are still providing some colour, though the pale pink looks more washed out than it did previously.

In the greenhouse the lights are drying out, usually I’d bring them into the conservatory but this year they’re a bit too mucky.

Nearer the house there’s more colour than we usually have at this time of the year. There’s a lot of berries on the pyracantha which I discovered and uncovered last year. Which when you think about it is quite worrying, we’ve lived here since 2002!

The fatsia continues to be a favourite plant in our garden, and one completely unknown to us before we moved here, but still a plant I’d have in future gardens. At the moment it’s preparing to “flower” - and it looks quite brain-like, don’t you think?

Reflecting on my week #102

My day off on Friday was just what was needed. While I might not have stepped outside the whole day, I gave myself some space to empty my head, and got some chores done. It wasn’t necessarily glamourous but I’ve caught up with the washing (small wins, hey?) and ordered my 2016 photo year book. Yes, 2016, but in my defence it’s been outstanding for a while, so it’s good to get it done.

It’s not been all domestic bliss though, we thought we had problems with our boiler - and we still might - a pool of water keeps occuring; we’re not sure if it’s a coincidence that it’s been on heavier rain days, or not. Our dishwasher has taken to not emptying the water completely, leaving the bottom of the machine a puddle of dirty water, and my washing machine ate one of the towels.

Indeed.

We think we’ve fixed the dishwasher though. A plastic thing (technical term) became dislodged earlier in the week with MOH’s help, when he was trying to fix it. Some googling, which it seems dishwasher symptom searching is a bit like googling your own medical symptoms and best avoided, suggested our pump drain could have gone. Being a bit old school, I looked out the leaflet that came with it almost six years ago.

That helped us work out that one of the plastic parts under the filter shouldn’t have been loose - you’re supposed to need a spoon to prise it out, we didn’t. But it was one of those daft diagrams that made no sense, so it took the two of us longer than it should have to operate on the dishwasher. It seems fixed, so fingers crossed it’s nothing more than that.

It doesn’t solve the small puddle of water under the boiler though, so we’re keeping an eye on that. Of course the boiler is just out of warranty, it would be wouldn’t it?

So the towel. It was one of those big bath sheets, and one that’s soft and generally behaves. Emptying it from the machine and folding it so it was easier to air, but wondering why it didn’t fold properly, I soon saw it’s ripped along half the length. No idea how it happened, only that I’m sure it happened in the washing machine. It’s quite old (ahem) so it’s not the end of the world, but you can bet your life I won’t find one the same or similar.

MY GERBERA IS CONTINUING TO FLOWER

Sunday was a much nicer day here than Saturday and we even got out into the garden. My time in the garden was cut short though, thanks to a wasp, but before that I managed to get the garden lights into the greenhouse and pack away the table and chairs, which had managed to dry out. The wasp, I discovered, was in my gardening glove, and it didn’t end well for either of us.

It stung me on the base of my index finger, and my finger and palm promptly swelled. The pain, was wasp sting painful, but initially I didn’t know what had happened, until I peered into the glove. There wasn’t room for us both, and while I headed inside in search of vinegar, MOH evicted the unwanted guest.

Guess who’ll be checking what’s inside her gardening gloves going forward?

Then there was the rugby, a great game for England on Saturday to reach the Rugby World Cup Final, and a not so great game for Wales on Sunday. Our biggest decision this week is where to watch the final next Saturday. I’d be very happy watching it from the sofa, but MOH is keen to head a bit further afield.

We’ll see how it goes, but I’ve a feeling I’ll be picking up items for a cooked breakfast on the way home Friday…

My garden in September

I realised yesterday that with everything else going on (and mostly going on away from the blog) that somehow we’d reached way into October before I’d shared my regular garden update post. So here it is, there are less photos than usual, but that’s reflecting less time in the garden for all the reasons I’ve already mentioned.

It was good to look through the photos though, as seeing that we had sun was a good reminder, and a bit of a shock after all the rain we’re starting to get used to. The lushness of this climbing plant was rewarding too, as it was one of the ones I spent time rescuing after the new neighbour got a little too over-enthusiastic trimming my plants. I was pretty certain I could rescue some, but I wasn’t sure how well they’d behave, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

You wouldn’t believe quite how much they’ve grown - most of the way up the fence panel. We added the plastic-coated wire fencing, which we’d brought back from the allotment, to use as a trellis. MOH wasn’t keen on the aesthetics, but actually it’s worked well and I’d consider actually buying some in the future to use instead of trellis. It’s easy to put up - we used a staple gun - and quickly it fades away, the dark colour helps.

Some pretty garden lights also make it a little more magical, though it’s been a while since we’ve sat outside. The table is still uncovered, being the optimist that I am, I’m hoping that it will be dry enough soon so that we can cover it up for the winter.

While the photo below isn’t the best, you can see just how far it’s come in a relatively short space of time.

In case you’re wondering, the brown and dead/dying plant on the far side of the trellis is the ivy that our neighbour was trying to remove, and trying to make out was ours. It isn’t. And it’s no longer there, or at least that part isn’t. They’ve done the same further down the garden and have rather cheekily, somehow heaved it over the fence, which I’m not too happy about. And while we never had The Chat before, I’m trying to resist the urge for the dead ivy to miraculously hop over the fence again. I know I should be the bigger person, but, the dead ivy hop is very tempting.

Let’s look at some pretty fairy lights instead, before we move on.

The other thing that’s odd, is these dahlias. When I bought them they were in bud and soon flowered. Then nothing. Nada. All summer. As the weather started to turn they forced a few more flowers, and then dormant again. They didn’t exactly bring colour to our patio, well apart from green, and as you know green isn’t something I’m short of.

The cyclamen and the black grass continue to be a good combination. A subtle combination, and one that’s probably not enhanced by the dried leaves, or weeds. But it’s real at least.

The gerbera has been the star this year. It’s flowered, and flowered, and flowered. Actually I probably should check on it…

And the lettuce. This is still the first sowing, I didn’t need to do a repeat sowing as we were still eating this well into the month. I suspect it’s a bit bitter now, but it was well worth growing. Much better than the plastic bags of salad from the supermarket. Though I know which lettuce I want to grow next year, I’m very much a mild lettuce kind of girl, these are mostly peppery, which MOH is a fan of.

My challenge for the weekend will be to get out into the garden and actually take some pictures so I can do an October version of this post, hopefully as late in the month as this one!

How’s your garden been?