Post Comment Love 30 September - 2 October

Welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’re here.

This week it’s felt more autumnal and I’ve been embracing that, well most of it - the darker evenings are less good, but on the plus side autumn food is a winner in my books. We’ve currently got scaffolding up at the front of our house as we’re having the outside repainted, and that’s not helping with the darker evenings. But it will be great to have the outside freshened up, and yes we are still selling our house but are of the opinion that it’s ours til its sold, and that means keeping up with its upkeep too.

I’ve remembered that I have these two tiny ceramic pumpkins, and as it’s rolling into October this weekend it must be about time to get those out again!

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Sliding into autumn

The signs have been coming, haven’t they?

It’s been clear that a change of seasons has been about to take place, not least because of the autumn equinox on 23 September. There’s been subtler ways that our days have changed though over the past few weeks, and I’m sure yours have too.

We’re no longer wearing shorts and we’re sad about that! Now we’re most likely to reach for our jeans and long sleeved tops. My sandals are still there tempting me to put them on - and occasionally I do - but mostly now I’m choosing proper shoes or trainers. I’ve not yet broken into a coat yet - there’s a few months before that’s likely to happen, but a fleece and/or a waterproof is now a consideration when leaving home, though thankfully not always required.

There’s still some sun at times during the day and it’s been great to make the most of that, I’ve been able to time when I leave the house to coincide with the best of the weather, and I’m grateful for that. Just yesterday I spent an hour or so with my head in a podcast walking around a new-to-me local garden, taking pictures as I went.

CONEFLOWERS TUMBLING OVER THE BORDER AT HALL PLACE BEXLEY THIS WEEK

The food we’re eating has changed too - less salads and more heartier food, which is great - even lunches now have something hot, and I know that soup will once become a regular on our table. For me, autumn food is always welcome I think it’s of the best seasons food-wise! The slow cooker is making more of an appearance on my kitchen worktop and I’m regularly cooking recipes from Sarah’s Slow Cooker Series - they’re seriously tasty, and definitely worth a look if you need some inspiration.

The temperature is lower as you’d expect, and we’ve had one much chillier day this week. That’s meant we’re finally using more than a sheet and a patchwork quilt on our bed. The heating isn’t on yet, but we have progressed to the summer weight duvet - we have the duvets that click together, so there’s a few layers to go before we’ve reached maximum levels yet. Even so, the past few winters we haven’t even made it to the winter duvet stage, let alone both clicked together - but we know it’s an option if we need it.

A MAGNIFICENT DISPLAY OF PUMPKINS, SQUASH AND GOURDS AT NT STOURHEAD IN OCTOBER 2021

In the garden the leaves on the sycamores are still green and don’t look as if they’ll be coming down just yet, but there are other changes; the plants that suffered most in the summer drought are recovering, and our grass is finally green again. It’s patchy, but it’s green and patchy - which is good news. The squirrels are collecting food for their winter stores, and annoying MOH by digging holes around the garden - though I’m pretty sure they never come back for whatever they’re digging!

This weekend we need to move some pots and put away the sun loungers for the winter. I’m debating (with myself) whether it’s time to cover up the garden table and chairs just yet, or if we’ll be lucky to get a little bit more use out of them, even if it’s a snatched hour or two here and there.

I don’t know about you, but I’m here for it - autumn is probably my most favourite season, what about you?

My garden in August

The hot weather continued this month, and our grass got drier and drier. A drought was declared and our hosepipe was put away and we started to use some of our grey water on our pots, and on the plants that looked like they needed it most. That said our plants, and even the grass, are more resilient than we think. Writing this post later than I usually would has provided the benefit of hindsight, and that’s helpful.

The garden wasn’t without colour either - roses, sweet peas, verbena and agapanthus were flowering, just not with the same gusto or vigour as perhaps they usually would. We only had three flowers on our two pots of agapanthus, last year there was three times as many. The fatsia seemed to be most visibly suffering, dropping leaves that had yellowed and some which were burnt to a crisp. My dilemma was should I trim it now, or wait - for a while I waited but eventually I thinned it out and I think that has helped, who knows?

The bay tree that I’d cut and dried the leaves from had sprung back into life, as plants do when you cut them which is why I was hesitating about giving the fatsia the same treatment. And it’s good to see this one fill out and respond so well - there’s a chance that it may yet become as dense as it’s ‘twin’ but perhaps it’ll need a few more cuts over a few more years for the difference to be less obvious.

The white rose on the patio has also been flowering slowly, a few buds appear then the flowers come out, the petals drop and some more buds appear. It must make being an insect hard work, so it was especially nice to capture this one going about their purpose and heading straight into the centre of the rose.

Our trees (which were cut in mid-June) continue to thrive - this photo was taken mid-August and at this point we hadn’t had a proper downpour, though a couple were soon to follow. And it was great to see, and feel, the rain. When it rained there was a sense of relief, people didn’t seem too fussed about being caught in a shower (assuming it wasn’t one of the huge ones!) and it was all very good natured. The trouble with the huge downpours is that there’s really nowhere for the water to go when the ground is baked, and at one point later in the month, we did have puddles forming on our grass which was weird to see.

All of the trees that were cut have now started to show new growth, and that’s really good to see. It’s also good to see our garden slightly less bare again! Even the ornamental quince bush which got a bit trampled on the tree cutting day has recovered well. In fact it’s looking healthier than another of the same variety we have elsewhere in the garden, so proof that a severe prune (rather than a trampling) is a good thing every now and then.

It’s also been nice to enjoy the garden in the evenings - the lights are back up, and on one evening were were treated to this glorious sunset - the perfect backdrop for a G&T too!

With showers more regularly forecast we’ve taken to leaving trugs around the garden to collect water - with mixed success it must be said! But every little helps, and we’re hoping that the grass will be a resilient as the experts are saying it is, as we much prefer ours to be green!