As autumn arrives

It's time to collect conkers, there is a huge Horse chestnut tree in our park, we picked up a handful, leaving loads for the local children, I love the colour and shine on these, here in a bowl in the kitchen

The second lower branch has been removed from our acer, hopefully it will fill out again, I can then keep it trimmed and not have to cut it back harsh, we want the growth just over the slate area. It will require more delicate trimming to reach a decent shape.

These daisies are back in full bloom, I just adore them, both my snowberry plants have died back, I will rethink the back section of this bed, I would like some height along the back.

We popped to B&Q for some cyclamen plants, I also got a pack of reduced violas as well, I have planted most of them into various pots.

Sadly along the back fence it looks as if my pyracanths has died, the begonia in the huge pot is blooming.

One of my snowberry plants had one green branch, so I have cut all the deadwood off and planted in one of my growbags, all I can do is give it a chance to revive itself. I have also potted up two daisies from my birdbath dish, would be nice to have them next spring as well.

We have ate carrots, potatoes and runner beans a few times, and mixed lettuce leaves, tomatoes and cucumber most days, the veg garden has come to life. Oh we get a handful of raspberries every other day.

It's been a grey dull week, with low cloud and not too much rain, we have not gone out much, most of our spare time is reading, I have picked up my knitting and cross stitching. I do need to sort the last couple of months in my 2025 blog book before November.

For once we have no projects to do, normally at this time of year we have one task, everything is up together inside and out. I have done one big online purchase, which should arrive in due course, we had been chatting and decided we required a replacement, purchased now because it was in a September sale.

Sun worshipers

I have always loved succulents, this bowl was created last year, I've done nothing with it this year.

These are scattered along by the side bed, again I have left them to grow.

This plant has loads of babies and lives in my greenhouse, these haworthia cooperi are beautiful whilst small, the leaves swell and look almost transparent. I have reduced my plants in the greenhouse,  quite a few started to look ropey. 

The hedgehog house was too big for the space behind my big pot, hubby asked if we could put it under the acer, it fits here and looks good, hubby added a waterproof cover for the roof. I put some violets by the side of the ramp.

The season has shifted toward autumn, I will move the succulents into the greenhouse, they don't mind the rain, all are on feet so the pots can drain, they will survive the cold as well, I just prefer to relocate them to a drier spot.  

On a completely different note, our tree surgeon, Sam called in the week, we have been chasing him for an invoice for his recent work, he has agreed he will return in the future and cutback both our Magnolia tree and the front boundary, he says we won't be beaten by our horrible neighbour, he can pop his camera in his lorry and record himself doing any work out the front. I am so relieved, it's not a task hubby and I can do easily anymore, I really expected him not to return. 

Fruits

 I've been watching my raspberry plants grow, tucking them behind poles to enable them to grow up the back and on to the arches. One stem grew quicker and stronger, hum, not sure, checked on Lens (a plant identification apt) and I was right to be wary,  its an elder, rooted in from next door, as with every plant in her 'garden', its right next to our boundary fence, I can't dig it out yet, I cut it back and hammered a rusty nail into stem, in hope it stops it growing so fast and I will be able to identify which root to dig out once raspberries have finished.

The rest of the fruits are doing well, loads of rhubarb, hubby has made jam, we had loads in freezer from last year. I cut the blueberry plant right back, now loads of new growth, so few berries this season as they flower and grow on second year growth. My gooseberry is in its 3rd year, no flowers again, it was getting to a nice size, sadly all the leaves were ate, probably sawfly,  so I have cut it back to the ground, if sawfly is a problem I will dig the plant out. Only the rhubarb and gooseberry are in the ground, the blueberries are in a huge pot. 

Strawberries are growing, they are turning red, I love growing them in this tower so easy to water and harvest, I have a small pot in front of our garage another sunny spot, once the berries are finished I will move the pot. In the tower the right side always set fruit first, I do need to pop more bags over the green fruits. There is a dark red hellebore in front of the tower, I have loads of flowers in the bed. 

I have solved the issue of slugs and snails in this small raised bed, I have put copper wire mesh all around the wooden sides, so far it is working, these plants are doing well and no signs of being nibbles. 

The blackberries growing along the garage are filling out, loads of new growth, so again I'm hopeful of a good crop, it has been there for years, I do cut it back most years, it's a thorn-less cultivated one. 

We are eating new potatoes, lettuce and cucumber, strawberries, rhubarb and a few summer raspberries, no sign of the peas, beetroot is just showing and my carrots are very slow, the tomato plants are growing, my garden is a small space, I don't get big harvest. We both enjoy homegrown produce, nothing beats the taste of fresh vegetables. 

The promise of sunny warm days at the weekend is keeping us going, I managed to move a few flowering plants, totally the wrong time, they have grown too big and were crowding each other, I did trim them back and feed them, the wet weather helped them settle. 

Whilst it rains I stitch or read, nothing worth watching on TV, no photos from my sister from her big day, I did ask her, my SIL sent me a couple she sneakily took, they were told no photos. 

I'm not going to say it...

 We are sitting out this heat wave, I do a bit of gardening first thing, I water later in the evenings, I have a lance on my hose, its a longer pole with spray at the end, allows me to water the base of plants without bending, this is when I am most grateful for a small garden. These roses are stunning, they change colour as they open, I cut it back last year so the flowers are lower. They hide the gap between the fence and garage, by the end of the summer they will reach the top of the fence.

I adore this bed, just 3 years old, these fleabane daisies are a froth of colour, the aquilegia behind are new this year, four plants, I'm happy if they propagate and I have loads more, my snowberry plants (2) are slowly growing and will fill out in time, my astilbe is in the middle and should shoot up soon.

I love pots you can give plants the correct environment to grow, Kirts grass hair is better than I imagined, I do like to have a few pots displayed together. Just a few of the pretty flowers here in our garden.

I will trim our olive tree, its full of blossom and getting bigger than we want, another tree we both love, we have had this tree since 2019, I feed it once a year and clip it often.

Another loved plant is my pomegranate, I started a seed way back in 2017, its been in this pot since 2022, it was moved to behind our seating last year, I've stopped clipping it and would like it to grow higher, its not a tree. I do have herbs in pots at both ends of the seating area.

I have been careful when purchasing new plants to remove weeds from pots before planting, I also prefer to grow from seed, which helps keep weeds at bay, so I don't have too bigger issue. I am pulling the buttercups from my back fruit bed, they are taking over, lesson learnt, they need space. In my side bed I have meadow rue, it's a pretty low green ground cover, all through the summer I am pulling it out, it spreads by root and can be a thug, I do like it around my big herb pot.

We did not see daughter and little ones on Tuesday, they stayed home, where they could play inside in the cool, George was going to have a sleepover, but he's not sleeping well, so we postponed it, whilst sad not to see them, we understand their welfare is always most important. I found sitting outside under the parasol with the slight breeze best, the morning temperature was 29°, as it got hotter we later went back inside.

Crafting

 I was extremely pleased to see an email from the publisher I use with a great discount, so I checked 2024 blog for the last time, uploaded it and paid for it to be made into the book, the saving was over £40, so waiting for the right discount is always worth while. November is always a good discount month, Black Friday is best, I am doing well with 2025 and will send it for printing then, which I have said would be my last printed blog book. I am happy with 2024, so far I can't find any mistakes, there are normally one or two, which is OK, I'm not perfect.

I decided to stitch the whole of the top line to enable me to gage the size of my work, the line should be straight, but the frame has pulled it wonky, I am enjoying this part, it's an easy design to stitch, this is called counted cross stitch, the linen is blank, I have a printed pattern to follow, I have to count the stitches to ensure they are placed in the correct position, sewing one stitch in the wrong place can cause huge issues, with a smaller repeat pattern it so simple. 

This is the first of three stars in the middle, they will tumble down, it helps ensure there is no clash in the designs, often when putting patterns together they can cause issues where there are not enough space for the whole design, so if I pop a 'star' in the way it hides any issues. 

Look what I found in B&M, at £5 each these smaller plastic pots were not such great value and slightly a different shade, still perfect for my tulip display next spring, I will order from Farmer Gracy, I got bulbs from them last time and they all grew, I will NOT purchase anymore pots. I need to cut holes in the bottom for drainage.

I did get my sewing machine out, I had a bit of mending to do, I prefer to do it and not let it mount up, plus Molly unicorn rucksack's strap required mending, she does love it, so I wanted to get it back to her. Most evenings now I have a video call from George and then sometimes another from Molly, Friday night she wanted to tell me she made a giraffe for the man's 100 birthday, I said oh Sir David Attenborough,  bless her she said 'do you know him'.

We are staying in an apartment with hubby's younger sister and her husband, his older sister is on a trip with her daughter, staying in a local hotel, older sister is 80 this week, so we decided to join in the fun and ensure she has a good birthday. We have visited Llandudno a few times, it's a lovely town and beach, we have been to the top of the Great Orm, sharing a space with his younger sister is very different, she does love to read, and shop. Plus we get time away from the work in the garage, which is coming along nicely. 

Our local councils have not changed much, most people know when something is working its best not to change, the area is a mixture of Tory and Lib dems, most of them had less votes this time, hopefully we should not see many changes. The cities of Portsmouth and Southampton have had the biggest changes.

Growing up

My pyracanths is spreading along the fence, this plant should grow to the end, it soon will have blossom which the bee's love and in the winter months red berries for the birds. I have two Jasmines, one is my winter jasmine, we see tiny yellow flowers when everywhere else is bare, the other which is still tiny I can't remember it's name.

 My honeysuckle is as always top heavy, I do get flowers, I took a cutting which rooted and I planted, so hopefully I should have another plant further along. 

I potted up my mock orange, for now it is placed here, I was thinking of moving further down the fence to fill out the bare section, this gives lovely white flowers, it's better in a pot as it can get huge. 

 This back fence is slowly filling out, the white rose in the corner has loads of stems, I am trying to fan them out, in hope I can block out the garden behind, with a bonus of being able to have cut roses in the garden.

I am not a fan of plants growing up fences, I know garden designers will always suggest to grow things up to blur your boundaries, I do love to see a tidy fence, we painted ours grey so they become a feature. Along this back section our fence is low, years ago we added the wire top to stop the neighbours cats getting into our garden and fighting with our cats. Now my mission is to have a wall of greenery, with flowers when I can, I can only see a small part from the house, but I am often working in this area, so it pleases me to have the extra good looking space. Our neighbours have a huge shed and do not use their back section.

Our soil level is higher than the garden behind, and they have 3 trees close to our boundary, so it is necessary to have most things in pots, along with a couple potato bags and my leaf mulch bins, it's a full area, wide enough for my water but and compost bins on the other side, my centre path is not huge but it works for me.

Hubby is still working in the garage, he does not require my help, which is OK, I can always find things to do in the garden, I have cut back the daffodil leaves, they were turning yellow, I have also cut back the bluebells, they had gone over, I can see what's growing in my side bed, I am hopeful things will return. My peony is not doing well, plenty of leaves, just two buds, one has opened, the other is distorted and won't grow. I have loads of buds on my climbing rose, the three bushes are still just leaves.

We voted yesterday,  local elections are important, our council has done well, not full of debt, now we wait the results.

Spending

 My cross stitch is pure enjoyment, I recently purchased this larger wooden frame, it holds the fabric firmer, plus I can stitch the whole width, which should be around 20" and square, so it will be one of my biggest pieces. For now I am focusing on the edging, this time I will do this design all round, I think I have a clever plan to ensure all the designs line up.

I saw this book and thought it might be helpful for me, my two veg beds are 1 metre by 2 metres, so I have 4 square yards to grow things in, it should help with companion planting, which I'm not so great at, got it second hand so saved money.

Another thing I have purchased this month is this small 50ltrs water butt, hubby will drill a hole in the top to help capture rain, I have placed at the back of the garden, it's not attached to anything. Once a month I feed my plants, often with a seaweed liquid, it's a pain to keep measuring for the many watering cans, so now I can fill this add the seaweed in one go and feed my plants, the liquid seaweed does not settle.

I got these two 3ltr planters from Lidl, they cost £4.99 each and will be perfect for tulips displays next spring, these are plastic and light weight, they look like the expensive ceramic pots. It's been a couple of years since I had new pots, I will mix them with existing pots to make the display. It's a shame they only had one size.

Sunday was tremendous fun, the children ate well, played outside and behaved nicely, its not always I can say that as they get older, they were very happy to be with us, we did not come inside until much later. Monday was housework day, we have spent most of the past week outside, just inside in the evenings, so how does the place get so dusty, its all clean now. Again I sat outside enjoying the sunshine, I've been reading, done some stitching, sadly no knitting. 

Yesterday and today hubby has been sorting his stuff in the garage, he is clearing some space and 2 shelves so I can move all my gardening bits. He put bits on marketplace and some sold, the rest with a load of junk went to the tip, I'm keepingan eye on him, I've already pulled out 2 items of mine he was about to throw out. I have gardening stuff I can take to local schools, I does feel good to be sorting this space, it's a first stage of an ongoing project.

This life

 Another good book, Lucas has writers block, so he goes on a retreat near to where he grew up, he's very interested in the lady owner, her daughter went missing 2 years ago, he tries to help her, that's when things go wrong. A clever plot as he looks into various people in the village, it twist and turns, I did not guess the ending. Book 32 read this year.

I'm loving this cross stitch, it's a bit repetitive at the moment, having said that, it's two designs I have mashed together both of which I love. I am a bit unhappy with the first pink flower where I stitched the bottom corner, I miscounted on the first try, so I unpicked it, the canvas was a bit messy, I have tried to stitch over my second lot of stitches, this is the best I am going to make it, I am really going to have to live with it. 

I have planted my bottle brush plant, I'm pleased with the look, it will fill this area with colour, keeping it in the pot and regular snipping will help keep it smaller, as Steve commented with the right conditions it can grow into a tree. The astilbe came out of the pot easily and is now planted in the side bed where it was originally purchased for, my astrantia is planted as well, just the french marigolds to go in. 

It's been 10 days since I last showed my peanuts, they are all doing well, loads of new growth, I have far too many seedling left, I have offered them locally in hope someone else would want to grow them. The two bags are staying inside the greenhouse, Molly's 3 will be planted in a bag and grown outside, just to see how they do. 

Thursday my shoulder felt slightly better so I decided to do a bit of gardening, I wanted to place my new plants, I am also moving plants outside the greenhouse in the daytime, so they are ready to go out soon. We walked to the village through our local park, the wind was still cool, I think we must be getting used to it, the park was busy as ever, we see more grandparents minding young children, often in the play area, and loads of dog walkers. The day felt much warmer, we opened the parasol to shelter from the sun.

Friday, another day at home, we are starting to sort the garage, I have my gardening bits in there, hubby has all his tools, countless pieces of wood (might come in handy one day) and things we will never use again, we are planning to move things around to empty the front section. I also sorted the huge cupboard under the stairs, moved a few bits around, removed a huge wine rack we no longer fill.

Saturday was sunny blue skies, we walked to the village through the park again, the gardens are all coming into bloom. Not much to do outside, sit and watch the birds, hubby is still feeding them, he is always cleaning their feeders, and their water spots. My few bedding plants are almost ready to go in the ground, they are spending days outside but back in greenhouse overnight, we have been frost free for weeks. 

I'm at daughters house, little ones were bathed, and both in bed, lots of cuddles, Will had a late shower and is watching something on YouTube,  soon he will be in bed, then early night for me. Tomorrow everyone is at ours for the first BBQ of the year, our garden is ready, we have loads of their favourite things to eat, weather will be good.

New life

My pomegranate is coming back to life, I love the colours of these new leaves, hopefully I may get a few flowers on it this summer, I moved the pot last summer and it does seam happy, no signs of any distress, before I kept it trimmed to a lower height, now I will let it grow, it will make a nice backdrop for the seating area, along with my herbs. This plant I grew from a seed, started back in 2017.

I mixed loads of flower seeds and sprinkled them into these two bags, I used these for cut flowers last year, I also have freesias in here as well, most of the seeds should do well it's a warm sunny spot. This for me is proving a successful way to start seeds, the bags protect them from the worse of the weather and snails.

I removed six lupins seedlings from the above bags, I love to grow them, sadly they never return after their first year, these will be useful to fill gaps. The tray at the bottom of photo I have completely forgot what seeds I have sown, I checked with Lens, it can't make it's mind up, could be forget-me-nots or cornflowers, its a case of wait and see.

I also planted some bulbs, liatris spicata, they have tiny flowers on stalks, I put two packs in the back of my square bed last year and nothing grew, so once these are bigger they can go out.

My hubby purchased a plant for our garden, it was market day on Wednesday, the plant stall is good. I made comment I loved these bottlebrush plants and one would go in my pot, which is in a sunny sheltered spot, I had just popped my astilbe in it, but I can place it elsewhere in the garden. As I was deciding hubby paid the man, I'm happy with my latest addition. 

I have been out most days looking for snails, I know where they hide, catching them early helps my crops, I do have beer traps I can use, for now I search by hand, there are not many weeds, I have them under control for the moment. My cucumber plants is growing well, I have 4 tomato plants, hoping for a good harvest this year and loads of lettuce plants at various stages.

I have also purchased another astrantia, it's a pink flower, I do love these plants, I want to dig out my penstemon, it's too big for the spot, plus last year there were hardly any blooms, I also got 20 french marigold plants from B&Q, my own seeds failed germinate. It's truly naughty to purchase more plants, I have plenty growing in the greenhouse. 

It's been a quiet few days, I have hurt my left shoulder, I've had problems since 2010, when an operation left me with nerve damage and a weakness, all I can do is rest, which is not so bad with the sunshine, I do wish the very cool wind would drop, it's nice to work outside but still cool to sit for too long. Today they have promised the wind will disappear, I have high hopes, I have a few jobs to sort in the square flower bed.

Thank you for your kind comments regarding our garden, whilst I do most of the work these days, it's a space for both of us, our refit back in 2023, was the final stage, ensuring its a much easier after 17 years we have done all the hard work, we know what grows here, I am an organic gardener, I use no chemicals anywhere, watching the wildlife gives us as much pleasure as seeing the blooms. I don't regard anything here as work, I'm happiest with a set of snipps in my hand, either deadheading or keeping things in shape.

Veg

 My broad-beans do not look as good as in previous years, I am hoping more shoots will form and then flowers and beans, I will dig out the leeks, which again are small, I have plans for this bed, I want to cover the ground to warm it up. Another free potato plant in the front corner, every year I have managed to leave a tiny spud behind.

This bed has done better over the winter months, I harvested carrots and cabbages, the onions will stay again for at least 6 to 8 weeks. I already have my plans for the summer in both beds, runner beans, peas, tomatoes and a cucumber plant.

I have earthed up my first early potatoes in these two bags, and I have planted my second earlies in another two bags, I have carrots in two large pots and shallots in a huge tub, I hope to start another bag of carrots soon.

I am having success with my peanuts in the greenhouse, I have 3 small plants in each bag, I still have 5 more smaller plants and in the square pot Molly's are growing. These bags will stay here they require heat and light all through their growing season. I am going to try to grow a couple plants outside as well.

I have lettuce started in my raised outside bed and under cover in the greenhouse, I have spring onions and radishes coming through. I have started two different tomato plants as well. My runner-beans and peas won't be started for a few weeks, unless the weather becomes warm again. I aim to grow more salad leaves this year, my neighbour won't accept payment for her fresh hens eggs, I am planning to provide her hens with fresh greens every week whilst I can. 

My winter veg was very mixed this time, I won't grow leeks again as hubby does not use them so much in his cooking, just for soups. Brassicas take up too much room in my small garden, I will still grow a few, so far I try and keep these beds full through the cooler months. 

I can't wait to be growing in the veg beds, the rest of the garden is full, I have a few more grow bags to utilise, its a good start to the new season.

Tulips

 I fell back in love with tulips a couple years ago, I do grow them in tubs and love them, pops of colour. These were the first to flower and were new last year.

These were new this year and stunning.

I did not plant many bulbs last year, I have plans for a bigger display next spring, so far the wind has not caused too much damage, they are not playing to well, the flowers are popping up one at a time, so no big burst of colour here. 

The tulips in this pot are blind again, not one flower bud, its a shame as they were lovely frilly colourful blooms, the giant snowdrops looked good and soon the fleabane daisies will flower, so all is not lost.

These are special and a few years old, all fake, I do love a display inside to cheer us.

In the past couple of years I have only purchased 'named' brands of bulbs mainly from garden centres, but it does not seam to make any difference, my failure rate is still high, especially in the second year blooms, I am aware tulips blooms often fail to return in following years, also often I get a completely different colour than on labels. This year I will purchase from a different suppliers, if you have any trusted sites please share them with me.

Daughter came with children on Sunday, Molly is a lot better still not eating or drinking much, she did join in playing with George, she has missed the start of the new school term, and will be off a few more days. She has suffered eczema, rashes and sore patches all her life, she can't have any traces of dairy products, she is still under hospital care trying to sort all her allergies. Thank you for your kind comments on my last post, it was scary to see her so poorly, it was the worse attack she has ever had. 

We have a busy week ahead, so I'm resting when I can, not much to do in garden, the greenhouse is full, all doing well, I plan to sow more next week.

As March fades

Easter has arrived here, I don't have too much, just enough to keep George and Molly happy, we have everything for their egg hunt, all hidden away for now, just hoping for good weather.

I had a long overdue sort out of my ceramic pots, these are for houseplants, I have no idea how I have so many pots, these have been cleaned and I have listed them on local Facebook marketplace, I don't think they will sell, so I will probably pop them to a charity shop. I still have a few left, which I like and will keep.

George has settled into calling me each evening at bedtime, they are allowed to stay up later in school holidays, we chat for 5 minutes as he settles, we chat about his day, he tells me his type of jokes, then he says goodnight and ends the video call, I look forward to a call everyday. Often all I can see is the top of his head.

Since Christmas Molly has been making me bracelets and now a necklace, she adores beads and making things, I visited a new shop in our area All over the world, which I loved, so many nice bits, we were very happy we could get her a few more tubs of beads.

Another new shop to our location is Hotel Chocolat, we both love their choice of flavours, it would be rude to visit the store and not bring anything home, these will last us ages, plus the store has a small bistro, making it a nice place to stop for refreshments.

Friday we popped to our local out of town shopping at Whitley, J9, M27, hubby needed a visit to M&S, and a stroll, it's an outside space which we do like, hubby got his new socks, I did pop into Flying Tiger but preferred the new store All over the world. Later 17 of us went for a Chinese meal, it's an all you can eat place, if you chose well you can get a decent meal, they are very popular and now have added more tables and chairs, we were at the back of the huge dining room, and it was a maze to get to the serving area. Having said that the conversation was fun, but on the whole it was very loud. 

Saturday we had a day at home, I pottered outside and in the greenhouse, I have planted 5 foxgloves and 4 aquilegia in their final places, and taken more plants out of the greenhouse to harden off. I had a coffee with our neighbour, I took a couple bolted cabbages to her chickens, later I did some knitting, we tested our brains with the 1% club on TV and remembered (well hubby did) to change the few clocks not linked to the internet. 

Sunday was dull and cloudy, shame we can't get two sunny days in a row, I still did my very quick (it's a small area) walk around the garden, with Lilly she is often beside me when outside. We did go for a small walk, the wind again was really cold.

Today I have very little planned, it's again dull with a few storms due, so a day inside, I have been a bit lazy and have loads of ends to sew in on my blanket.

It's been a boring restful weekend, daughter stayed at home with the children, she sorted Will's bedroom (it was a mess) and did some gardening, mowed the lawn, George and Molly happily played outside, they were both very tired last week at school and needed a gentler pace, we hope to see them this week.