Autumnal garden

 I'm in trouble with hubby, I got his saw out again and worked on our red acer, it was just too bulky this summer. It is brutal, but necessary, next year I will reduce the height. I'm not worried it will grow back, I did the same to my olive treea couple of years ago, and Sam does our magnolia tree regularly. 

I have left growth near the base, removed all of the front section. The wildlife camera is attached to the bottom of the trunk.

The pond is looking clearer, I have added a couple of the branches from my red acer, just to soften the area, the cyclamen plant is coming back, I am so pleased with this area, all I do is ensure the water level does not drop. Mum's bird table top stays here, I like the look.

I have removed the runner-beans and tomato plants, I will mulch the two beds, I will sow broad beans next month, the rest of the veg space will lay farrow for the cooler months. 

The garden as always still has colour, the fleabane daisies again is the star, frothy pretty dasies, what's not to like. 

Saturday was dry and sunny, just few cloudy spells, we enjoyed coffee in our sunroom, a perfect spot out of the wind, I did a fair amount of gardening, making it look good for our visitors this coming weekend. I will pack away all my ornaments and the outside seating area next week, always a sad time here. I managed to add some supports to my agapanthus, I have two spots where the plants are getting huge, I hope the supports will hold the blooms up next year, they are evergreen, so it's best to do it now. 

Sunday was cloudy, not too cold, so a bit more time outside, the veg beds are tidy, I am still picking raspberries, I have also dug out my gooseberry, all the leaves have been ate, I have popped it into a growbag to see if I can prevent sawfly, I have always struggled to grow them. I have everything ready for planting my spring bulbs, stored in the greenhouse, I will get them done early November.

My wildlife camera is now just recording Lilly in the garden at night, I have removed all the low branches, I am surprised not to see other cats coming in, we have often seen them, maybe I'm winning that battle. 

Reading

I love this author, I did not enjoy it as much as other plots, a dad takes his teenage daughter to a camp, they learn about it's dark history, silly things are happening, should he worry. Book 79 read this year. 

Another new author to me, he's ex police now taking a role in the private sector, he has a new team to shape, they have no experience in police work, interesting plots. Book 80 read this year.

Second book in series, the team get caught up with MI16, and help to bring down a evil gang, whose crimes include people smuggling, a good story,  sadly I found the teams ability to find everything out a bit too far, I won't read any more titles. Book 81 read this year.

Another new author to me, and a very different storyline, women have been murdered, what's the connection, and why should Travis get involved. This is a brilliant book, I really enjoyed it, I will look for more in this series. Book 82 read this year. 

Another new author to me, a very different plot, with a troubled past a young mum is a great mum to her young family, whilst trying to come to terms with her teenage years. Her husband is unaware of her plight, how will it all end, too many young lives spoilt.  Book 83 read this year.

 

I am a bookworm, I enjoy reading, I am also a fast reader, if I have a good book (two above hit that category) they are hard to put down, we don't watch much TV, never in the day and often not on in evenings, we will watch a programme we like and then turn it off. 

I have sorted my wildlife camera, it's again working through bluetooth and Wifi, I do need to move it as the lower branches move so often throughout a breezy night, which it records. I had clicked a manual button, which wanted a password each time it turned on, which I had not set up, it now been reverted to automatic log on once apt is opened. 

We met with daughter at her end of town on Friday, got a few bits from Dunelm, popped into B&M, we got George's Christmas present and a great idea for Molly, we could not find it locally, so we went online. Will we will give a book with money inside. Then on to B&Q, I got grit for my spring bulb pots, nothing else, passed on the dead reduced plants, hubby was so happy.

I have turned into my mum, whilst out with hubby I uttered the immortal words 'I wish young people would wear more clothes', there is a local trend for ladies to wear leggings? and a short top, often pale pink, almost looks like they are wearing nothing. Me, I've packed away my sandals, always a sad day, so it's socks and trainers now with warmer jumpers.

Ticking off my list.

I filled my slow cooker with dried fruits, chopped apples, brown sugar, spices and coconut oil, cooked on high heat for an hour, low hear for 2 hours.

Let it cool, use clean jars, mincemeat is done for this coming season. The posh jar will be part of a hand made gift. The 4 smaller jars will be stored longer, the bigger jar will be used for a test run, if I can talk hubby into making pies.

This juice was left over, the dark lower section if from the fruit mixed with the spices, the top section coconut oil, which will solidify, normally discarded, this year I will use the lower section to soak my dried fruit for my Christmas cake, the coconut oil I will add to the cake mix, adjusting the butter weight.

Happy with Wednesdays rainfall on Thursday morning just over 20ml, the garden us looking good.

Wednesday we were inside all day, the rain was relentless, it's that time of year when the spice drifts through the house, it was lovely, I was a bit later doing this, I have everything ready for my cakes, I will wait a couple of weeks before baking, we have visitors due and it's best not to have cakes everywhere.

I sat at my desktop doing a final, final check on my 2025 book, any time at this stage of the task is well spent. I read each page again, checked the placement of text boxes and photo's, did a final spell check, now I'm good to go, Thursday morning I had an email 50% off and free shipping, 2025 has been sent to the printers, the free delivery made it cheapest book for a few years.

I need to check my wildlife camera settings, I saw the first nights recordings, since then I have not been able to view later recordings, it keeps asking for a password and then flipping me over to strange page with no password sections, as yet I have not inputted any passwords. 

Today we are meeting daughter for coffee and chat and a look at toys for some hints, hoping to get ahead again this year.

Thinking ahead

My wildlife camera is set up, this view covers the path beside the garage, any cats visiting always come from the back of the garden. I will leave it here for a while, it's set to video anything passing at night only for now. The first night we just saw Lilly in the front section of the garden, I do plan to move it to the back section at some point.

I did say I had enough spring bulbs, I was thinking about my garden pots, I have previously purchased some white daffodils, but not paperwhites which I love, the other pack can go in the garden pots. Both of these are for inside, I'm giving up on trying to regrow amaryllis bulbs.

 

On our recent trip to my favourite garden centre, we decided to not stop for coffee, instead coming home to hubbys home made scones with cream.

I have been busy with my 2025 blog book, all my post are in the book, they look neat and tidy, all I now need to do is a final read through and do a spell check. I have already received an email with the promise of Black Friday discounts, coming soon. 

I was extremely good at the garden centre, they had lovely plants, we did have a good look, I don't have much space, so I passed on them all. Hubby is going to redo his front garden next year, so there will be a couple of plants I can use. I also did a quick walk through their Christmas section, again nothing I liked. We did get jams and pickles, we both prefer their brands.

We have enjoyed the sunny warm days this week, quite unexpected at this time of year, sat in our sunroom together, it has been the most fantastic addition to our garden space. It's pouring with rain today. 

I have all the ingredients to make mincemeat again this year, the slow cooker does all the work, hubby does like to use homemade in his pies. I have gathered everything for Christmas cakes, I'm making one cake, slightly smaller just for us, I will make a batch of cakes muffin size for daughter and brother, hopefully with a few spare for gifts.