It's been a lovely autumn day with no rain or harsh wind.
The moon appeared as clouds were forming
but in the morning the sun shone and the sky was blue.
Time to be outside doing a little leaf clearing.
The ash and chestnut trees are bare branched now
but the walnut tree has yet to drop most of it's leaves.
We've harvested a wonderful crop of nuts this year.
(We don't always manage to beat the squirrels!)
There's a great deal of tidying up to be done in the garden.
Some shrubs have been cut back in the border,
a continuation of last autumn's work.
The result is an enormous heap of material to burn.
The mistletoe balls are shaping up well on the apple trees.
At this time of year the sun is low and shadows long. The garden is shaded from the south by our neighbours' trees and our house also throws deep shade over flower borders and the gravel area. I would like to have every bit of sun that is going but I also like to have trees around me. Life's a compromise!
For Skywatch Friday.
Nature has being in full throttle getting ready for winter. The full moon and the sun has been glorious though and gives autumn a good name. Hope you are not doing too much gardening after your incident...
ReplyDeleteWorry not, Coulda, my contribution to the cutting back was merely to put chalk marks on the limbs where I wanted them to be sawn off. My rib cage has healed and the inability to move my neck doesn't bar me from a spot of leaf raking!
DeleteBeautiful. Everything looks peaceful getting ready for a winter's nap.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, beautiful indeed, Gardener. Today, bitter cold, dull and damp. /:-(
DeleteLove your garden - I can't believe you have harvested so many walnuts - what on earth will you do with them all? Such serene skyshots beautiful.
ReplyDeleteIt's the best year ever for nuts. The walnut tree has grown incredibly over the last few years. We have cut off large lower limbs but left the crown undisturbed and it has certainly repaid us with a wonderful crop - plenty to share with friends and family. We do eat lots, a few to nibble each day and larger amounts in place of meat in savoury recipes and in baking.
ReplyDeleteI'm following your novel writing month with interest and admiration. I've got two novels stuffed in a drawer which I keep meaning to do something about. I hope we are going to have the chance to read your result when time is up!
What beautiful shots - love the first ones of the sky.
ReplyDeleteHello Lady Fi, I was pleased to 'capture' the moon inside my garden frame!
DeleteI lost my beloved fox-terrier, Maisie, almost a year ago to a tumour at the age of eleven, so it is great to see Oscar looking so fit and well enjoying life by the lake.
A lovely garden! Same work in a different part of the world... leaf clearing. I really will be happy when the last leaves are cleaned from the lawn. Don't ask how many bags of it we already carried back into the Wood beside our garden :o).
ReplyDeleteLove your photos with the moon on it... just beautiful.
Have a great week.
Alex
Aah, leaf clearing - and look how many are still to fall from the walnut tree! We already have a huge pile rotting down on the compost heap in a very ugly corner of the garden next to the oil tank. But I'll be pleased we have gone to the trouble in a year or so when the leaves have transformed into sweet, friable compost.
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful photos. The season change here in Southern California is sooooooo subtle. Having grown up in the North I miss the seasonal drama.
ReplyDeleteNow that we have had a cold snap of weather the colours are looking wonderful, especially when there's a bit of sunshine. Fierce bad weather is threatened for tonight but I am aware that for all the fuss that we Brits make about it our climate is very benign compared to the devastation experienced in other countries. My heart goes out to those people whose homes have been wrecked. I look at my own home, crammed with family memories and cannot imagine how I would recover from such loss.
DeletePutting the garden to bed for the winter is such a bittersweet chore, isn't it? Especially a garden as lovely and colorful as yours (the photos in your post that followed this one of the last of your flowers were beautiful!) These photos are also lovely - I especially love the first two of the moon coming up and love how you framed it in both! And though your leafy lawn represented a chore for you, I thought it was quite pretty! I'm jealous of your haul of nuts!! We pay a fortune for nuts here but they're a staple for us so we grimace and bear it. What a treat it must be to have them grow on your trees! (I do hope the squirrels got some too, even if you did get there first this year!) :-)
ReplyDeleteHello Laloofah, don't worry about the pesky squirrels, they have plenty to eat, the woods around us have sweet chestnut and hazel trees so they lack for nothing! Many years we are frustrated by the number of walnuts that they manage to carry off to eat and to bury. I know that they do the latter because of the saplings that pop up in the most unlikely places - in the veg plot, in plant pots and also in the lawn!
ReplyDeleteI like leaf gathering, I don't really find it a chore. It's light work with an immediate result unlike many tasks in the garden.
I was pleased with myself to 'capture' the moon in the garden frame. Blogging is a great excuse to get the camera out and do such things.