Cooler weather

It is definitely autumn now, the night temperatures are chilly and I've put the pots of greenhouse tomatoes outside to make room for the various citrus trees and bushes that have spent the summer in the open. The squash are inside as well, apart from a mammoth one still growing on the compost heap.

The citrus are at various stages of fruiting. Only the Meyer lemon is a successful crop for me, prolific and flavoursome. The other varieties don't do very much but will be pampered through the winter months nevertheless.

 

 

It's crowded in the greenhouse, I keep banging my head on these lemons, they dangle down from the tree and are always getting in the way!

I'm busy taking cuttings. Some that were taken last year are already fruiting.

I have two trays of delphinium seedlings. When the seed is gathered and sown while still fresh then germination is almost one hundred percent.

 The tomatoes grown outside have been more prolific than those inside but the crop has been much reduced by blight so I won't be growing that variety again. (The seed packet came as a freebie with my gardening magazine.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another free seed packet promised lots of pink frills. It didn't turn out to be quite what was promised, however, although still lovely. Clearly most of the parentage is cosmos Purity, a variety I've been growing for years.

There are still a few nice roses to pick and artichoke flower heads to admire.

The sweetcorn are ripe. Mouth watering!

A second sowing of mangetout are cropping well and the courgettes continue to play hide and seek. I'm tired now of picking cucumbers and the leaves have mildewed, so that's it for this year.

Figs and things

Early autumn in England can be wonderful when the weather is kind. We are having some lovely days. Last night friends came to supper. It was warm and still and we sat outside for a long time with our drinks before going in to the house to eat. I think that we all appreciated being outside so much because we are aware that it is the year's dying fall and that all too soon we shall be confined to quarters.

I've been wandering round the garden at dusk and in the dark just lately  admiring the moon and the bats skeetering about and listening to the nearby hoot of an owl. I love that noise. Enchanting!

Because of the mild weather the veg garden is still cropping well. At long last the fig tree is producing some ripe fruit. Rather grudgingly, only one or two figs ripen at a time but they taste delicious.

Glorious weather.

It is glorious weather and there is the added bonus that life seems to be getting back to normal. Neighbours came to supper midweek, seven of us chatting away happily into the small hours. At the weekend family were home and we spent all our time out of doors, with meals in the garden and long walks in the woods. Batman was full of energy, but you can see that 'Robin' looks rather weary!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have the ladder out to cut back summer growth, rambling roses reaching skyward, the last of the plums to pick as well as some of the ripened apples. What a good purchase this ladder was, I should have bought one years ago.

 

The pear tree is laden with fruit. I never know when to harvest the crop as they are hard to the touch. I know that they should be picked to ripen off the tree, but at what point do I do that? The other problem is that even if I manage to pick them at the right point they don't store so it will be feast or famine on the pear front!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A view of the house from the top of the ladder.