Our Garden

It has been a while since I did a blog post about our garden.  Above are plants that are blooming now apart from the yellow hollyhock and the sunflower(s) (in flower during September).  The large thumbnail of the rose was taken yesterday.  On the whole we've enjoyed sunny days.  Today it's sunny again and calm, but yesterday it was windy and, of course, the weather is getting colder.  

There were moments in the middle of September when I thought it was time for us to get a professional person to come and trim the hedge, but Mr P loves his gardening and despite not being well he trimmed the hedge himself and also persevered with his plan for rooting out the cypress trees next to the greenhouse so that his tomatoes and other plants growing inside get more light.  He took his time. The trunks are being used to create a better support for a rather rickety fence behind the hedge which borders our plot and that of our neighbours' large, mainly uncultivated garden.

We've gathered the figs.  We had a glut of them and we shared them around with local family and friends.  Our granddaughter has been coming to see us after work as it's on her route for home and she often has a meal with us.  A week or two ago we enjoyed a fig and nut cake that her Mum had made.  The apples are not ready to pick yet.   

There has been a steady crop of tomatoes which we've eaten either fresh or have bottled.  Mr P gathered more of the ones in the greenhouse and bottled them yesterday.  There are still plum, cherry and round varieties ripening in the covered yard.

The above photos I took this morning.  When I see Michaelmas daisies in full bloom and hydrangea heads in the front garden beginning to turn a paler shade I know Autumn is here.  Hopefully we'll get more sunny days.  We need some cheering up since most of the news isn't uplifting.  We're thankful that Mr P and I stay mobile even if we don't go far from home at the moment.  I hope that wherever you are all is well with you.

Thank you for coming by,

Linda.

Recent days

This was the scene from our bedroom window earlier this morning.  It was still dark except for the street light in the lane reflecting onto the trunk of a lime tree and the glowing yellowy/red of the rising sun in the sky. 

 

The neighbourhood trees have now lost their leaves, but there's plenty of colour still in the garden.

 

It was time for some more baking and last week it was another chocolate cake and a small meat and potato pie for an evening meal.  As usual half of the cake gets given to our local daughter when she calls during the weekend with the shopping.  However, I've decided to do some online shopping now and again for the times when she or our granddaughter cannot come by with some shopping. 

The tomato plants have been cleared from the covered yard although there are still a few tomatoes still ripening indoors in the kitchen.  It's amazing to still have a few fresh tomatoes for cooking.  The citrus trees and pot plants have been brought indoors and Mr P continues to grow some onions and other vegetables. 

I've managed to get out for regular walks mainly in the local park and we've driven over to the next village of Bradfield, stopped and I did some walking in the lower area by Agden Brook.  I'll share some of my walking experiences next time. 

Finally, a touch of festive cheer was added to the front living room when our granddaughter came by and brought us a small Christmas tree which was then placed in the front window.  We don't put out the decorations until nearer to Christmas, but we appreciated the thoughtful gift.  I shall be thinking about making an Advent wreath and on Sunday I shall get out the Advent calendar that I recycle and use every year.

It's a while since I posted a blog, but I've been looking at yours when I can and always appreciate the comments you leave.  For those who had Thanksgiving I hope you had a good day.  Regards and all the best to everyone wherever you are as we journey into December.

This and that

 

Today indoors it's quite dark due to overcast skies.   There's the likelihood of rain although we did have a sunny Sunday.  When the sun is out and shining through the yellow leaves the surrounding area looks glorious.  The tomatoes are still on the vines in the covered yard, but most of them have been picked along with the pears.  They should continue to ripen indoors.  We brought the garden table and chairs into the covered yard as it's unlikely we'll sit outside now that it's got so much colder and windier.  We'll also bring in the tender plants in pots.

Some of the ripening tomatoes and pears get used as they ripen

  The rest of the pears are wrapped up and stored in the garage ready for bottling.

We've planted a lot of bulbs and made cuttings of rosemary.  The hyacinths need planting in individual small pots so that I have some in flower for Christmas or the new year. I could only get blue ones this year although I prefer the white.

When the weather has been dry Mr P has been building his greenhouse on the vegetable plot site.  He initially used some planks that were lining the raised beds, but had to order the rest of the wood, waterproof paint and perspex panels for the sides and clear corrugated ones for the roof. 

Our daughter and grandson brought our food shopping around at the weekend. We had to talk from the top of the driveway because of the new Tier 3 restrictions and in any case we have to continue to be apart from one another.  Meeting in gardens is not allowed.  We would have to go to the park or somewhere similar to meet up with them and our local granddaughter. The rules are not clear about support bubbles. Our local grandson was going to come one day and help Mr P fix the roof onto the new greenhouse (wearing the obligatory mask) as his college has a half term break, but that's also cancelled.  We had thought about going down to see our daughter in Berkshire as she has two weeks off from teaching for half term and she was going to isolate beforehand so that we could stay with her or alternatively go and stay in a hotel for a couple of days, but travel is also restricted and in the end it's not possible to drive the distance even though Mr P is fit enough to do so now. It's disappointing, but necessary for us to stay close to home.  

At least I like going out for walks around our neighbourhood. There's always a different route to take around the village.  

In August, before the new restrictions of meeting together in socially distanced larger groups there were fellowship gatherings at the parish church with picnics on the recreation ground and the church continues to be open for private prayer.  We have joined in the online Sunday services and we have weekly updates through emails although miss the real contact of our friends and neighbours. 

This is not a castle, but is the former army barracks which 

is now a local store on the main road in our area.

Finally, the shrubs and trees are full of berries this year which will be good news for the birds.  the olives on one of our olive trees has coloured up from green to red.  Perhaps one day the little tree will be big enough to plant out and we'll be gathering our own olives along with the figs and other fruit. 😉

Thank you for your visit.  Have a good day everyone!

My week

During a blustery weekend when there was a lull in the wind and rain we went to the local garden centre.  Even though water was running off the hills it was amazing to see the sheep and cows were out in the fields.

We were not the only vistors and although parts of the car park, the grounds and café were closed because the garden centre staff were preparing for the storm to come our way, there were plenty of areas under cover. 

The displays in the home decoration department were looking attractive. 

Here's a similar lovely ornamental candle holder.

Midweek we had flurries of heavy rain and sleety snow which didn't settle for long as the sun came out to melt the icy particles on the ground.

Thank goodness for the covered yard which gives us more insulation, shelter and space for ourselves, the overwintered plants and an extra place to start sowing seeds.

 sweet pea seedlings

We could add the ones we got at the garden centre nursery to the collection in the tin.

Yesterday I took another walk around our neighbourhood.  The snowdrops, crocuses and a few daffodils are out in the churchyard. The carpets of daffodils planted in the old churchyard are still in bud.

the former carriage drive,  the church and vicarage in the background

It's uplifting for me to see the snowdrops as another year and February has come around.

I made a chocolate cake with my usual recipe using three eggs and a larger quantity of self raising flour and it rose well! There's a chocolate butter cream filling.  I've decorated the top with some dried rose buds and petals.  In the above photo you can see the first lot of tomato seedlings for this year.