It’s the first day…

of winter and it was another chilly, dull start to the day.  If it brightens up, and gets slightly warmer, I’ll probably go for a quick plot potter after an early lunch. Yesterday I kept warm by digging out and sieving another  barrow load of compost from one of the nearly empty communal woodchip bays.  Some I spread over  the area where I’ll be growing climbing beans next year, the rest I added to the stockpile next to the blackberry bush.

 

Further to my comment and picture of the sedum in last Sunday’s post I forgot to mention that I also noticed there’s already new growth appearing around the base of the old stems.

 

There still haven’t been any frosts here, although the temperature  has dropped very close to 0 C one or two nights.

At home there is this Iceberg rose outside my living room windows which is still flowering.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

It’s another damp…

and dull day here in Harrow, London so I’ll staying indoors mostly armchair gardening doing some more flower seed sorting.

I’ve been plotting the past two mornings clearing most of the pot marigolds from the main flower patch.  They’ve all been cut up then added to the compost heap.  The area has been roughly hoed over but will need weeding properly when it’s drier.

 

I was surprised to see this clump of crocuses have started to appear as I don’t usually see them until well into the new year.

 

 

Another surprise is to see how well the comfrey is growing, and I’ll be able to cut it back later on for the forth time this year to add to the compost heap.

 

 

 

The sedum is still providing some interest as the pale stems are now mostly leafless and flower heads reddish-brown.

 

Have a good week, and take care!

I’ve not done much…

this week as the weather has continued to be rather unsettled, being mostly dull with plenty of rain and a chilly wind so the ground is still soggy.

I’ve cleared most of cosmos corner working from the path using the hoe to remove the dead plants and weeds.  This morning whilst doing that I noticed a very small, light-brown plume moth on the soil. I do see these occasionally but they’re usually bigger and white.

 

Most of the primroses succumbed to the hot weather during the summer but two did survive.

They’re both by the pond and are now flowering.

 

Have a good weekend, and take care!

It’s late autumn

It was another unsettled week with plenty of rain and wind, and though it’s been been chillier there still haven’t been any frosts.

I’ve made a start on clearing the annual flowers, but leaving ones that are still flowering such as cornflowers, cosmos, nasturtium  and pot marigolds.

 

I’ve cut back the white asters/Michaelmas daisies, seen here in the middle of the picture below.

In front of them, at the bottom of the picture are candytuft which have germinated and grown from seeds self-sown from plants that flowered back in June.  At the top are pot marigolds which I’m removing, cutting up and adding to the compost heap.

There’s now a green carpet of poached egg plants several inches tall which have done the same as the candytuft.  If it stays mild I won’t be surprised to see flowers appearing.

 

These pictures were taken yesterday.

I’m hoping for a few dry days next week so I can rough cut the grass paths all round as it’s really needs doing.

Have a good week, and take care!

On the windowsill, November 2022

Further to last month’s post although, as you saw,  the candytuft Fairy Dwarf seeds germinated well the low light levels on the windowsill meant that they grew far too leggy then toppled so I ended up discarding them.  I’ll try again next spring when I hope they’ll do rather better.  This picture was taken on the plot late July last year.

It’s been mostly damp and dull here this week so I’ve been doing yet more  flower seed sorting.  Among the sunflower seeds I’ve saved are some really small ones.  I think that I’ll try a few of these at home next year and see if I end up with one or two truly dwarf plants.

I have tried growing gazanias at home before without success but I’m going to try again next spring as I’ve been given some  Talent Red Shades seeds.  This variety grows to around 8 in/20 cm and has silvery-coloured foliage so even without flowers they look ornamental.

Please note that the next On the windowsill post probably won’t be until late March or early April next year.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

On the plot…

Friday and yesterday I mostly spent my time cutting back the two clumps of blue asters/Michaelmas daisies which had finished flowering.  I cut up the foliage and most of the stems before adding it all to the compost heap.  After tidying up and weeding round I added some compost to each clump.

In the spring once new growth appears I’ll cut the stems to ground level.

Most of the cornus/dogwood stems which have appeared round the tree this year are flowering now instead of next spring.  It’s another sign of just how mild it’s been recently.

Yesterday morning I watched a large bumble bee lazily buzzing round whilst I stood and ate a few more raspberries.   Later on I noticed that one of the candytuft Fairy Dwarf plants which has grown from those which had flowered and then self-seeded back in the summer was trying to flower.

Have a good week, and take care!

Tree following, November 2022

Liz – Here in Lexington, Kentucky there has been almost no rain during the past two months and in my front garden the remaining leaves on the Golden Spirit smoke tree are now showing a variety of colours.

I’m thankful that they will disintegrate without much problem, unlike the large leaves on some of the nearby trees which have to be chopped once they’ve fallen.

 

   

A close look at the attractive bark shows areas of light coloured lichen.

Mike –  The leaves on sweet chestnut in the local park have lost their glossy green colour and many are now turning yellow then brown before dropping. Almost all the very prickly seed pods have dropped and gone, having been taken home by people to roast and eat the nuts.

I bought two seed pods home last month and left them on the shelf.  The photo before below shows how one has split open exposing the large edible nut inside.

Thanks to Pat, The Squirrelbasket, for hosting tree following,  and if you want to see what it’s all about, and perhaps join in, please have a look at this tree following post.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

Last weekend…

I ordered most of the vegetable seeds I want for next season. It was a fairly small order placed, as always, with MoreVeg, which I received during the week along with a nice handwritten note from Rachel.

I also included a packet each of nasturtium Jewel and sunflower Ring of Fire, which were the only flower seeds I really need as the rest I’ve saved from this year.  Mind you having said that I really look forward to receiving the Chiltern Seeds 2023 catalogue at the end of the year and it’s quite likely that I’ll order a few items once I’ve looked through it.

 

It’s another damp and dull weekend much of which I’ve spent armchair gardening, flower seed sorting.  It looks like remaining unsettled for a couple more days before getting brighter and drier.

The sunflower Ring of Fire picture is from August 2013 and the pot marigolds Flighty’s favourites from July 2016.

Have a good week, and take care!

The weather continues…

to be unsettled, but still mild, and has included some torrential rain showers coupled with swirling high winds.  On the days when it has been dry the ground has been soggy so all I’ve done is collect a bucket or two of grass, fallen leaves and inevitable weeds for the compost heap.

As always happens I missed lifting a few potatoes and  have started growing.  This one I’m going to leave until the foliage starts dying back or, more likely, is killed off by frost and then I’ll have a look to see if any new potatoes have grown.  If there are any there will only a be few, small ones at best.

 

The red valerian I have growing in the flower patch is still flowering.  It’s now surrounded by poached egg plant seedlings which cover a bigger area than usual, and hopefully they will provide a colourful yellow carpet next year.

The blue flowering asters/Michaelmas daisies have sadly now finished flowering and once it’s drier I’ll cut them back to about a foot.  The white ones however are still twinkling.

Today’s pictures were all taken yesterday morning.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

It’s another damp and dull…

morning here so I won’t be plotting today, and even if I take a look round the plot later the ground will be too soggy to do anything.

I’ll settle down after lunch to do some armchair gardening and look through my tentative list of flower and vegetable seeds for next year to see if it needs adding to or amending before I order them.

I may also do some more saved flower seed sorting, perhaps even the candytuft which has seeds no bigger than a pinhead and are rather fiddley.  The others – cornflowers, cosmos, pot marigolds and sunflowers are easier – but I sometimes wish  that they were all as big and easy to collect then save as nasturtium seeds are.

Todays archive pictures show candytuft Fairy  Dwarf Mix and sunflowers Ring of Fire.

Have a good week, and take care!