Tag: Autumn

Why I garden4 Comments

Freebies

Reclaiming Paradise

Who can resist a freebie? I try not to be consumerist but free stuff is always hard to resist. After this year’s bumper apple harvest, several neighbours and people at the allotment having been offering free apples. Although my harvest has been pretty good I can always find uses for more. So I’ve picked a few from the boxes in the street, now waiting to be cooked and eaten for breakfast, baked into cakes or stored in the freezer: These all claim to be cooking apples. I don’t have a cooker in the garden (although the Howgate Wonder is supposed … Continue reading Freebies

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers4 Comments

Unseasonal

Reclaiming Paradise

I was at the allotment for the first time in a couple of weeks. It is beginning to settle down for the winter but there is still quite a lot growing and still some veg to harvest. We have leeks, kale, potatoes, broccoli and sprouts still in the ground which will do us well over the winter. The runner beans have practically finished but I’ve left the poles up as they are supporting the sweet peas which seem to have had a burst of growth in the last week or so. It is quite usual for the sweet peas to … Continue reading Unseasonal

Uncategorized5 Comments

When autumn leaves start to fall

Reclaiming Paradise

It has taken me a wee while to write this post but it is with great sadness that I am writing in memory of our beautiful Chelsea, who arrived in our lives in November 2014, as the autumn leaves were falling. We found her in a cat rescue and fell in love with her astonishing colouring and her friendly nature. To begin with she lived with my mother, providing companionship as my mother adapted to living on her own after my father died. Chelsea was always an outdoor cat, never happier than chasing leaves and exploring my mother’s increasingly neglected … Continue reading When autumn leaves start to fall

Uncategorized, Wildlife5 Comments

Pedalling for a greener future

Reclaiming Paradise

Today was not a gardening day but it was a day to be out on my bike with several hundred cyclists on the Edinburgh route to the demonstration in Glasgow for COP26. We knew we would not make it the whole way to Glasgow as we had other family commitments in Edinburgh. I was pleased to have a family group of three bikes at the start in Edinburgh’s Meadows We cycled through the Edinburgh streets and along the main roads out of the city with about 300 other cyclists and felt we were doing our tiny bit to argue for … Continue reading Pedalling for a greener future

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden2 Comments

Halloween in the garden

Reclaiming Paradise

Halloween comes round again and the clocks go back and the dark returns, with little glimmers of light to get us through the winter. Here’s a cheery little squash, and it is very little, with a tiny birthday candle to bring us light. Just to see how tiny this is, here is it is beside some of my apples. Oh it’s not that small you say. Well how about compared to this one: A monster Howgate Wonder of course. Here are all three together, alongside a sensibly sized Sunset apple Left to Right – Monster Howgate Wonder, average sized Sunset, … Continue reading Halloween in the garden

Why I garden5 Comments

Autumn flowers and fruits

Reclaiming Paradise

What with being away last weekend and a very busy time at work just now, along with the usual family stuff, I’m falling behind a lot in the garden and allotment. Still, I got out for a wee while on Saturday morning to do a bit of tidying up and snap some pictures for Six on Saturday (but not enough time to actual do a SoS post). I was struck by all the flowers still in bloom and so collected up a bunch of miscellaneous beauties to stick in a vase and take over on my weekly visit to my … Continue reading Autumn flowers and fruits

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden6 Comments

Autumn delights

Reclaiming Paradise

It’s been a glorious autumn day, with a slight nip in the air but lovely sunshine and leaves beginning to fall from the trees. As I cycled to the allotment this afternoon, leaves blew in my face and conkers fell from trees. It felt a little scary but also quite exciting. I dread the end of summer but when autumn really comes, it brings its own joys. One of these joys is planning next year’s crop. At the allotment, I got down on my hands and knees and hauled strings of couch grass from the soil. We’ve had a bit … Continue reading Autumn delights

Cooking and eating from the garden, Why I garden8 Comments

Apples and raspberries

Reclaiming Paradise

It’s October which means apple season. The apples are in full flow – pictured here a couple of giant Howgate Wonders, with a sensibly sized Sunset for scale October is also birthday season at Reclaiming Paradise which means the apples are put to good use in a variety of cakes. My mother’s is the first birthday of the month, so I used these monsters to make a chocolate apple cake – recipe here . Since she was 85, candles seemed excessive, but I wanted to decorate it with something special. This handful of raspberries, fresh from the garden, seemed the … Continue reading Apples and raspberries

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden10 Comments

Bursting with colour

Reclaiming Paradise

I was taking photos in the garden for a couple of Twitter hashtags: #SixonSaturday and #GardensHour. I had far too many photos for these, so decided to upload them here instead. So, just to cheer you up in case you have the Monday blues, here is burst of colourful flowers, fruit and vegetables from my garden. First of all here are some flowers in the rain And here are some multi-coloured vegetables: rainbow chard, purple peas, nasturtium flowers, tomatoes beginning to ripen, plums, multi-coloured lettuces, broccoli, more almost ripe tomatoes And finally, some glorious autumn berries. The rosehips and rowans … Continue reading Bursting with colour