The year’s turning

Plums are dripping off the trees, apples are falling on the ground. Tomatoes are beginning to ripen and we are drowning in marrows Autumn has arrived. For the first time in over twenty years there are only two of us in the house to share in all this bounty. My older son has finished his …

Monsoon weather

I brought the lawn mower back from the allotment last week so that we could tackle the jungle in the garden. Fortunately a small gap in this year's monsoon enabled us to have a go at the lawn.  But the monsoon has returned, which means the lawnmower is useless and the grass just keeps growing, …

Not yet autumn surely

This week has had some extremes of weather and the garden and wildlife have been loving it. Following last year's heatwave induced frog invasion, the pond has again provided a haven for these little beauties during the hot early part of the week: Generally they have been very shy this year, coming out only after …

Green

It's been a scorchio day here as everywhere else in the country. I went for a wander and passed an in ice cream van, selling, among other things, mint choc chip ice cream: I had been thinking about my Dad, as I often do at this time of year and now six years since we …

Lawnmower holiday

There are tons of peas and beans in the garden so I made a classic green soup for lunch, with some added watercress from the pond: Earlier in the week I made a classic summer pudding: It was duly guzzled by my various visiting young people. It's lovely to have all this wonderful fruit and …

A garden feast

I've spent most of today at the allotment, tackling weeds and harvesting onions. Everything is coming along nicely although the peas are still rather straggly, which is strange as the peas in the garden raised beds are in full flourish, with their beautiful butterfly wing flowers: The onions have been magnificent this year but feel …

Let the gluts begin

Been away for a wee holiday, enjoying the great outdoors, lots of walking, wildlife and dipping my toes in water, history, art, literature and gardens. But I'll leave writing about that for another day. The main thing is coming home to find that the cats have survived and the vegetables are flourishing The allotment is …

Strawberries, onions, peas, cats but no unicorns yet

Lots happening in the garden and the allotment just now. The back hedge is still growing happily. You may remember that last year I promised flowers and bees, butterflies, bunnies and possibly unicorns - see here Well we have the bees and the butterflies and the flowers. I haven't seen any bunnies or unicorns yet, but …

Planting peas

I didn't get much gardening done this weekend: housework, walking thousands of steps round Edinburgh and visiting relatives took up too much time, which was, mostly, not a bad thing. However I did get out for a couple of hours this evening and moved the pea glut onwards. The peas have germinated beautifully in their …

Baywatch

I've been on the hunt for a new bay tree since losing the last one to the dratted vine weevils I found one in a pot in my local DIY store   But being from a DIY store rather than a proper garden centre, it had not one but, I think I counted, sixteen plants …