A dish of strawberries

All right, a very small dish.  Of very small strawberries (the alpine strawberry 'Baron Solemacher').  But not at all bad for the middle of October.  I spotted a couple of lovely ripe ones on a plant that has self-seeded into a sunny corner near the pond, and it prompted me to go searching under the leaves; I collected a good little portion for supper, all on accidental plants rather than those in the 'proper' place.  I think that tells me that I need to get plants settled in in the autumn instead of waiting until spring, which is probably too late.  It's an obliging little plant, growing happily in shade if necessary and not fussy about soil, but the plants do need replacing every three years or so.

Given the time of year, I managed quite a reasonable harvest from the garden at the weekend.  Besides the strawberries, I picked three types of bean (the last of the French and runner beans, and some broad beans), courgettes, cooking and dessert apples (the Ashmead's Kernels are just starting to be ready), some radicchio leaves and a couple of spring-onion sized leeks (they were never thinned!); the potatoes and garlic are already in store, and I have had a couple of hazelnuts, although the squirrel has been seen attending to those.  Not bad given the very haphazard planting this year.

Cyclamen hederifolium

The leaves have started to fall, and the leaf-raking season has begun.  The old leaf-mould has been spread on the new bed under the ash tree where the soil is extremely dry and thin.  I hope that will help the plants along a bit.  The only flower colour in there at the moment is from the 'Bowles' Mauve' wallflower, which has flowered on and off all year, and from the sedums; the perovskia does have a (single) flower spike on it, but you wouldn't notice it (it was only planted this year, so I'm hopeful that it will put on more of a show next year).  Elsewhere, there are still flowers here and there; the purple aster has started blooming, the dianthus seem to be getting second wind and there are still a few roses about, the sweet peas and phlox are tailing off.  The little cyclamen are looking good, though.  And the echium is beginning to fade; it will be cut down before it can seed too much.

Bees on the echium

The weather has been more autumnal - cooler, with wet and windy spells, but with some sunshine; Saturday was almost warm, but it has been wet since.

There are still a good number of sparrows about, and the occasional starling and dunnock; the robins are tick-ticking in the background but coming less often for food.  I disturbed a partridge the other day, and the odd pheasant has wandered in.  A green woodpecker has been heard close by but not seen.  I wonder if he's staking out the cooking apples again?

P.S. Further examination of the cooking apple tree reveals a large apple next to a convenient perching branch with big beak-holes in it.  My money's on the woodpecker.
I had been going to say that the butterflies have all disappeared, but not quite; just down from the pecked apple was another apple with a comma sunning itself on it.  Probably the last of the year, I fear.

Season of mists

Is it really a month since I posted last?  Not much has happened in the garden since then, and non-garden things have rather taken over.  Autumn is still coming gently, with some lovely sunny days like today but some very misty or downright foggy mornings and short spells of wet or windy weather to remind us of what's to come.  Some of the autumn colours are in evidence, although we're still waiting for the main show.  The mellow fruitfulness is also here - plenty of apples, although they're on the small side this year, and courgettes and beans still cropping nicely.  The single surviving winter squash is at last producing female flowers; I had despaired of any fruit at all, although it'll have to get a move on if it's to produce anything worth eating.  And today I planted the garlic - the earliest crop to go in the ground - and sowed the sweet peas, orlaya, ammi and larkspur.

Echeveria in flower

This year's sweet peas have also taken a while to get going but are producing a nice little posy a week.  The phlox is just starting to tail off, while the Japanese anemones are producing occasional flowers and the nerines are just starting.  There's a good display of cyclamen under the holly tree and a few in my little spring patch.  The buddleia is virtually finished for the year, and the bees, which have been enjoying it greatly, have transferred their attention to a self-sown echium (viper's bugloss) on the patio.  This plant is the result of some seeds I sowed a number of years ago; it's a bit of a seeder, with a fearsomely deep taproot so difficult to get out, and they're uncomfortably hairy plants to handle, but the flowers are lovely and they do attract the insects.  I've dropped a few seeds from this plant into the bit of verge by the drive entrance which I've cleared in the hope of making a sort-of wildflower patch for the bees; it's sunny and should suit the echium well if I can get it to establish there.

Also in flower is the blue echeveria which is spending the summer on the patio; it's either very happy or thinks it's going to die and wants to set seed!  It will have to be brought indoors soon, along with the brugmansia and the cordyline.  I had had ideas of putting these in a big pot for the summer, as an exotic-themed planting, but the tulips took so long to die back that no summer bedding ever went in.  The first of the winter bedding - pansies in the windowbox - is in place and looking quite settled.

Comma butterflies enjoying a rotten apple

The butterfly count has picked up.  Red admirals came late this year, and we've had some speckled woods about.  There are also at least three commas in the garden at the moment; I found them together enjoying a fallen apple which was rotting in the grass (although by the time I got the camera out only two were still there).  The apple is obviously very much to their liking; every time I passed it today there was a comma perched on it. 

The usual birds are around but not all the time, so there's obviously plenty of food for them out and about.  We have a woodpigeon with a bad leg who has been coming regularly for a few weeks now; he likes to pick up the seeds dropped from the feeder, and to soak in the birdbath, which we assume eases his leg.  He seems quite accustomed to us.  We've also had a vole visiting the patio occasionally, especially when we put bits of cheese out for the birds!  He hides under the lady's mantle, scooting out for food and scooting quickly back in again.