Larder

Mouse's larder

The big cotoneaster by the gate is full of bright shiny red berries as usual.  It seeds itself rather too prolifically and I had considered removing it, but it's a fine plant and the blackbirds appreciate the berries later in the winter.  Weeding round the base of the trunk, I found that the berries have other fans too; this looks like a mouse's stash of food.  The presence of the mice might explain why we had a tawny owl hooting in the nearby ash tree one evening; the owl regards our plot as its larder too!

Human food is scarcer right now, other than apples (of which there are lots, eaters and cookers).  There's lettuce and smallish leeks, and still a very few small tomatoes in the greenhouse.  The courgettes are nearly over, although I should get a few more little ones.  Plenty of parsley, chives and rosemary.  I've made a resolution to do better with crops next year, and have been sorting the leftover seeds before putting in my seed order for next year.  There are a lot of peas that didn't get sown, some from a few years back, so I've sown them in a seed tray to see if they will produce any pea shoots for salads; if not, nothing lost.  I'll get fresh seed for next year, and get myself better organised to sow it!

Today was rather showery, so a good day to start clearing up the greenhouse.  Most of the aubergine plants have been sent to the compost heap, but I reprieved one which turned out to have one teeny little fruit on it; I don't see it coming to anything but I'll give it a go.  The aubergine plants had been left in their 15cm pots and placed into the growbag, the idea being that the roots would go through the bottom of the pot into the compost below; but in fact hardly any roots made it down that far.  Maybe next year I'll just leave them in pots, and feed them more effectively (something I haven't been good at, which probably explains my lack of success with them).  The now-empty space in that growbag will be sown with salad leaves, in the hope of some greens for the winter - but I must remember to feed them!

Apart from autumn leaf colour there isn't a lot of visual interest in the garden at the moment, but it's surprising what you can find if you scavenge carefully enough.  I managed to put together eight little posies for the Harvest Supper tables and was pleasantly surprised by the results.  Choisya ternata and Viburnum tinus, both in flower, provided some basis, with a smattering of pinks, asters, dahlias, astrantia, Centaurea montana, argyranthemum, dwarf persicaria, parsley flowers and even a few scraps of sweet william, penstemon and Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve' - sometimes only two or three small flowers of each, but they made quite a colourful mix.

Leaves on the lawn

Leaves on the lawn, like leaves on the line, cause delays - in this case, delays to other gardening work while the big sweep-up gets underway.  We had a couple of windy days this week, and unusually the wind came from the east, so the leaves ended up all across the lawn instead of blowing down into the field.  It's not my favourite job, but they are now all nicely in the leafmould pile - last year's leafmould having been bagged up for spreading on the flowerbeds - with layers of newspaper and grass clippings.  The lawn is all tidy again, but only for the moment; there are a lot more leaves to come!

The weather has been unusually dry for this time of year; there has been some pleasant sun (I even managed lunch outside on the bench one day, though I must admit that it was only the thought that it's probably the last chance this year that made me do it), but the wind has been cool and it has been decidedly chilly at night.  Still, it has been good for getting things done in the garden.  The prospect of having to empty out last year's leafmould at least prompted me to sort out the compost bins.  A load of newly-made compost has been dug into some of the veg beds in readiness for next year, and into the broad bean bed where the 'Aquadulce Claudia' beans were sown yesterday.  I've also sown some overwintering green manure for the first time; the seed is quite old so it may not come up, and in truth I'm not quite sure I want it to - deliberately sowing vetch, which I'm trying to eradicate from other parts of the garden, seems like asking for trouble - but let's see what happens.  The still-cooking compost has been mixed up with grass clippings and some free compost accelerator - there are horses in the field just behind us at the moment so fresh manure is available! - and put to mature over the winter. 

I have been ruthless, for once, and pulled up the bean plants that were doing nothing; they are now in the compost bin, along with the dried-up remains of the sweet peas.  The aubergines, which are trying to flower, bless them, will follow soon because there really is no chance of their fruiting now.  There are still courgettes swelling and ripening, so they can stay for the moment, as can the tomatoes at least until the larger fruit have ripened.

The Comice pears

Other jobs that need doing include sowing next year's sweet peas, in the hope of repeating this year's success; clipping the hedge; emptying the pots so that the spring bulbs (just ordered) can go in; cleaning out the greenhouse (another of my not-favourite jobs) and of course dealing with all the weeds.

The apples have fruited well; the Discovery ones have all been eaten but there are still plenty of others on the cordons.  Even the Comice pear has produced four tolerably-sized fruit! (Only three in the photo; I only found the fourth later.)  I think that's a first.

Sunflower 'Velvet Queen'

Choisya ternata

Cyclamen hederifolium

The autumn flowers are doing their thing: besides the nerines and cyclamen, there are now a few aster flowers, and the Choisya ternata is doing a final flush.  There's also one sunflower, which I will leave to seed for the birds.  Given the chilly nights I've cleared the ground under the fat ball container and started putting a few fat balls out for the sparrows, who have been enthusiastically grateful! The coal tit has also found them, and the robin hangs about to pick up anything that gets dropped.  The seed container is being largely ignored at the moment.  There has only been one blackbird about, and infrequently at that; he seems to be still moulting and even the fallen apples don't appear to be tempting him (where are the other blackbirds?).  The swallows and house martins have been gone for a couple of weeks now, but the willow warbler is still around; it must be time for him to head south soon.  We've also had the male sparrowhawk stopping by, sitting hopefully in the tree by the pond until I chased him off.  A buzzard and red kite have also flown over, but they are more interested in four-legged life in the long grass of the field.

Nest in the elder tree!

The leaves dropping from the elder tree have revealed that something has nested in there!  Unfortunately for them, the elder is on the list of Things To Be Removed (sometime ....).