The Potting Shed

[Tâf]

The Gardeners Delight toms I put outside for a laugh all went from healthy, covered in fruit, to stone dead with blight in one day. Ripped out and binned. 

The sweet peppers from the greenhouse are simmering in Fajita sauce.

[dogsmum]

The Gardeners Delight toms I put outside for a laugh all went from healthy, covered in fruit, to stone dead with blight in one day. Ripped out and binned. 

The sweet peppers from the greenhouse are simmering in Fajita sauce.

The good & bad of gardening huh?

[Tâf]

It's been mostly bad this year nationwide.

[Tâf]

The apple tree is in blossom, as is the rosemary bush!

[dogsmum]

That really can't be good

[Tâf]

Well that's the end of the beans, so I chopped them off for compost.

Cleared all the blighted tomatoes and binned them, harvested about 30 decent-sized onions to finish drying, chopped the basil, parsley and mint and donated the good leaves to a neighbour.

In the greenhouse, 4 sweet pepper plants never even flowered, though 2 did... and made nice fat peppers.

The Paper Lantern chillis are still ripening, so the loss of the pepper plants will give them more room as they are large plants.

Cucumbers finished, tomatoes STILL ripening.

The Stevia plants all snuffed it when the temperature dropped, but I got a lot of good leaves for drying and grinding into powder.

The Sunflowers are all full of seeds, all nodding due to the weight.

I planted out 2 Asters out front in the gravel, along with the Campanula plants I got as "near dead" from Wilkos. TLC did the trick.

The patio Dahlias have done their thing, so it's compost time for them. Out front they're still flowering!

The Physalis are covered in fruit lanterns, many ripe already!

[Nana of 8]

Frost forecast for tomorrow night, finally.

So today I brought in the tender perennials to overwinter. Spider plant, orchids, etc.

The semi-hardy ones are now on the patio under the passion flower leaves so they should be protected from the frost there. The fig and the olive are on the patio.

Finished planting out the bulbs. Even if, by some miracle, we sell the house, the new owners will expect a Spring showing, since the estate agent tells them our garden is landscaped.

Pruned back the last of the hardy perennials; hostas, ferns, fuchsias (apart from genii which is still in full flower) and gladioli (which always remain in the ground over winter here).

Final mowing with blades set high.

Patio furniture put away.

[dogsmum]

Frost forecast for tomorrow night, finally.

So today I brought in the tender perennials to overwinter. Spider plant, orchids, etc.

The semi-hardy ones are now on the patio under the passion flower leaves so they should be protected from the frost there. The fig and the olive are on the patio.

Finished planting out the bulbs. Even if, by some miracle, we sell the house, the new owners will expect a Spring showing, since the estate agent tells them our garden is landscaped.

Pruned back the last of the hardy perennials; hostas, ferns, fuchsias (apart from genii which is still in full flower) and gladioli (which always remain in the ground over winter here).

Final mowing with blades set high.

Patio furniture put away.

Wow you have been busy!

[Nana of 8]

Not really. It took about 2 hours in total. 

[Tâf]

Pumpkins ready to harvest and sunbathe, courgettes harvested and cooked. I'm going to decimate the Jerusalem Artichokes and dig up (hopefully) all the roots as I want to use the space for rhubarb. I need to get that done before frost solidifies the soil.

[Nana of 8]

Despite the frost the other night, it didn't kill our tender plants after all!

I've brought the chilli pepper plant I forgot in the rush, and it's now sitting on the kitchen windowsill in a large pot, where, hopefully, it will catch some winter sun.

The nasturtiums are still growing - and they are usually the first to go. Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'll clear away the last of the summer bedding (begonias that are still flowering prolifically!) and plant some primroses and pansies.

[dogsmum]

So I've been wondering what's been making 2'' holes in my planters. Some of the holes are just an inch or so into the soil, some of them have tunnels about 4'' long under the soil. I've just been out the back with Nell & she was chasing a small frog around. Now I believe frogs dig down in the ground to hibernate

[Tâf]

Toads usually, and some snails do it too.

[dogsmum]

Toads usually, and some snails do it too.

Well whatever it is it's not eating the bulbs, which was what I first thought when I found the holes

[Nana of 8]

Autumn hit the garden today. Woke this morning to find yellow leaves on the whitebeam and wistaria - they were green only yesterday!

Still no frost.... the nasturtiums are growing steadily, there are blue lobelias in flower in one of the pots, the snapdragons are in full flower, and the begonias are still doing well. I don't have the heart to clear them away until the frost gets them. They are pink and red and look lovely.