Thursday 13 October 2011

A quick Autumnal hotchpotch!

It's a jolly good job that I've got that 'Slow Blogger' label on my sidebar or I'd be chucked out of here for my lack of posts of late! Anyway, here's a quick roundup of what's going on in the garden at the moment......

Kale, spinach and rainbow chard are going at full pelt at the moment ...but the salad behind them has bolted somewhat!

No idea what sort of squashes these are as the foxes or badgers broke and nicked the labels when they ate the sweetcorn :(


Yesterday's pick of the crop - and, yes, we have still got a few Autumn raspberries left, but that's the last of the flagelot beans.

The sedum is lovely this year.

A closer look.

One of the Acers in the Japanese garden is begining to turn. It'll be a stunning deep red in about 2 more weeks.

No-one told my new water lily (Nymphaea 'Denver') that it shouldn't be flowering at this time of year. I guess the recent very warm weather confused it!

There are lots of berries everywhere this year - is this a harbinger of another hard winter?


The next post will be interesting - I hope! It's going to be a book review on a new wild flowers book that comes out next month......! :D

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Liz,

Tut tut, you being so slow and not even any mention of a new kitty you've got??!!! Poor Ceefer :)

There's lots of strange things going on this year, I've primula vulgaris blooming and even Winter Jasmine and... A Lupin! Crazy crazy.

I love your little Acer, we've been to Chatsworth today and there's quite a good show of Acers in the garden there at the moment :D

Shaheen said...

Oh your garden is looking marvellous. I am so envious of your Kale!

PS I think you'll be forgiven for your lack of blogging :)

Pat said...

You could start a fruit/veggie stand with all the goodies you have.
Your garden looks perfect.

F Cameron said...

That's a load of berries - hope there's not another harsh winter!


Cheers! Have a great weekend!

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

Yes! My sedum seemed extra POW bright this year too. I love it!

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Liz - I know, I know! When Oscar stands still long enough for me to photograph him I'll pop it up on Facebook! Ceefer remains less than impressed about him - but at least he's stopped hissing and snarling now!

Yep - I've got primula vulgaris blooming too ...and roses!!!

I'll have to pop out to Chatsworth - I want to see this years' sculptures anyway and Acers are always worth a look! My Acer is the one on the right of the path by the tea house courtyard. Its' colours are still quite delicate right now, but it'll soon brighten up.

Hi Shaheen. It's the first time I've grown kale, so I'm really happy with it - and it tastes SO good freshly picked!

Hi Patsi - thanks. I've mostly had a good crop of fruit and veg this year - the peas were rubbish and the badgers ate all my sweetcorn, but I've picked: onions, garlic, chillies, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, potatoes (3 types),carrots, runner beans, mange toute, flagelot beans, pak choi, masses of mixed salad leaves, beetroot and globe artichokes and I've got 2 varities of cabbages, kale, spinach, chard, leeks, 2 types of broccolli, parsnips and squashes still to come. I've had masses of both cooking and eating apples, pears, gooseberries,raspberries and alpine strawberries too. The summer raspberries weren't as big a crop as usual as they were badly damaged in the spring high winds, but the autumn ones have done well.
Not a bad year really! :P

....still working on the perfect!

Sue Garrett said...

WE're still picking raspberries and strawberries too - what a treat at this time of year!

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Cameron. There really are so many berries this year - the holly trees are ladened and have been for a few weeks now and all my cotoneasters are as heavily covered as this one is too ....I don't know whether it's true or just an urban myth that heavy berries = a heavy winter, but I guess we'll find out soon enough!

Hi Monica - I'm loving the depth of colour in the sedums too, so vibrant! My orange cotoneaster berries are pretty powerful too (but didn't photograph well!) ...made me think of you for some reason!!!

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Sue - I know...fresh raspberries...mmmm! :D They're a wee bit soggy today after the drizzle of the past few days, but still lovely!
I am getting just a bit fed up of stewing vast quantities of cooking apples now though!

Anonymous said...

Hi Liz,

I don't think the sculptures will be there much longer - I think I saw on the website the end of this week or next week they'll be gone!

In case you hadn't seen; my blog has moved to gwirrel.wordpress.com I'll be posting photis of Chatsworth soon enough. Btw, you really must go very soon, there's an amazing Dahlia garden near the maze that will take yor breath away (that is if you're not busy controlling the urge to dead-head them all)

Btw, I'm glad to hear ceefer is calming down to new kitten :)

Pondside said...

What a lot you've still got in your garden. Ours is completely finished, with hardly any colour at all left anywhere.

BilboWaggins said...

All looks wonderful, especially that acer, although in typical Brown Earth Society style I am eyeing up your header photo and wanting to sweep up all those leaves for the leafmould bin!

Gordon Mason said...

Arrrr, when the sukebind do have lots of berries, it be a portent.

Beware they portents; they be followed by hard winters. Arrrr.

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Liz, thanks for the reminder. I've just checked and it closes on the 30th....so I can go next week during half term!

You're right - I hadn't spotted that your blog had moved. I just thought you'd been busy and not posted! I'll be over there in a jiffy! :)

Ceefer remains unimpressed with Oscar, so much so that I'm off down to the vets shortly to pick up a pheremone spray to sort it out! Poor old Ceef really isn't happy!

Hi Di. We still have zillions of leaves on the trees and SO many plants still in flower - or reflowering because of our Indian Summer and very warm weather (which is due to change to very chilly this week!)I guess we must be a good fortnight behind you in the seasons here! :)

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Bilbo - and guess what I did just after I'd taken the photo? ..yep, swept up all the leaves and put them in the leaf bin!
I was only thinking yesterday about reconvening the Brown Earth Society....as I spread gorgeous friable compost everywhere!

Ey up Woody - tha's reight about they portents tha nos!! T'weather be guin' darn'ill this week an it's gunna be reight cold!

Thomas said...

What's this???? A view of your veggie garden? I love it! You'll have to post more pictures soon.

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Thomas - glad you like it. It's part of the vegetable garden and part of the ordinary garden ...the bit you call the yard! More photos will follow soon :)