It's well & truly AUTUMN.
Generally I love this season but this year I feel that it will not be one of the most colourful or abundant ones. I am anticipating a lovely sunny spell followed by wet & cold weather with fog & penetrating dampness right up until Christmas. Gloomy but I'd rather be prepared.
A review of the veggie garden has lead me to declare it a success. Admittedly the brassicas have been hammered by the slugs & caterpillars but most are still growing well & I've harvested some greyhound cabbages & a cauliflower - the 1st I've ever grown. The brussel sprouts are coming along well. The purple sprouting has been left to seed - the hens can have those greens. The pak choi were brilliant but the lesson for next year is grow early & start of in pots - they are such a delicious plant every free-roaming creature in the universe seems to love them. The tomatoes are still ripening - the trusses are not very abundant but the toms on them are a good size & taste great. I expect the abundance has more to do with my less than diligent feeding than any vagaries of the weather.
I still find it amazing putting a seed in the ground & hey prestso a whole plant with flowers/fruit - a miracle indeed. I've been collecting seeds for a while now & I still get a thrill from it - today I collected my first sunflowers seeds from plants I've grown this year. When I first looked I thought there were no seeds but I poked a bout a bit & they started to fall out - I was expecting the striped ones available in pet food but these are tiny little black ones. Only one way to find out if they are fertile - plant them!
Today (10th sept) has been glorious - clear-blue sky, bright sunshine & a bit of breeze. I took the small dog with me as I did my jobs - collected windfall apples & took them down to the horse-yard, walked through the fields on the way to the chickens looking for interesting things. Found lots of sloes but didn't pick them as haven't planned out a use for them & don't want to waste them. Spent a while under the huge coppiced hazel tree looking for nuts - as usual the squirrels had beaten me to it - the ground was littered with opened & discarded shells. I've brought a few home & started to open them - so far only 2 have a kernel suitable for planting.
Next to the chicken pen is the veggie patch - optimistically, a few days a ago I planted some rows of turnips & radishes with a few other odds & ends - they are sprouting - hurrah. It's so dry (nice to say that in September) so I've just watered them. I have high hope of a good crop now they've germinated well - I just hope the hens will enjoy the turnips/tops as I'm not a great fan!
Blackberries don't seem to be very abundant this year but on this outing I've managed to find enough for tonight - a real autumn treat.
Recently I've added some newsletters to my in basket & I'm really enjoying them so in case anyone out there in blog land hasn't found these - here they are:
Barefoot Doctor (welcome@barefootdoctorworld.com)
semi-dailyquote@aweber.com on behalf of Susan Gregg (susan@susangregg.com)
Horse Hero (noreply@horsehero.com) - great videos on horse matters
Umhh - I can smell the brioche so it must be nearly baked - that will go really well with the blackberry & apples & yoghurt - cant wait til tea-time!
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