Weeding? More Like Harvesting

Thrown away and look at it now.

I could say that a lot to be honest.

I mean, this is why I have a lot.

With so any roses the plants are getting monstrous.

It’s so pretty and huge…

I’ll stop, but really so much waste!

Coffee Plants have a lovely natural sheen.

The Rambler is never cut back.

You just kinda fold it back on itself.

Still growing at the far end too.

Yo, Dear Reader, it’s been dry for the last few day and the sun poked out for most of the day so I went out to week and ended up with a wheelbarrow’s worth. I’m glad to have got it done, but I’d be happier if the weeds would stop growing like, er, weeds. Them’s the breaks, Dear Reader, I’m surrounded by weeds, but I keep things from getting over run. I actually had a real harvest too, managed to grab the green tomatoes and will have enough for a grilled green tomato chutney recipe, which I’ll post soon. I honestly thought leaving the tomato plants would be a waste, but the way the weather’s been everything is going so much longer, hard to say what it’ll cause next year. Could mean better garlic and onions, could mean a frost will kill so many wild flowers and hedges. I’m still seeing roses starting to bloom long after they’d be finished, The Rambler is blooming again and I’ve never seen that happen this late in the year, or at least not so much. It gets two big blooms and that’s it usually. Weather’s really getting odd, might seem good in parts, but I tend to look a year ahead and I’m honestly worried, but can’t really counter that. Nature will do what it will at the best of times and these aren’t the best of times.

Saw this and realised I’d regret it if I left it.

Keep mistaking that for a dandelion.

These might be lost in the original location.

I found many new flowers today…yes in my own garden!

The Duck just landed like that, I’ll fic it AFTER IT STOPS BEING DRAMATIC!

So, so many dahlias.

Asparagus fern, I think. Looks like a weed, grows like one too, but I like it.

Neighbour’s old rose.

Came off a tree cut up for firewood.

RTC and RC Jr. are going strong.

Glad I found it, then re-found it again.

I do buy some, if they’re cheap and perennial.

Great year for roses.

Hmmm? No, no the skeleton is fine, thanks for asking. Oh, you’re wondering what in good God’s name I bought another large plant for? Heheh, Dear Reader, I have no idea, but it was cheap and the buds are huge! It’s Medinilla magnifica and I may have underestimated its size or overestimated the room I’m in, but in all honestly I’m tired of waiting for joyful things to come when things are dark, instead I’m grabbing them at every opportunity. I was looking into help for Winter depression adding to depression, as I do every year, and most options were hobbies that’d cost far more than me making a little miniature jungle to sit amongst and it really does make you feel good. Who knows how long these plants will live, some have been here years and some pass through, but the joy they brought can’t vanish. I’m sill in a strange place with everything, the surgery being finish is hitting me, but it’s like each month brings a new feeling that I have to work through. It’s been a long stretch of trauma so I’m just taking my time to heal. Sorry if this got a little heavier than intended, Dear Reader, things are better than they were, but life isn’t an either or, I’ll just keep finding the small joys and make the most out of them. I’ll let you know about the chutney soon, until then stay safe and take care.

This isn’t a shrub, it’s a spill.

Still such an unusual rose.

Gave up on keeping up with deadheading.

Think these are nerines.

My hands are big, but the hollyhock stems are like tree trunks and solid.

They can stay in bloom for months. If the room is okay for them I guess.

Which won’t stop flowering. I’m tossing seeds everywhere too.

For a while I misplaced this azalea, went to the wrong side and couldn’t find it.

Losing count of how much these are blooming.

Lots of colour in among the dying foliage.

The War of the Roses dahlia is unstoppable.

Seriously, how did these get in there?

So, many flowers!

Currently towering over the shed.

Ignore The Skeleton

A little, very, messy, but still pretty.

Feels really late for all these dahlias.

Such a lovely colour.

Must be nearer seven feet now.

Stay inside, Fred.

Yo Dear Reader, it’s that tie of year again, when the neighbours cut back their roses and mine are still blooming, I tell you it’s a funny thing to have young plants that are outpacing everything and just trying not to shout at anyone for not feeding their plant enough or letting diseases ravage them. Not that I’m inclined to advise, but I’ll get the queries soon and I think at least people see all the blooms and just give up. I put a lot of compost into everything, it pays off more and more each year, hauling a bin of kitchen waste out every couple of days can be tiresome, but it pays off and really shows how much you can accomplish with the willingness to learn and to put into action. I’m not a plant snob, you know me by now, Dear Reader, I’d just love to see plants given all the care they need, which isn’t actually all that much, it’s just people refuse to go by the plant and instead go by the now nearly defunct seasons and, honestly, a little arrogance. As for me, I’ll just doing my bit to keep everything ticking over, even planting bulbs for a blind neighbour and setting up rose cuttings to root for another. Sure, I’m a pain about plants, but I am kind at times too.

These have no season to their fruiting, just whenever suits.

Will cut them back this year, but won’t go too far.

Had I the space I’d just leave them to go wild…well, I kinda have.

Long since forgotten the names of them all.

This has such a strong scent.

I’ve started to plant my over-wintering onions, got sidetracked and only put down half, also put down the last of the garlic, using some as a pest deterrent too, for the fruit bushes, apple trees and the front garden. I used a bottomless planter for the front to avoid uprooting it when I dig it out, there’s still a lot alive in there yet. Hard to say how the garlic and onions fare as a natural pest repellents, but they take up so little space and you have something afterwards, unless you just leave them to divide and regrow like I have in places with the onions in small pots, I like trying safe methods like this out and if I can make some use of them too then it’s not a waste even if it fails to work fully. It’s getting near the time when a lot of plants slowly die back, already there in places, not the prettiest time, but a time to slow down and plan. I’ll keep busy or I’ll lose my mind, but it’ll be more indoor than out from here on, for a while, I’ll still be out, you can’t stop me from wandering the garden, nor can the weather. I’ll be back later, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

Okay, maybe this is growing on me.

Only other dahlia I’ve seen that has two colours that vary with each bloom.

There’s still a lovely scent in the air.

Still a lot blooming again.

The plants get messy, but the flowers are beautiful.

This was one of those unfamiliar flowers you find in shops, but it has done so well.

Stop Dying You Idiot

The Swamp Lilies likely won’t flower this year, but they’re alive.

It gets ungainly, but is a fantastic colour in the sunlight.

All these are a mystery, one could be red or purple though…maybe all.

I really worried it’d die, but look at my honeysuckle…ball.

Really hoping these seed or return.

Those ended up everywhere somehow, planted them years ago and must’ve spread when I moved soil.

Not everything is pretty, but they’re growing and thriving and that’s all I care about.

So many bits and pieces that may go nowhere.

Next year will be fantastic.

Yo, Dear Reader, I decided to take today to rest and I mostly managed it, I noticed that the front rose in the old wooden planter that has been struggling needed to be cut back and cleaned up and as I was writing a reminder to myself I threw the pen down and went out to do it. Turns out it got covered in wood stain by someone painting the fence, which is bad, Dear Reader, just to be clear, don’t do that. So, as this rose arrived nearly dead, so many roses came from a neighbor “gifting” (Dumping) them to me, so it can revive again, the root is fine and there’s a solid branch so I’ve moved it to the Secrete Garden, where the old entrance was and yes I had that in my head for later too, everything clicks eventually. It might grow, but it needed moving, I took cutting, not that it’s special, but why not? and I have marked the planter with a ring to avoid damaging the other roses, which I rescued from being buried under the new housing estate. I have noticed some roses seem to do little until the Autumn and then they really grow, they’re older varieties so that might be why. For now I leave that pot empty and keep an eye out for a big replacement, it’s a big pot, that I rolled across the road. Again: Would’ve been buried. This is why i have a lot, Dear Reader, I just refuse to give in.

Forgot I had this to be frank.

This blueberry bush doesn’t produce much fruit, but the bees like it and the colour change is pretty.

You could sprain your neck looking up at the roses.

Funny how plain is interesting when the plant is variegated.

The Hollyhock, Rose and Dahlia have all twined atop Naru’s Garden.

Wanted holly for the birds in Winter and it wasn’t available anywhere to buy, but I got it.

Ah, the grasses, I vaguely remember you.

I have no idea, Dear Reader, the pot is caught so I didn’t want to risk breaking them.

This formed into a ring shape above the other dog, Nukem. He has a rose, but Naru was my baby so she gets a garden.

It’s surpringly warm right now and there’s still a lot of Summer flowers blooming and starting to rebloom, doesn’t seem like anything will be damaged if it turns cold, but I’ll do what I can. I’ve used fleece in the past, but it can get wet and freeze causing more issues, I figure if a plant can’t live in the garden as a perennial it can stay the year as an annual. Which is why I no longer pay over odds for plants. I’ll take whatever people throw away and make them thrive and in return they’ll stay in the garden for years and years. I haven’t been the biggest fan of shrubs, but all the hebes are growing well and they fill so many nooks and crannies and I haven’t bought as a single one. I’m aware, Dear Reader, that comes up a lot, but well I am what I am and what I am is thrifty and stubborn. Winter is getting closer, but it feels so much calmer, no knowing the surgery won’t happen for another year, still a lot of anger there, but I’m putting that into the garden. I know the Winter will affect my mood, but it won’t be as dangerous or damaging as previous years and I have a fair few indoor projects on the go. Gardening is my everything right now, Dear Reader, but for the first time in a while it feels more joyful than anything else. I’ll be back later, Dear Reader, currently watching Biollante near the floor, exciting huh?, but I’ll make time from my busy schedule. Until then stay safe and take care.

What? Oh, Merry Christmas to you too, pot.

Outdoor and indoors are similar in size, it’ll be fun seeing which grows faster, outside has a bigger rootball right now.

Still a weird shape, but still a joy to watch a rose grow from a slip.

I’ll cut them this year, but not too much.

Aquilegia self-seeded in the stones and I hadn’t the heart to toss it before I gave it a chance and it’s back already. It’s been what, two weeks?

What’s with me forgetting about purple plants?!

Covid bush, I’ll find out what it is properly in time.

Thanks birds.

I Sink It’s Time To Plant Garlic

The lighter green was a little blander, but still okay.

Feels a lifetime ago since I put a bottomless bucket in a filthy corner and stuck a rose in there.

New Garlic Corner is ready to grow.

Yo, Dear Reader, I got all my garlic orders (Primor, Messidrome , French Therador, Jarragold and Russian Red) and was waiting for the right day to get planting. It has been raining a lot, but today the sun was shining, which is a fair sign it may be time, but not the best, it’s also the right time of year, which is important, but not absolute, but as I was walking through the En Suite Garden I saw the hemerocallis in the cistern, that poor plant has been thrown, literally, all over the back, long before its metamorphosis, but finally it has found a home and flowered and as I looked at it I saw something strange, yes, yes, Dear Reader, a cistern is already pretty strange, the sink pedestal planter, and there were lines of little green shoots. Roundheaded Garlic bulbs to be exact and I took that as sign to get going. When I plunged my hands into the soil I was surprised it was as warm as a Summer’s day and fairly dry despite the rains. I put down all my garlic, some as Spring or Green Garlic, the too small cloves are perfect for that and you can plant them tightly together. I don’t have the garlic bed, but I have a lot of pots so the cloves had plenty of space,

Still plenty of colour.

Alstroemeria is a nice little plant.

Hebes are standing out as other plants die back.

A few more pots of garlic. Not all, some will be onions, squash, carrots and maybe more next year.

I also decided to repot the rescued Orange Lily, you may remember it was just a few bulbs and badly uprooted stalks, but I promised the friend who spotted them, and loves lilies, I’d divide them and when I tipped out the pot I saw dozens of bulbils, baby lilies essentially, somehow, might be stress might be feeding, the stalks and bulbs both regrew perfectly and I may have a new batch of orange lilies in time. Lilies don’t take all that much work, but they do what many bulbs do and divide into smaller bulbs and stop flowering for a few years, it takes patience and planning to keep them in the garden without leaving a space bald of flowers. Thankfully I just cram everything together and haven’t the time to notice any bare areas, Dear Reader. I’ve decided to try over-wintered onions again too, last year an accidently caused the onions to be useless and my order was refunded too late so I gad to grab red onions that did poorly, instead I’ve bought two yellow varieties, Senshyu Yellow and Autumn Champion, the first of which did well the first year I tried it. I have the time to watch them and decide if they need pulling earlier or not, might as well support local business and get the most out of the garden. Right now it’s just wasps and spiders, one wasp was deciding it’d be a help and just clamber over the garlic as I was sorting it, surprisingly unhelpful, Dear Reader, but they eat aphids so they stay. Things are slowing down, Dear Reader, but there’s always something to do. I’ll be back later, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

The Aster grew huge and ugly, but it is an aster…an ugly one, the flowers are fine, but the plant is eh, not that I’ll ever get rid of it.

These take a long time to flower, but they’ll fill a gap.

Really surprised at this.

My friend.

The pineapple lily always looks spent even when it’s new.

Begetting There Slowly

They’re all droopy so I have to hold ’em up.

Bonus Potatoes.

Super sweet yellow Raspberries.

Pretty if lazy.

Floppy, floppy.

*Waves*

Wrong time to start them, but why not try?

Yo, Dear Reader, I started one simple thing today, I wanted to fill a pot I’d emptied with compost and a little perlite, simple, basic and though heavy nothing major, after somehow becoming two pots and also a trip through the garden several loops for each, moving pots, repotting other plants, almost repotting a gooseberry I mistook for a currant bush until it pricked me, grabbing buckets, losing said buckets, well after a while all this one job begetting another started to get a little tiresome, Dear Reader. I did think with another pair of hands I could get it done faster, but also realised I’d hate that and instead carried on with my martyr impression. I’ve made a lot of progress, mixing soils to improve them is working as the pots are noticeably lighter and as they’ve all been sifted they’re also clear for replanting right away. I have found a few potatoes from the self sprouted potato scraps. I’m often struck at how much of this is seemingly absurd unless you’re in my head, it all makes sense eventually it’s just in the moments between it gets screwy. I even managed to find a use for the support rail, I get there eventually is what I’m saying, Dear Reader.

It’s so cramped it makes it extremely hard to repot and move. Once this is done I’m set for life.

The mystery daisy is not a mystery anymore.

Getting super tall.

Orange is ready to go.

Indoors is still going strong too.

Monster hollyhock is nearing an end.

Alpine strawberries and well, weeds.

Sure, it could be grow Rose…or graveyard dump rose.

Blocks courtesy of being hurled at nettles and buried in the back.

I’ve been buying in supplies as things are likely to get scarce and more expensive, funnily despite the rising costs of somethings others are getting cheaper. I’m good at mooching around for discounts, and freebies naturally, Dear Reader, I’ve been given yet more dahlia bulbs, considering today I had to kick them out of my way, not that that’d break them, they’re valuable for establishing a miniature jungle. I might plant those for an elderly blind neighbour, people will comment on them and that’ll cheer her. I make use of even the most seemingly useless, bits of block were used to right the berry planters, tree planters really, the wall and ground are sloped so I managed to get them to just the right level to save space. The garden is a place where you’ll see a lot if you really stick your nose everywhere, plants are crammed into every space, odds and ends of all kinds have been repurposed. I’m not all that sold on the extreme upcycling that requires so much extra to make it work. Feels like it defeats the purpose. I never know where anything is going, Dear Reader, I have a vague idea, but often it gets changed before it comes to fruition, which is really fun even for the one doing it. I’ll be back later, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

Variegated holly cuttings and roses.

It’s all a gamble, but you have to try.

It only hit me after lifting these that they’re nearly double the size of the others.

That they match is pure chance.

From the weakest to nearly the strongest.

With the milder weather everything is still growing and flowering.

A clone of the back rose taking over that wall.

I’m going for a lot of garlic this year.

Rich In Soil

These will bloom until the first frost at this rate.

Think this is a beautiful red rose, not bad for a discard bouquet.

RTC & RTC Jr are both just trying to flee the pot. RTC has somehow reached upwards to get out.

It’s messy, but might be made beautiful.

My nerve plant is getting a revival and rebirth.

Yo, Dear Reader, the yearly clean up is underway, every year it get bigger so every year it takes longer. I’m currently amending pots, will be until I run out of compost, also mixing the rich clay soil with the rich old potting compost, nothing isn’t rich here after all this time, Dear Reader, it isn’t dense, but it is heavy to carry, I’ll also use perlite to loosen it a bit. It was garden clay that has been amended over years and is now near black and super clean after sifting. I have more than enough ready for the garlic so I’m just taking my time, I did overdo it on the one good day, but lesson learned, until the next time. I should have garlic soon and later in the month the bareroot berry bushes, all ready for those too. I even put chicken wire over the compost bin base, haven’t had an issues with pests since, but I wanted to be sure with Winter coming. I even had some matting to cover that and when I was done it looked the same as when I started…an odd skill to have, Dear Reader.

Too big this year, but I’ll only cut it after it dies back.

Orchids are elegant when you buy them, but once they establish the healthy sprawl appears.

The birds are dropping berries and wild flower seeds everywhere.

It has so much wire beneath that…not that you can tell.

The old, battered rose standard came back again.

The Clone, grown from a woody cutting.

This is a nice dianthus…because it and the basket were free.

I’m thinking about some next year projects too, that big rose is one of them, it never gets to flower as it ends up breaking or getting cut, so I’ll try to train it into a permeant arrangement, maybe running along the wall and up the shed. It’s likely rootstock, but the grafted rose is still alive too and has been for year, that one flowers, strange, but I’ll do something with it. I have a clone of it I can let run free so I can try it both ways at the same time. Jack has a strange way of thinking, but it’s effective, Dear Reader, just slow and ponderous at times. When you have to think in years it tends to seem as if you’re doing nothing. I’m still seeing flowers growing so this whole year is out of sync and I might as well just go with the flow and make my own ripples along the way. Not much else to report on, Dear Reader, lots of small things are taking shape and should be worth seeing next year. For now I just fill pots, empty pots, amend pots and so on. Until later, Dear Reader, stay safe and take care.

Oh, another tayberry, no, no I remember that…yeah totally.

Ummm…hello? What are you?

The original bouquet rose is so strong.

An odd shape, but I’ll take it.

New strawberry barrel is coming on well.

Tahini and Basil Sauce

This’ll be the last I’d say.

Three of four Secret Garden Roses are teeny.

It feels suitable, you know?

This is just their first year though.

A rose planted in memory of a friend.

A lot of growth, but no strawberries.

They’re such bright spots of colour.

Simple, fast, well if you discount growing the basil.

Yo, Dear Reader, I’m honestly surprised I got any basil with the way the first part of the year went, but here I am harvesting in October, not that I’ll complain. One year I went overboard making pesto, the year with the heatwave I think, and ended up with well over a year’s worth. So over time I’ve devised ways to utilise the fresh basil that aren’t just pesto because no matter how good anything in the extreme can become soul-crushing, or at least taste bud crushing. I’ve played around with my limited pantry and recently I’ve been varying my meals a little bit more again, I’m healing in a lot of ways, Dear Reader, and I’ve been mixing a tahini and coconut sauce for drizzling, you can pour it too, even just splatter it around I won’t judge. I’d love it with lemon, but that isn’t happening, so when I had yet more basil and no juicy mangoes I decided to take a chance. I’ve mixed basil with coconut milk, no coconut cream in the shops currently, for curries and this is just an extension of that idea. Yes, there is a lot of garlic, I could say two or four, but why lie, Dear Reader? I like garlic and this sauce is so simple you can adjust freely anyway. It’s a simple herby, salty and slightly creamy sauce that I just pour over seasoned chicken and rice or pasta. I still think along the lines of Getting The Good Into Ya with every meal and using the harvest is always important. Winter’s creeping in, Dear Reader, so I’m making all I can out of what I have and stocking the freezer. That’s all for today, Dear Reader, I’ll be back again later, until then stay safe and take care.

I’ve been cramming everything in there and it’s now taking shape.

Rain and sun over and over today. Glad I’ve smothered the back weeds.

They’re so much better after a year.

Spurge, a wildflower it seems. I’ll leave it.

Not finished yet.

Ingredients

150ml Coconut Cream or Coconut Milk
60g Basil
60g Tahini
24 Cloves Garlic, Peeled (Less or more to taste)
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Make around four 75g Servings.
Can be frozen.

Method

1. Add everything to a food processor and blend until mostly smooth. Separate and either freeze immediately or keep in the fridge. Serve hot or cold.

I’ll Regret It After I Stop Laughing

If I’d grown it on purpose it wouldn’t have done so well.

Pretty, but droopy.

Dramatically lit pumpkin.

Started back in May. Still growing.

Plenty of these still incoming.

Never saw one do so well.

Yo, Dear Reader, I have finally ticked another thing off my simple bucket list, I bought one of the “large” houseplants…”house” plants I guess, which cost a fraction of what it’d cost anywhere else. Yes I’m cheap and yes, Dear Reader, I have a fiddleleaf fig just crammed in my room. By comparison the yucca is now small and surely that frees up room, no? Oh, well, I wanted to do this for a year or two and in getting a second big plant as a surprise for a friend I just went with it. I’m told they’re a fiddly, heh, plant to take care of. I’ll do my best as always, I’ve set up my grow lights for Winter, at a gentle setting to just compensate for all the incoming dark days. I’ve also been reading up on propagation, Jack is good, Dear Reader, but also smart enough to know that not all plants survive. Funnily outside the angel wings senecio, the first, was looking rough and I was removing it to discard the old plant and found that the whole pot was roots, this was just a half-dead cutting as you may remember. It may just return next year, as may the others, so I’ll left the frost do what it will to the top, nothing last time funnily, and enjoy the fact nature has it’s own ideas about what’ll live and die.

The seeds would be a weird cross so I didn’t save them, this year’s mixes were enough.

Hahahahahahahaha.

The blackberries are spreading rapidly.

Like a tray of sunshine.

Lovely colour at this time of year.

Mystery dahlia is getting there.

Marked trugs have been amended and are ready to be planted.

I’m getting a few things ready for filling up the freezer, the pumpkin was surpringly easy to carve and had really sweet smelling richly coloured flesh inside. The scones are a rework of these with all buckwheat flour, no flax, doubled and an extra egg. I was having huge issues with them coming out badly baked and it turns out it was the oven that wasn’t heating, these came out so much better tasting with the new oven. There wasn’t much water in the squash, even after roasting I had a lot, so I’ve blended and frozen it for future baking. I still have so much squash to use yet, but I’m not in any rush and as there’s no surgery hanging over me I don’t have to consider when to eat or not to, so much was poisoned by that, Dear Reader, still healing, but doing well. Apparently the nipples heal very slowly if at all fully, but I’m more worried about my arm still, I have grip strength thankfully so I’ll continue to use a compression support and strengthen it along with massaging. I have a lot of pots to fill and move, no rush mind, so I’ll get plenty of working out done. The compost has been left resting so long it’s getting to a very fine crumbly texture, just packed with worms. They like the insects seem to love it here. Not much else to say, Dear Reader, I’ll be back again soon, for now I’ll get back to my tree infested room. Until later, stay safe and take care.

I just dropped batter, they’re only for me after all.

Aside from you, Dear Reader, no one really sees all there is here.

I’m weeding, there’s just so many seeds blowing in year round.

Forgot I had this.

Self-seeded pansies are really strong growers.

The honey from here must taste amazing.

Half was bought, half was free.

Same, maybe less bought though.

Until We Can’t

Never saw the buds, some kind of daisy. Plant ID is always a crapshoot, I’ll wait for it to open.

Gentle fig tree, seems to be hitting a perfect limit on growth.

Yes, I did start Strawberries near Winter.

One of the Canna I grew from a seed from the original is flowering and is yellow rather than red!

Yo, Dear Reader, I feel that at this time of year when everything is winding down I make jokes about how nothing is winding down, so instead I’m going to go ahead and fully embrace this refusal to gently fade into near Winter that the plants are epitomising and instead I’ll make the most of whatever we have. I am just doing whatever work the weather permits and trying to push things as far as they can go. I had to feed my indoor plants with a strong dose as none of them are slowing down either, my room still smells strong of orchid blossoms, RTC Junior has taken up the cause of revenge by better living and is currently exploring beyond the pot, not that I have any hope of altering it now, those roots are important and I refuse to endanger them, run free, buddy. My Sweetheart Plant, Biollante, has almost reached the floor and must be nearing six feet in length if it hasn’t already. The Yucca, nicknamed the Covid tree as it was bought at the beginning of, well, all of this, the first time I left the house alone in seventeen years, refuses to die…not that I neglect it, but I will have to risk moving it to a dimmer location soon as it’s blocking the window. In fairness, Dear Reader, so are the other two ferns and the lucky bamboo. Indoor or out packed is my method, Dear Reader, as much per square inch as possible.

If these manage the height of the others they’ll be incredible.

RTC Junior is a joy.

Problem with this is it just looks like an all too familiar weed that grows here.

Dare I say it’s prettier than the white? I do.

My Silver Pothos cutting is now a well established plant.

These are all hidden under the leaves. Nearly feel in trying to see them.

I took the rainy day as a reason to clean up my spice rack, I bulk buy whenever I get gluten free spices, free from any contaminants, a hardship finding those as I’m sure you’re all to familiar with, Dear Reader, with the way the world is I’m getting even more prepared. So, I have big bags, and many small ones, and small jars so instead I’ve moved the spices I use most to big jam jars so I can refill blends easily and the blends, some so far, have the exact ratios fore refilling just the jar marked on the back. As long as the spices smell then they’re fine, they never go off, they just lose flavour and that takes quite a while in my experience. I did find in my panic over pepper, again the surgery looming put a lot of pressure on every aspect of my life, I ended up with way too much rainbow peppercorns. I’ve been grinding and using them in blends. I’ve invested in another grinder, this one is getting on in years and the new one has a removable and washable insert, for grinding rice flour which I’m having issues finding in white only. Life with so many complications requires so much exhausting planning, Dear Reader, as I know I don’t need to tell you if you’re here. Still things balance, I had a feed of garden vegetables today, squash, a yellow, thick-skinned one, sweet and soft, golden beetroot that were left long enough this time to swell and carrots that are much bigger, still cramped, but better. The garden rewards, Dear Reader, and is currently seeing me daily hauling out waste to the compost bins, I’d swear it fills itself! It’ll all cycle back around again, it always does as long as I’m here. I’ll be back soon, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

I love this cactus.

Just letting the tomatoes grow, I’ll see how they fare this time.

A second bloom for the delicate 50+ rose!

Just threw those wild plants in there for soil and instead they’ve flourished.

Even the Carpet Roses look happier in here.

Next Year I grow these properly…I say that every year mind.

Soft September

Fourth bloom, so very glad it’s doing so well.

It’s so hard to capture it without it resembling a cloud.

Hollyhock refuses to stop blooming.

If you put a lump of concrete in a secluded spot it looks mysterious.

The Pirate Skull is safe, thanks for asking.

Yo, Dear Reader, the garden is reaching a turning point, things are coming down, every year I complain that I put up the peas frames too well, every year after I do it again, and the ground has been cleaned and dug, the self-started plants are now green mulch. They’d never have grown fruit, but it was enjoyable to let them grow a while. I’ll need to clean up the pots regardless, but I wanted to see what would happen and why not try it? I have no pending surgeries, no sudden calls or long waits, yes, I know, Dear Reader, it’s taking a long time to sink in and the after affects will linger for the rest of my life. Still, it feels more peaceful this year, I don’t need the need to burn myself out to distract or to get things done for fear of running out of time. I’ve harvested the last of the squash, going to take my time using them up too, mostly baking for freezing and fresh for dinners. There’s still way too much alive and kicking right now, it’s overcast, but so humid.

There is no way to show it without it looking a mess. It’s shooting out from the ground in all directions currently.

Plenty of roses blooming, all plants are now huge.

Better than using old sheets.

Skeletal inside.

Gradually it’ll kill the nettles.

I have a lot set up that’ll really shine next year, the Rambler is free to get all the light it needs, as is the back rose, both are more like hedges than rose at this stage, the interweaving branches are so dense right now. Neither has had this much light to grow now I think about it, next year will be interesting. I have a compost bin ready to empty and the rest are refilling, filling up faster now the somewhat cooler weather is in. I was reading about the price of fertilizer going up, there was a shortage of bottled feed too this year, but with the hotbin and wormery I’ve hardly bought any feed at all. I’ll likely keep an eye out for other sources, I want to make seaweed tea at some stage and I’ll hope comfrey has a better year. It’s funny how easy it becomes once you start, Dear Reader, I couldn’t imagine not doing it now. This has been the shortest September, or maybe the gentlest, and as I’m not one for Christmas, no dread of the joyous season where I’d be miserable waiting anymore thankfully, I’ll just be focusing on the garden. You never stop learning, Dear Reader, putting it all into practice takes a lot of time and effort, but it pays off in all manner of ways. I’ll be back soon, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

Keep throwing them away, I’ll keep making them thrive.

I nearly forgot about this one.

Need to do a lot of sweeping and vacuuming.

Keep blooming, I have time.