Preparing for winter

This morning has seen me have some time in the garden.  It has been time spent, tidying, weeding, finishing and preparing plants for the first frost which is no doubt almost upon us.

The cold frame has had the finishing touchs made, plants placed in in there and small plants repotted and put away for winter.

Weeds have been removed, the sweet peas which have been still flowering until recently have had the remaining seeds harvested and are now in the compost heap.  Talking about compost, the heaps have been turned and the heap that has been working this year is looking amazing.  It has already been used here and there, but the bulk of it is still there.  It will give our garden some great goodness.

Fleece protection is now over some of the veggies to help them warm and keep growing.  Tomatoes and cucumbers are still producing fruit in the greenhouse and beetroot will soon be ready to be harvested.

I will soon be turning to indoor jobs and gardening will be taking a back seat for a bit, although plans need to made and seeds purchased ready for next year.

  It's just nice to be able to spend time in the garden when we're almost in November.

Holiday post

Its been a while simce my last post. Life has been hectic recently, with a very busy time at work and the handful which are the children.

It is currently early in the morning on our holiday.  The wife is having a well earned lie in, the twins are sat with me having their early morning milk and Jos is sleeping at his Nanna and Grandads...so I am sat relaxing before watching my gorgeous toddlers.

Well its that time of year when trees are turning res and bronze, leaves are falling and as we saw yesterday,  geese are getting ready to find a warmer climate.  We are currently on holiday in Northumberland,  a very much unspoilt and beautiful part of England.  Our base up here is surrounded by trees and bushes all putting on a glorious autumn display.  At some point over our final days up here, we will be visiting Holy Island, an island not far from the coast but which for hours of the day is connected to the mainland by a Causeway as the tide goes out.  We will also be visiting Alnwick Castle and gardens.   We did visit in April,  so will be interesting to see how the gardens have changed in the space of half a year.  The nature and attractions of my native land have much to offer.

Yesterday we visited Ford and Etal and enjoyed a ride on the small gauge railway.  It was heartwarming to see my young sons face as he saw the 'choo choo'.

On the gardening front back at home, recent weeks have seen the  coldframe completed and now housing small tender plants, ghe judas tree is now planted and seeds have been collected from several plants ready for next year.  In the vegetable plot we are still harvesting potatoes and will have more in the coming weeks.  Beetroot and brassicas are all growing strongly.   And finally, in the greenhouses, tomatoes,  cucumbers and peppers are all still growing and giving fruit.   The autumn maybe here but the garden isn't quite finished yet!!       

The weekend

Well its the weekend again :-)

Its been a busy week at work and happily I got to a point where I was happy with what i'd done and i'm pleased the weekend has arrived.  Last night was what myself and my wife have designated 'date night'.  Kids to bed, film, wine and cheese and welcome a couple of days of family time.  Tonight my parents in law will be coming for the evening as they arrive back from holiday today.  That will be a chance to have an unwind, a laugh and i'm sure a few drinks as i'll have my drinking partner (father in law) back. 

Today has seen a chance to do a little gardening.  This morning i went down to PILs house and cut their lawn as a surprise for when they get back.  They have had a lot on recently, so that little job that i can do for them is a help.  Plus i enjoy it.  They have a large garden and a sit upon mower (tractor).  Its great fun flying up and down and a chance to have a bit of peace on my own.
    I must confess I was slightly worried when I first got there.  I got the engine started and tried to get started, but there was no movement.  I was very worried about this.  But after stopping and thinking how my father in law thinks, I realised he had disabled it by pulling out a lever at the back.  I pushed this in and tried again and straight pulled out of the garage and I was away.

Once I got back home I went and got our mower out and cut our grass.  As I nearly finished I realised that one of the handle has worn that much that it has snapped, so a repair job or replacement handle needs to be sorted.

I then planted our winter Jasmine in the garden and a Michelmas daisy in a large pot.  The daisy will be going in the garden eventually, but as we are still very early in designing our garden, I am not ready for a final placement.

The Judas tree we bought is still waiting to be planted.  Placement for this has not been decided upon yet, but it is being looked after and will be fine a while longer.

Thats today.  Tomorrow will depend on the weather as to what gets done. 

Also, the wife has been making some very nice plum jam using plums from PILs orchard, I must say this is very tasty and I'm looking forward to tonights plum jam roly poly pudding and homemade custard :-)  Take a look http://hijackedbytwins.blogspot.com

Now time to spend some quality time with my kids.