Alien life force.

I love these large spidery roots. Just one or two in a fake spider's web should scare the most persistent of trick or treaters away. In fact they are Eremurus bulbs.

Happy to be ankle deep in mud.

What a marvellous day; sunshine (till the inevitable rain showers and hailstones arrived), blue skies and white fluffy marshmallows for clouds. This meant only one thing. I had to escape the housework and get out into my garden. What a joy.
Because it has been so wet this year I've decide to move the little chickens' run and house so it is easier to access. With it being in the middle of the vegetable patch it means I have trodden down the soil I spent an hour or so turning over about a month ago. This has resulted in little craters and man made pools where heavy footsteps have created impressions in the soil that have filled up with rain water. Luke found a toad in one last night, right in the bed where the peas should have been. So today the 'babies' had a change of scenery and now live at the front of the veg patch, with easy access and a deep carpet of hipped bark.
Actually it all tied in well with my happy hour of weeding and digging up the forlorn sweet corn that the hens decimated.

We are not going to get fat on this egg.

It is not a lot bigger than our plum tomatoes but we are grateful for all small mercies.

York in the sun.

The gardens near to York minster and within the walls of the city. This bed is enormous and in front of it is a lovely large weeping pear that puts my little one to shame.

 Then next to the cathedral  is a lovely old building with a bed of old gold roses fronting it up. Beautiful.

What a fantastic sight, the towering entrance of York minster. The largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe.

Winter welcome.

I am hoping that the forty pounds I've just spent for the 45 X 120 cm space by the front door will see us through the long winter months I've bought five ornamental kale (cabbage), two white, two light purple and one deep purple. To intersperse with these I have two leggy, pink flowered thrifts, one fine stemmed ornamental grass and three elegant cyclamen in white and pink. I wanted to throw a little colour in for contrast but try as I might I couldn't find anything I was happy with apart from some lovely plum blushed wallflowers and at seven pounds a pot I couldn't justify them.
This is a current theme with me. I want the complete picture but I can't justify the expense so always compromise with almost there. To be fair, there's enough there to create a cheerful space but I know it would have had more impact with a taller backdrop of either bushy wallflowers or more bronze or dark green ornamental germs and grasses. Still, I'm happy enough and today's purchases will provide me with an hour or two of gardening pleasure so I'll factor that into the cost. Luke's father is visiting so he bought all the sale plants (he's cheaper than i am) but yet again we have almost filled the boot of the car.

Saturday skies

Last week I was giving a talk in the old library and just as I stepped into the building a plane flew high overhead. Yesterday I was lucky enough to have a day off and again looked up into a crisp cobalt sky, this time the blue was contrasted by the big, lime-coloured leaves in the park. In thw afternoon we enjoyed a walk over Cardiff barrage.

Harvest time.

Okay so we've enjoyed the raspberries (but not as much as the chickens have) and we had a few meals from our spuds but what with rain, little sunshine or warmth and hungry hens helping themselves, we have not enjoyed a glut of anything. But the tomatoes have finally come good, much to my relief. I've been concerned that if they failed for the third year running Luke would throw in the towel and call it a day growing vegetables. How relieved I am that this summer they have fruited and ripened and glowed their rosy little globes through the glass of the greenhouse, like cheery faces peering out at the world of course the chickens have loved these too but thankfully can't reach high enough to pluck them from their curvy vines.
The aubergines haven't done so well being closer to the ground and chicken's beaks. As this summer has been a wash out we have allowed the chickens daily access to the greenhouse so they can have a nice dry dust bath in the soil. They of course have taken advantage of this to vary their diet with the growing veg but we do eventually benefit with golden yolks in their teeny eggs.
Here is our sparse contribution to the Harvest festival

The Autumn equinox has come and gone.

Aeroplane streaks through a morning sky.  A birch loosens it's paper thin bark, like a snake shedding it's skin. Now we are into Autumn proper.