Anyhow, apart from that, I've managed to achieve a certain amount of Autumn work:
I discovered a group of neglected lavender bushes at the Hub's workplace so I very kindly (in my opinion!) pruned them all...and removed the prunings for my own use!
This is my own single plant, but I'm going to try growing more from seed to see how it goes. Lavender is one of those cure-alls which I just can not be without. And the hearts' ease? It turned up in the veg patch so I transplanted it!!
The end of the season for my French Beans- can you see how wind -burned they are? We have had early gales this Autumn and I am so not looking forward to this winter. I have to say that the crop was only moderate this year.Tomorrow I will dig over this section of the Veg bed and plant out some of the Perpetual Spinach from the cold frame, which is coming along very healthily.
And this is a stunningly exciting photo, I know, can you contain yourselves?? Actually this week I planted 75 onion sets, and about 25 garlic sets in here and am now anxiously waiting for them to proclaim their willingness to arise and multiply!There is one patch left in the middle where I am going to plant winter turnip seed this week.
The Swiss Chard continues to be cut for dinner and grow back again- it really is amazing stuff and I know from experience that even frost and snow don't keep it down.
I would recommend it for ready winter greens, and spring, summer and autumn too! Its good raw in salad, and its good wilted or cooked and whizzed in hot dishes, even the stalks aren't tough.
And here's my bursting cold frame- still minus its door! I'll tell you about that another time. Spinach, broad beans, black kale, purslane, hollyhocks and calendula. And a late crop of radishes with a bit of luck...
So, I have kept occupied, and with any luck we won't go hungry this winter, even if we are cut off by snow for three weeks like we were last year: THAT was a hard-learned lesson!
8 comments:
Sorry to hear you haven't been feeling well. Hope things are balancing out now. I love lavender too. My plant lived over the winter and it is near my back door. I like to brush by it when I walk past. Your little seedlings already have a good start for the fall plantings.
Hello, Heckety! I just caught up on several months' worth of your blog posts:) Loved the story about your brother in law getting arrested as a drug smuggler! I still think you should write a book about your life in Africa -- poisoned arrows, riots, baboons -- oh my! A page turner! I hope your body chemistry is leveling out. I hate to mention the M word, but as you approach menopause, your chemistry is likely changing so much and hence, any medicines you take needing adjustment. I'm finally, FINALLY on the other side of "M" and doing better than ever. Now I'm just my normal crazy instead of hot flash/anxiety/can't sleep crazy:) I've even lost 3 pounds!! Anyway, so enjoyed reading about your garden and your slice of life in Ireland. OH...have you read the Karen Marie Moning "Fever" series? Set in Dublin -- makes me think of you:) HUGS from across the ocean, Trishia
So glad to hear from you. I hope your meds are kicking in and kicking butt!
I know how difficult adjusting meds can be:(
I'll be praying for you and yours!
How exotic that you can still have harvest from your vegetable patch and even grow new beginnings. I need to rescue my last tomatoes while they are still green, just to keep them from the first night frost.
I hope you'll be feeling better soon.
I'm sorry to hear that you're not doing too well, but if you're managing to keep busy in the garden that can only help. I ought to get some more things into the garden for the winter but I get lazy once the weather starts getting chilly. We've got swiss chard, turnips, parsnips, swede and leeks a-plenty, but I've got room to plant more things if I can only get myself into gear.
So good to see you back in blogland. I love that you can grow vegetables in the winter in your part of the world.
Thinking of you and I too have to catch up.
I wish that I was able to grow winter crops, but just doesn't work with 5-6 months of snow on the ground and cold temps. The good part of that is I get to forget about doing any yard work in that time. We have been traveling the last several weeks and go home in another week and I will have a few more chores to do before winter settles in.
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