Have been harvesting Runner Beans weekly. Mange Tout and Sugar Snap daily. Herbs are in regular use but curly-leaf parsley is top of the list at the moment. Growing room is full of tomatoes all be it still green. Shall be overrun when the color change takes place.

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Our sweetcorn cobs have come to full size weeks earlier than last year; but the tomatoes are slower to ripen.

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Last, of my greens and potatoes are now in the slow cooker.   All grown in pots and tubs. No more flowers appeared. so they have now been pulled out and awaiting the trip to be recycled. Herbs have liked the weather and have flourished. Will last until the end of October.   

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Toms now ripening faster than I can use them; 2 aubergines, 3 pumpkins and 7 peppers. Melons swelling and plums ripening nicely.

Lots of nasty little triangular flies biting legs and feet, mostly on the lawn areas. Really bad reaction to these.

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This morning's torrential rain and breeze have half emptied the walnut tree. I have an estimated 500 walnuts in 2 baskets, and haven't even collected from the shrubs and veg beds yet. 

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Can anyone help please. I got some weird small mushroom things in my garden they are white, beige sort of colour. All grow close together mainly. I've tried weed killer but they just keep coming back any suggestions please

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Seeds now collected from all the perennials; nasurtiums ramping everywhere but they'll seed themselves - but for the nasturtiums, need to watch for frosts. Let them experience a frost and they go revoltingly claggy, so need to be cleared a day or two before.

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Seeds now collected from all the perennials; nasurtiums ramping everywhere but they'll seed themselves - but for the nasturtiums, need to watch for frosts. Let them experience a frost and they go revoltingly claggy, so need to be cleared a day or two before.

Do you pickle your nasturtium pods, DEW? They vaguely resemble capers. A project for next year if you don't. Roger

https://www.permaculture.co.uk/readers-solutions/nasturtium-flower-butter-and-nasturtium-caper-recipes

https://garden.org/learn/articles/view/4112/

Roger

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Not all October Gloom. Still colour in the garden. Thule conifer has green and lime coloured leave. Pyracantha is covered in orange berries. 5 different colours of cyclamen are doing well. Cosmos are flowering also. Heathers are in flower and will last a long time.

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Do you pickle your nasturtium pods, DEW? They vaguely resemble capers. A project for next year if you don't. Roger

 

I haven't pickled pods, but I've put flowers in salads, much to the astonishment of a great-niece

"You ... don't ... eat... flowers"

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Not all October Gloom. Still colour in the garden. Thule conifer has green and lime coloured leave. Pyracantha is covered in orange berries. 5 different colours of cyclamen are doing well. Cosmos are flowering also. Heathers are in flower and will last a long time.

Such has been the nature of the weather here- wet with warm nights- everything is still verdant in our garden. The walnut has (& is still) shed a record harvest, but the rest looks like summer. Peppers, chillies and aubergines are still flowering and setting. They'll be conservatoried for the winter.

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Still lots of summer colour in my borders, as well as autumn colour from plums, grapes and pyracantha. 

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Still lots of summer colour in my borders, as well as autumn colour from plums, grapes and pyracantha. 

The vine is fruiting!

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The vine is fruiting!

Ahh, no.  Not the vine Transplanted from my mum’s garden!  That’s been planted in Gemma’s garden but it’s doing well, with four strong stems in leaf, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it fruits next year!  

I have two in my garden and we seem to have a tradition of inheriting grape vines, as these belonged to my brother who died 7 years ago.  He’d bought them but never got to plant them and they were still in their pots a year later, so I gave them a home.  

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A home for fleas
A hive for bees

[Hair - 1968]

The 'unnoticed insect apocalypse': How people in towns and cities can help
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-50406278

Spot some of the less-than-perfect images chosen:
A recently-arrived non-native species - now widespread across the country?
Daffodils helping insect diversity?
Build your own bee box - for honeybees?
Errr.

Nevertheless - a bee box/hotel for the garden makes a nice Christmas present - home made or bought.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/giants-causeway/features/how-to-build-a-bee-box

Roger

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Winter-flowering honeysuckle in bloom, winter-flowering clematis almost there.

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Now the hazel catkins have opened

EDIT 5 Jan now also winter flowering honeysuckle and winter flowering clematis. Outside the garden, patches of winter heliotrope are well in flower (it's not a plant you want to encourage, attractive odour but takes over with roots like bindweed).

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Thought I'd put this in here to save starting a spring flower thread prematurely, but \i saw the first celandine (pilewort) yesterday, down by the coast. The record runs (just didn't record in missing years)

First celandines 26/1/05, 6/3/06, 18/2/07, 2/3/10, 25/1/11, 1/2/12, 22/2/14, 17/2/15, 24/2/17, 24/1/18, 13/2/19 (Chi), 10/1/20

Not systematic, just where I happened to be at the time.

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One single Dandelion in flower in the grass at the side of the house. Daisys are also in flower.

Geraniums in pots still have their pink flowers. Cosmos are still in bud.

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Picked a crop on Blackcurrants from my garden today. I have three bushes in the border, two facing West/South West, of which one produced nothing and the other produced a handful.  The third faces North/North West and produced enough to make four jars of lovely jam.  I’m re-thinking their positions for next year as I love Blackcurrant jam!  

Hi Caz! I've just discovered this forum and this thread, so I might well be contributing more to it.  Do you happen to know what variety your blackcurrants are?  I want to plant one or two bushes in my garden and I'm not sure which variety to get.  I love the flavour of blackcurrants, in things such as blackcurrant jam, blackcurrant and apple pie, and (if you can find it) blackcurrant ice cream.

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