Time for a Haircut!

It seems that Saturday was the Last Day of Summer (at least that's the way it feels after the last couple of day's weather) and it was time to give the Ornamental Pear a bit of a trim.

Before - all frondy, but getting rather out of control

After - all neat ready for next year's growth . . .

Belated Blogging

Herewith the 'Blogs that Were Meant To Be' . . .

Sunday 7 September: Cool . . .

Well we finally got round to ordering the new fridge and freezer we'd been promising ourselves ever since moving - no more going out to the utility room every time we want milk for our tea! Sunday morning delivery - lots of polystyrene packaging. The fridge - actually in the kitchen - makes a subtle whooshing noise from time to time, which took a bit of getting used to, and the freezer (which has gone in the utility room) finally means we have room for something other than peas from the garden . . .

Sunday 14 September: Carrots (at least that's what I think they are) . . .

Pulled our first crop of carrots, strange creatures every one . . . a regular family of Mandrake Roots -they tasted ok though.

Wednesday 17 September: Sunshine . . .

Finally!

Saturday 20 September: Strictly Come Leching . . .

Men like Strictly Come Dancing too - but for entirely different reasons. Think the BBC has got the Saturday night ratings sewn up, Merlin was pretty good too . . .

Monday 22 September: Bootifull . . .

Not exactly free firewood this time, offcuts from the local building suppliers / wood merchant - help yourselves from the pile round the back, £4 for a boot-full.

Mind you I guess it will burn quickly being mostly pine. Took some unloading, but it's all stacked round in our drying area now, filled up a fair amount of space . . .

Free Firewood

Took a wander past some workmen cutting back an oak tree at the side of the road (just up from the house) today. Asked them what they did with the cut wood and managed to secure some of the 'smaller' logs. Some of them seemed pretty big, especially after 8 wheelbarrow trips up and down the road from where they'd left them!



Pretty good haul all in all - will need to season it, so it probably won't be ready for burning until next year, but it's added to our stock for then.

Grey Grey Grey Grey Grey

The weather that is. It's all getting a bit depressing - and the satellite picture just shows more cloud on the way . . . .

Beginning to feel as though I need to stand under a sun lamp for a week.

The Winter Garden is Open for Business

A reasonable day weatherwise (for once) - the sun actually came out mid-morning and we managed to get a fair bit of work done in the garden.

With the peas and onions up - the onions 'drying' in Martin's patent drying rack (see right) - Martin dug out the good stuff from the compost heap and dug it into the liberated space, and we got it all planted up with the sprouts and cabbage we'd been hoarding in various pots. So that's the Winter Garden in hand - there's already more broccoli on the way, and the courgettes are still producing at present.

Probably planted more sprouts than we'll ever want to eat mind you!

To Eat or Not To Eat . . . That Is The Question

Finally got out into the garden today - the rain actually stopped for long enough to allow us to cut the grass (which was getting a little out of hand to put it mildly). Got a bit of weeding done as well - Martin found the following under the Yew tree - the question is whether they are edible or not . . .

Anybody got any idea? Tried to identify them, think the white gills might be a bad thing . . . So I gues the answer is 'Not To Eat' this time . . .

Crab Apple & Chilli Jelly

Had a load of crab apples out of the field next door the other day - it seemed like a good idea at the time, but then we had to decide what to do with them. After a bit of online searching fixed on a recipe for Crab Apple & Chilli Jelly, which seemed appropriate as we'd just also acquired three red chillis. A lot of sugar, and a lot of boiling later . . .

Think it set in the end - tasted sweet with an undertone of heat - got a good six jars out of it . . .