Wet and Weeding

There has been strong gales and heavy rain this week but I have managed  some gardening in between the showers. I have got my allotment weeded. I am still harvesting kale, sprouts and leeks. The runner beans and raspberries have come to an end.

I have a good crop of leeks

In my garden at home there are still flowers in bloom. Red asters.

Bright pink

Nerines give a splash of pink.

Pink exotics

A bears paw.

Beware of the bear

Some lupins have come back into flower.

A pretty white lupin

The bright red bistort makes a splash of colour.

Bottle brushes

Lichen on a gate stoop.

Wonderful colours

This oak tree has split its trunk but is still alive.

Can you see a female torso?

Sunrise this morning.

A milky sky

Relish the Relishes

I have spent quite a lot of this week harvesting and turning the surplus into Hot Tomato Relish and Beetroot  Relish. Most of the ingredients are from my gardens except I buy some tomatoes as tiny tomatoes are fiddly to peel. The kitchen always smells strongly of vinegar the following morning.

I use hot yellow peppers in my tomato relish and the taste is judged by the fire power of the peppers and spices. The family like it hot, hot, hot. Beetroot relish is new this year as I had a surplus. 

I use plastic gloves to prepare them and they make your eyes sting. No pain no gain.

My onions have been drying in the greenhouse. I have plaited them this year and stored them in a sack.

A good crop this year

I now have my spuds drying to be stored in sacks.

All shapes and sizes good for mashing and roasting

I am still picking Autumn raspberries and freezing the perfect ones.

They need picking on alternate days

Raspberries and giant blackberries for the freezer

The mint in the gardens is in flower.

I have used some in a herb wreath

The Autumn crocus looks very pretty.

Vibrant colours and beautiful stamens

A lupin has come back into flower.

A lupin and one of my pottery houses

These yellow daisies are a lovely shape.

There centres look like buttons

We had a walk in Grizedale Forest where I saw this tree.

It amazes me how tree roots entwine into rocks

There was a variety of toadstools.

The shape is like you find in children's books

I love the name of this street in Keswick.

You  could imagine this in a Harry Potter novel

Happy Harvesting

 I have continued weeding this week and also making large amounts of runner bean pickle and hot tomato relish. Both family favourites.

My runner beans are very prolific.

I can just reach the top of the bean poles

The cardoon in all it's splendour.

They look as if they should do a Highland fling

The trees are ladened with apples.

Where is Snow White?

On my trip down from Hartside there is interesting strata.

Jagged rocky outcrops

Undulating ground.

Dips and grooves

Bleak vistas.

Just a few lone trees

Kirkoswald castle.

The castle is a ruin and is just next to the Artful Garden

I am harvesting turnips and sweetcorn.

The sweetcorn is so sweet you could eat it raw

Chard and spinach.

The rainbow chard is a vibrant red

,






n 

Sun Soak up

It has been a dry and warm week apart from a strong wind which was the Helm Bar earlier in the week.
I have been busy preparing the brassica bed on my allotment to plant out my cauliflower, kale, brussel sprouts and cabbage. I had to water the ground to allow me to dig and then rake the soil. I have made my own cabbage collars from a plastic bag and have put scaffolding net over the plants. 

Cauliflower seedlings

A blackbird and thrush have been accompanying me as they were looking for worms. Birds are now carrying nest building materials in their beaks.

The bluebells are at their best.

I have the odd pink and white bluebell

The blackberry bush is in bud.

I hope I have a good crop

Strange fruit on the apple tree on my allotment.

A mystery

I have earthed up my potatoes.

The potatoes in the Artful Garden are just beginning to show

These dainty white flowers open with the sunshine.

White stars

The cardoon is growing very quickly with the heat.

I love sunshine

I love bracken fronds as they start to uncurl.

Shepherd's crooks

The path to the Artful Garden.

Aubretia and Welsh poppies

I made this wreath from apple blossom and honesty.

Delicate blossom

Brilliant Blooms

Kirkoswald has achieved a gold award for Cumbria in Bloom. The Artful Garden was mentioned in the report.
"It provides interest with many works in addition to a wide spectrum of plants, vegetables and colour." 
The garden also got a special award of  'Magnificent."

A dry weather week has  allowed me to catch up with my gardening. It is lovely to garden when the sun in shining. 

I have been making a series of wreaths from natural materials experimenting using different plants.
Wreaths for the gate into the Artful Garden.

Made from rowan berries, rosehips and oak leaves

Made from apples and acorns

Hawthorn berries and sycamore keys

I am picking raspberries almost every day.

There is an excellent crop of raspberrries

The apple tree is so heavily ladened that we have had to prop it up.

A bumper crop of apples

The sunflowers are starting to die back I am leaving the flower heads for the birds.

A giant sun

I love the cardoons.

Doon yer think were great?

We have had a slight frost but some of the nasturtiums have survived.

Nasturtiums intertwined with the apples

I love rudbeckias.

Look at the spiky petals 

The monarda is still in full flower.

Purple pincushions

Look at the symmetry of the leaves.

Striking

I found this baseball man in Hexham.

Hi I'm a Hexham Dodger

A strange ladybird has appeared in the Artful Garden.

I'm no lady

Look at the clouds floating over the Eden Valley.

A superb views