It is hard to believe that the year has finished, Christmas is becoming a distant memory and we are already at the start of 2019. We have been so busy that 2018 year appears to have disappeared in a haze. Sadly during October my Aunt died and therefore much of the month was dedicated to her funeral and looking after my Uncle. In between trips away there were a few things going on around the smallholding so here's a quick catch up on October and November, the final flurries of Autumn.
At the start of the October the peppers plants were all beginning to look like they were approaching the end of productivity. I decided to take all the fruits off before we lost them to frost and mould. We now have a huge bag of chopped peppers in the freezer which we can use during the winter to add to stews, bolognaise etc.
A couple of years ago we hired a wood chipper to get rid of a lot of the sticks around the woods and at the same time create some paths. Four days of wood chipping nearly did us in so, we saved our pennies and this year we bought our own. The wood chipper runs off the tractor and the main benefit is the ability to do short stints at a time depending on the weather. We tried to complete some of the paths but they look a little like zebra crossings so there is definitely more work to do there.
The 'White' garden also got the chipper treatment and looked wonderful, even on the first day when the path was only just emerging.
By the end of the next day the path through the 'White' garden was almost finished and seemed to set the whole area off really well.
I always get a bit fed up with the tomato plants at the end of the season and they look so straggly and messy. It's around this time that I remove all the fruit, whether they are ripe or not and remove all the plants.
With all these tomatoes it was time to get the chutney on, a tomato chutney and a green tomato chutney. Unfortunately when the second lot was nearing completion we sat down to eat and it caught the bottom of the pan. The chutney tastes fine but I'm not sure my gorgeous jam pan will ever quite be the same again. I've tried to clean with a combination of heat, water, white vinegar and a lot of elbow grease. It's almost clean but it's in the naughty corner until I can face it again in the new year.
The latest Clematis in the 'White' garden decided to show us that it should be there and we had one very large bloom.
This was Actaea, we bought a couple to put in the 'White' garden. Although the foliage has a chocolate brown tinge, the flowers are beautiful spikes of tiny white flowers.
The weather during October wasn't too bad although I always find the early afternoons are depressing as we approach winter.
This was a lovely little Rudbeckia which mum gave me. There were lots of little plants in the pot so we planted one in the woods. This was it merrily flowering away, the day before the deer found it!!
Sometimes when the nights begin draw in there is nothing better than cuddling down in front of the toasty fire.
We had quite a lot of geraniums in the garden so thought we may be able to pot them up, pop them in the greenhouse and see if we could save them over the winter. I also managed to sow some seeds, Nigella, Cornflower, Calendula, Cowslip, Ragged Robin and Red Campion.
All the dahlias were brought in for the winter, along with the lavender and on the right hand side are some cuttings I took from my Aunt's garden.
On the deer war front again we bought some larger and sturdier tree protection for the orchard. The fruit trees were quite badly damaged in the summer so we're hoping that this may give them a chance next year.
The orchard looked quite tidy with the new mulch mats and tree protectors on. Fingers crossed for a bumper harvest next year.
M cut and stacked some logs from our woods, they'll be ready for use next year once they have dried out.
I also got out and about, collecting, breaking and stacking sticks for kindling. You might be able to guess, but M stacked the ones on the left and mine are on the right 😂
At the beginning of October M suggested another spot of strimming. It had been so mild that the weeds and grass were still growing so I'm glad we made the effort.
I managed to complete the 'White' garden in one day which gave me room to plant out some of the Delphiniums and Foxgloves I had grown from seeds. I was hoping they would get some roots out before the temperatures dropped too much.
