Six-on-Saturday 3-11-2018

November already. Quite a mixture of weather here this week. The frosts have put paid to several plants, as you will see in my post, but the sun is shining today and I even mowed the lawn!

Last week “One Man And His Garden Trowel” suggested that I leave my pile of cuttings for a wildlife haven. What a good idea, I thought, but then realised I would simply be creating a perfect “Take Away restaurant” for our cat who has progressed from bringing in just old feathers and garden worms, to dead, or nearly dead, or decapitated birds or small mammals! Needless to say, I decided to spend time this morning shredding that pile plus the frosted fuschia and the frosted runner beans. Unfortunately, the frosted items clogged up the shredder because, obviously, they had quite sludgy leaves and stems, as frosted plants do – silly me!

Here are my Six-on-Saturday. It is becoming more challenging to find pretty or interesting plants/items to include, but the garden never stops changing. I shall look forward to seeing the gardens in their spring colours from the other side of the world!

1)

The sorry sights of the fuschia, the tumbling begonias and the Apple of Peru plants after the frosts. Since the fuschia cuttings clogged up the shredder, I decided to “mow” them when doing the lawn. They didn’t clog up the mower, so all is well.

2)

I have tried a couple of times to take this photo over the last few weeks. The twigs of the blueberry plants are a beautiful, soft shade of red. This picture doesn’t do them justice either but it’s not bad. (I could do with Hey Jude’s help here, her photos show the colours and plants so clearly!)

3)

A sack of well-rotted horse manure ready to be spread around and gently dug into the greenhouse bed. (That mass of green behind the greenhouse is a rampant, ornamental mint which I dug up completely a few months ago – not very effectively!)

4)

I may have shown this before but the Stonecrop provides a simple and effective border to the greenhouse.

5)

That compost heap (don’t think it has featured for a couple of weeks) emptied last weekend then half filled yesterday with the shreddings and the grass cuttings. I usually cover it in the winter but it could do with some rain to help the composting process and rain is forecast this week, so I will leave it open.

6)

Finishing with some colour! The previously much maligned standard geranium is still flowering. They have been a big disappointment since they took months to get started then have not “bushed out” at all, but they have survived the first few frosts and maybe I will find a corner for them in the greenhouse. (I think I was contemplating that last week, too.)

That was my Six-on-Saturday for this week. (I must be repeating myself a lot because the predictive text finishes many of my sentences before I have decided what to write!! It did the whole of that previous sentence………. technology is taking over!🤔😱🤖) Have a good weekend.