Evening Sun

 When we are yurting. it gives us the opportunity to see the garden at a different time. The sun slants across at a new angle, flowers look even more vibrant at dusk and the added bonus .... the guinea pigs come out. They are so pretty.

The sun hits the willow fairies at the entrance giving them a magical glow.

The fairy cave and the gnome garden are backlit by gold.

The sunflowers are truly at their best. When I think of the troubles right at the start and wondering whether we would have any left, it makes my heart sing to see them now.

Rabbits, rotting stems, wind damage ... you name it we experienced it. Luckily we grew A LOT.

I will try to name them but might get some wrong.

 

Sungold

 A self seeder

Sunburst Mixed

Velvet Queen

Most of them are chosen for having multi-headed stems. I have been able to pick several beautiful bunches leaving more to come.

This is the rose that came first in the flower show.

At the entrance to the barn play area there are elderberries ripening ....

..... and the robin can be heard singing its autumn song.

The horses continue to graze in the setting sun only pausing to look up expectantly when Hollie arrives to give love and extra feed.

Freshwinds truly is a stunning setting.

Campfires and Twinkling Stars

We were very excited last Friday to spend a long weekend at the 

VALLEY VIEW YURT

with my sister, my nephew and my great-nephews.

Oh it is a beautiful spot ...

 ..... the yurt is huge with an extensive deck looking out across the fields towards Icklesham. 

The sun shone all weekend but there are plenty of sunny and shady places to choose from. A huge sun umbrella covers the table.

 Nearby is the campfire, which becomes the centre of attention as evening draws in. Firesticks, sacks of logs available from the farm, sausages, burgers, melted marshmallows and preferably a calm, still evening.

Later a walk round the Freshwinds Garden at a time when we don`t normally see it. 

Back to sit round the glowing embers as the twinkling stars come out.

Then early to bed after a glorious first evening.

 

 

 

Happy Golden Days

The garden continues to look good, despite having to pull up a few things that are over. The hollyhocks are hanging on but we have both given up deadheading cornflowers.

The sunflowers have come to the fore, backed by blue blue skies. We have many dark ones but my preference is for the yellows.

There are many visitors and they all love the sunflowers. When I see them looking up, I know what they are viewing.

We have nice exchanges of garden compliments and tomatoes, runner beans or flowers.

I have planted the new hollyhocks. They have been grown from seed at home.They are protected by plastic bottle covers. It`s very strange but the hollyhocks that seed themselves after discarding the huge stems, always seem to do well round the compost heaps with no protection at all. Ironic to say the least. 

Last year I scattered hollyhock seeds all round the farmyard but I have yet to see any plants.

The tomatoes are not doing as well as usual but we cannot complain. Steve has been making  tomato sauce which makes a great layer on home-made pizzas.

This is Couer de Bue.

Even the outdoor ones are ok in relatively small pots.

The dahlias are starting to come into their own.

This is a seedling which I think is beautiful.

This is a clump of Boogie Woogie which has been left in the ground for several years. It doesn`t make a very good cut flower. But it does make one colourful corner of a veggie bed.

Here is a selection for a vase at home.

 

Recently Steve and I celebrated our golden wedding anniversary.

Last Sunday we walked to the church to recreate a wedding photo. It caused quite stir with the tea ladies there.

 

Happy Golden Days

 

Heavenly High Scent

The garden is looking very beautiful at the moment. We have had a lot of compliments which is very rewarding.

We are just into the school holidays so there are lots more visitors around.

The weather has been mixed but this has proved beneficial for the garden itself. For instance my sweetpea rows continue to thrive and produce long-stemmed flowers. I have been feeding them with a mixture of comfrey and seaweed twice a week. I now have to stand on a box to pick the flowers. The house is full of them. I highly recommend the variety High Scent. Its perfume is heavenly. It will be one of my entries for the village flower show tomorrow.

The harvesting is going well. Steve has been making tomato sauce and I have been making raspberry jam.

The cucumbers are having a bit of a blip. Consequently we won`t have a pair for the show. Lots more to come but none ready, unless there is miraculous growth overnight.

Recently we did a charity donation run and a tip run combined. It was very satisfying to get rid of it all. From there we went on to visit a nursery near Windmill Hill called Flower Green Nursery. It was our first time. My niece Hazel told me about it. I loved the place and will be going back often. So instead of junk, we came home with a boot full of plants all very reasonably priced.

Begonias, geraniums, salvias, sedums, lotus flowers. I managed to find homes for some of them but others are still waiting. We have had a busy few days.

We are preparing the garden for the Fairy and Dinosaur day on Sunday. There are 130 wands, dinosaur eggs made and the trail checked. The garden has been checked over and plenty of deadheading going on. And the weather is going to be good.

 

Bananas and Crushed Eggshells

The wind and rain are playing havoc with the gardens. Yesterday we used nearly a whole ball of string in our endeavors to save the likes of sweetpeas, sunflowers, cornflowers etc But I have left the hollyhocks to ride the storm. It would be impossible to find a stake tall enough let alone hammer it in.

I was initially disappointed to find this one was white but it looks stunning against the blue sky.

Likewise the apricot but look into its centre and see the pollen gathered there.

This pink is glorious.

I have sown a lot of saved seeds so there should be some interesting colours next year.

The garden was fabulous yesterday after some rain. I just wandered around before getting down to hedge-cutting. The hornbeam hedge was so much easier after our autumn chop. Now I can reach it all.

I spent part of my teabreak by the pond.....frogs and electric blue damsel flies.

 I have never seen the roses looking so good at the garden. Now they will be even better. I intend "feeding" them with bananas and crushed eggshells.

 

The first poppy heads are drying in the ground. The potential for seeds in this group is astounding,

Over the weekend, we saved the sweetpea "pick" until Tuesday so that we had a great choice for the local coffee morning.

 At the end of the morning they were sold off to raise more funds.

We have been indoors today because of the rain but there has been plenty to do.

Here are the first of 130 wands which we are preparing for the Fairy and Dinosaur day on 28th.

As you can see we have used long kebab sticks cleverly spotted by Anne in Sainsburys. My finger is blistered from cutting out 200 stars from foil!!