Witches and Wreaths

Well, this time last week, we were swimming in the sea and picnicking on the beach. Today has been blustery and decidedly chilly by quite a few degrees.

We spent most of our visit to the garden in the polytunnel, clearing aubergines and picking yet more tomatoes. Still lots to come.

Think there will be more chutney and sauce making tomorrow.

And just look at that last precious bunch of sweetpeas.

It`s actually getting very difficult to access the polytunnel due to the Michaelmus daisies, which seem to have taken over this corner of the garden. A bit of thinning out needed later on. 

There is still so much wonderful colour around which I am totally inspired by.

And the gnome home has a distinctive autumn feel.

This little gnome garden has been very popular this summer judging by the children I see kneeling beside it and rearranging the tiny people.

At home the autumn colour combinations have crept into my craft. I can`t help myself. 

I created my own autumn wreath using a home-made willow ring, hay from the farm and garden string.

I bound the hay into a ring.

Then I added our own helichrysum and statice, some barley, my own velvet pumpkins and two sunflowers from the boot fayre (50p)

And then there are the witches.

Picking and Pottering

 Warm September afternoon. Shorts. T.shirts.

Bees. Butterflies. Buzzards overhead.

New campers arriving.

A pleasant visit to the garden. It looks lovely, with Michaelmus daisies coming into full flower, rudbeckia giving strong contrast

 ..... and sunflowers reaching up to blue skies.

I did do a bit of strimming which left the smell of newly cut grass. I picked straw flowers, statice and sunflowers.

This variety is called Mammoth and I will most definitely grow it again. The stems are long, the fragrance is divine and they are still flowering in mid-September.

Steve picked tomatoes, peppers, carrots and beans.

I wandered around deadheading here, collecting seeds there and absorbing every minute so that I can remember during the winter months.

The butterflies were flitting everywhere and loving verbena boniarensis..

 I have a new name for the barn path. It is now called "Foxglove Alley." I am so tempted to leave all the foxglove seedlings just to see what happens. What a sight it will be.

It should be an access path ha ha. The ferns I planted here are flourishing as well, under the barn eaves. I will try to keep nettles out.

After the recent rain I did get one path clear leading to the compost heaps. I got stung to pieces by nettles.

When it is cooler we will begin to dig out those heaps with easier access.
 

Long may this warm spell continue.

 

Aspen`s Fairy Garden

 Yesterday my great-niece was 1. We had a lovely family celebration on Saturday.

I was over the moon when I first heard that the theme would be fairy, for many reasons. I was asked to make things for the party table which I thoroughly enjoyed (more in another blog entry)

It wasn`t until a couple of weeks before, that we had the idea to make a fairy garden for her birthday present. It couldn`t be a secret because we needed measurements.

It was decided that we would use the end of one of the new raised beds in the garden.

Steve constructed a shaped oak edging round three sides and I burnt a sign with my pyrography set. And we planted a tiny shrub, some violas and ferns. We placed the little log house on a log slice with a tiny table laid with acorn cup bowls.

Next we used mossy logs, "Mind your own business," and layers of moss to create the "lawn." I used damp sphagnum moss to work into any awkward corners.

There were plenty of little bits and pieces to add....

.... toadstools made from limpet shells and pegs.....

......beaded sticks....

......a ladder....

......an arch.....

..... and of course woodland fairies.

And here is the finished fairy garden.

This is the first time Aspen saw her garden.

Later when the garden lights and fairy lights went on, it looked even more magical.

I loved this project and I hope little Aspen will grow up enjoying her little garden as much as we have enjoyed making it.