Glowing Embers and Glowsticks

We love to see the garden at different times of the day and yurting gives us that opportunity ..... as the sun rises, as the sun goes down and even in the dark, when the scarecrows take on a different persona!!!! Actually it is quite scary when they suddenly appear in torchlight. 

The Owl yurt is our favourite and we have had some very happy family times there. This time was no different.

A blazing campfire was soon lit, with the children honing their fire-lighting skills, closely supervised by Paula.

We barbequed our dinners here ....burgers, sausages, chicken (butterflied) and lamb. Most of our meat came from Sarah Whiteman at The Old Butchers Shop, Pett. 

Highly recommended.

And if you can`t face cooking on the open fire, there is a lovely camp kitchen.

(On Saturday evening we did all retreat to Paula`s house as it was windy and wet.)

The glowing fire is the focus of our time, keeping it fed, getting more logs, finding kindling, toasting marshmallows.

At all times we have water nearby.

Then there are trips to the garden for veggies and fruit.

 

A rest in the barn lounge for icecreams and table tennis.

 

A long walk to the Royal Oak through the woods and fields for a welcome drink ....

 

.... and back to the yurt for platters of sandwiches.

What more could you ask for!

What a truly great setting Freshwinds Camping is. Many campers have said so, when we have had chats in the garden. Many return time after time. Some have been coming for years.

 

Harvesting continues.

 

 

Flowers are in abundance including precious sweetpeas.

 

And glowsticks are the crowning glory.

 

 

Buddliea and Butterflies

Oh the days are changng, much as I hate to admit it. There`s a bit of a chill in the mornings, the robins are around and the sun is going down sooner.

But my goodness, the garden still delights. The dahlias are better than ever. Keeping the tubers in over winter is a huge success. 

Our visits are mainly to water, pick flowers and check on the crafts. Today there will be plum jam on the trolley.

The entrance is a glorious sight with the hard pruned buddliea smothered in butterflies.

 

 

Who would ever have believed that the cucumbers would recover so well and are now producing a lot of fruit. It just goes to prove that we shouldn`t discard things too quickly.

 

The sunflower frameworks have been "holding up."  This is our teabreak view. Its actually quite difficult to deadhead without a long arm pruner. 

Why do they get soooo tall? This is not what it says on the packet.

 

I am just starting to compile my seed order for next year and I am checking heights carefully.

 

 

 

Today its a boot fair in Icklesham and a high tide swim at Pett Level.

 

 

Plum Jam and Floral Bands

August so far, has been a busy month, interspersed with visits to Pett Level for high tide swims in the lovely hot weather.

Gardening consists of keeping everything watered, dead-heading, harvesting and preserving. The weight of fruit on the trees continues to be a problem and we have had to prune the crabapple where branches were bowed down to the ground. We were sorry to have to do this, as the apples were just turning colour. Even the trunk is slightly askew.

Perhaps they can be used to decorate the barn for the barn dance on Saturday.
We picked some plums, and yes, another branch has snapped. It was good to chat to returning campers whist harvesting.

Yesterday I made the first batch of plum jam. I shall be trying it out for breakfast. I was pleased to find that there weren`t too many grubs in the plums.

 

Steve made tomato sauce. The children enjoy this for their pizza bases.

The white dahlias called My Love, are good this year. The garden is full of butterflies.

 

The growth on the willow is phenomenal. Plenty of material for making willow rings.

Hollie has been making these lovely bracelets for sale in the Wool Barn. They are a very reasonable price.

These are for my two great nieces.

I have been making floral headbands. Now I wish I had had them ready for Fairy Day.
 

The garden is a particularly nice place to be at the moment with dahlias doing their thing and sunflowers towering above all.

 

A Downpour and TLC

 I have a lot of news since my last entry. It has been a very busy time. 

The village flower show was held last weekend and we kept our entries down this year for the simple reason of having less stress. I was not happy about my sweetpeas which have been abysmal this year, but I managed to find enough and came first in both classes winning the Jimmy Young cup. He was a local man who grew amazing sweetpeas. My brother James won his cup in the next village this year as well. My dahlias also won in three classes and I got a cup.

My most spectacular dahlia was Firecracker.

But our veggies had no placements ..... courgettes and tomatoes. We didn`t think they were that good anyway. Better luck with them next year perhaps.
 

The following day was Fairy/Dinosaur day. This year the charity was MND. We raised £250. 

A few days earlier I had a feeling of despondency due to the garden not looking at all wonderful. Many things had died prematurely, we had lost the plums and a kind of tattiness prevailed. But in between we had an incredible downpour which lasted 40 minutes and gave us 4 inches of water. Our lane literally turned into a river and our garden was flooded.

 

 On the day, the weather was just right and the garden looked wonderful .... hollyhocks a mile high, sunflowers towering above, dahlias doing their thing and even the sweetpeas perked up. All thanks to the downpour.

We had more compliments about the garden than ever and this was a welcome boost for flagging garden spirits.  People were wondering how we got to grow things so tall. Well we don`t do anything special except perhaps adding farmyard manure and giving it all tlc.

Here is Verity having a glitter tattoo with Hollie.

And this is my great nephew Hugo digging for dinosaurs.
 

Families brought their own picnics and found spaces around the garden, which was very nice to see.

All in all a lovely day and I hope, enjoyed by all.

 

Plum Disaster

 We were all set for a wonderful plum harvest, the best for some years, when Anne sent me a photo of what she had discovered whilst checking on the guinea pigs.

Under the sheer weight of fruit, one of the main branches of the plum tree had snapped. As you can see it has grown at an awkward angle and has long been overdue for thinning out. However I did not want it to happen like this.
 

It was heart-breaking to discard the unripe fruit on the compost heap .... pounds and pounds of it.

It is not uncommon to lose laden branches like this.

Luckily there is still quite a lot left on the tree.

No guinea pigs were hurt.

On a happier note, the craft trolley has been stocked up ready for the main holiday season.
 

 

This year kittens, fairies and bunting seem to be quite popular.

 

Fairy and Dinosaur day is looming .... next weekend in fact so plenty to keep us busy.

Long Awaited Rain

We have had torrential rain at last. The huge water tank is nearly full and the pond is fuller still, after Anne topped it up recently.

 I think the grass has been saved and everything else will get a tremendous boost.

The courgettes are doing well anyway. 

 

In the polytunnel the tomatoes are looking good .....

 ....... but the aubergines are looking a little ropey. I`m not sure if it is a nutrient deficiency or something else.

 

We actually had to pull up 4 cucumbers as they had what we think is mosaic virus.

 

The lavender hedge is mainly ok with a couple of plants not looking too happy. That`s a bit of a nuisance. I`m not sure how we can fill the gaps but maybe they will catch up and fill out.

The sweetpea row is very colourful but the stems are only about 4 inches long. I think the rain will help to keep them going a bit longer. They are not going to win any prizes that`s for sure.

They still smell lovely.

 

 The first Gardeners Delight is out. In the garden this is the most reliable dahlia.

Anne has planted a new one and its lovely. I don`t know its name.

Today`s harvest was good.

 

Many of the poppies are looking tatty so some have been pulled up ..... not before collecting the seed though.