Short on time

It's all about the weather now we have passed the autumnal equinox, so the forecast today gave a couple of hours clear before biblical rain for the rest of the day. No-one else around, of course.

Quick walk round revealed fungi around the sitting stumps over by the pink fence.

I think it might be Glistening Inkcap (Coprinellus micaceus) but there is more on the opposite side that looks like something different.

I'll have to check the books - it's probably poisonous!

Okay, looks like Common Inkcap (Coprinopsis atramentaria) and yes, is definitely poisonous.

Picked up the apples, not many from the old apple tree but lots fallen from the low eater. Had to leave some as I wont have time to process them all and A. might have her new press ready to use!

Tried to sort a bit round the back by the 'pond' area, pulled up some Himalayan balsam and brambles.

A branch has broken off a blackcurrant by the plum so cut it off and put it in the fruit bed, No idea if it will grow or die. Another branch was almost at ground level so tried layering. Must remember to check it next week.

The yellow roses are still blooming.

The mints are flopping over, the flowers browning as side shoots appear so removed some of the tops and perhaps there will be useable leaves into winter.

The sky was darkening so started to gather things together. The robin flew into the shed, then out again (thank goodness) and sat on the fence looking at me quizzically. Perhaps I'd not done enough to help him find a meal!

Just as I was leaving (and still with the camera at hand) I spotted this. Out with the reference book.....

So, could be Brown Mottlegill (Panaeolina foeniseci) and yes, is poisonous!

 

 

 Early start today. A sunny morning, the wind has dropped and I'm rewarded with a squirrel and young blackbirds ambling up the lane in front of me. The ground is damp from all the rain yesterday and maybe the cold start this morning. I'm hoping to plant a couple of spring violas (already flowering) and a self-seeded honeysuckle beside the wooden fence. 

Emptied the compost, picked up the apples (not as many now, more staying on the branch) then got the seat and coffee and sat under the apple tree. A tiny parasol mushroom peeping out of the grass (Pleated Inkcap (Parasola plicatilis) so looked for more - only one other, next to the boarder of the ericaceous bed.

       

Cut some leylandii to mulch this bed. Will do more next time.

Used the spring tyne rake to clear some thatch, to add brown to the compost. 

Some deadheading, yellow roses still looking good and the other bush may produce more buds. Meanwhile it adds autumnal colours to the plot with leaves touched with red, while yellow comes from several flowers. In the distance (just outside the allotments area), the tall trees are yellow-leaved.

After planting the flowers, the local robin having followed me, dodged back to find a meal in the upturned soil.

Wasp nest still active, not so many bees around and those small. One honey bee and a single red admiral, lots of white butterflies, but then there are lots of brassicas on the nearby plots. 

The old wheelbarrow is in the proto-pond and has some water in it.

As I sat enjoying my second coffee, the eye spots jobs for next time. Move a red currant from under the apple tree to this fruit bed by the shed.

It is mostly raspberries (summer and autumn), then strawberries but also a red currant bush.

Get some 6X (which is concentrated manure) and bags of compost so beds can be prepared for winter. Perhaps some will grow green manure or have autumn planted broad beans, who knows.

And the hedge really needs trimming and the tops reducing.

All we need is the weather.

  

 

Turn, turn?

 They said it would rain. 

Well, the sun came out and with it all the insects. Ladybirds in the grasses, daddy longlegs dancing ballerina-like across the dew spattered growth and my familiar common grasshopper.

Bees of course, wasps from the nest and an unusual yellow and black flyer which I will have to look up in the book.

Windfalls, but not as many as last week. Strawberry runners digging in, weeding as I walk around. 

The straw needs to be spread out and topped with compost, as I suspect there are/is mouse in the shed.

Buzzard flying low, robins and black birds trilling, magpies squarking.

A hint of autumn, perhaps?

What?

There are still a few unidentified plants growing around the plot. This is one of them.

I did wonder if it was a beech, but having looked at the Woodland Trust identifier (excellent resource) I think it might be a lime (small leaved lime?). Of course there are several types of lime so now I need to check the back of the leaf for hairy-ness!

This one is growing in front of the low eating apple but I have noticed another growing in J's patch.

Cut them back? Pull them out? 

First work out definitely what it is, how big it will grow then make a decision - yes? 

Err.... could be birch? (I'm not very good at this!)

 

13th Cooler...

It has been longer than usual since my last visit to the plot, having been called to do my civil duty. The weather had slipped from summer, bringing cool overnight winds. 

So many apples around the trees, some brown and mould-mottled, some with nibbled holes from slugs and woodlice. But most useful for juice and puree. The red eaters are dropping and there weren't many to start with so I also picked a couple from the tree. The low eaters are ready and can be eaten from the tree.

The plums have finished, just a few left for the wasps and butterflies. Red admirals and cabbage whites mostly. A sad painted lady caught in a hedge spider's web.

There is a nest under the hedge by the cold frame. Probably wasps but maybe a rogue swarm of bees - they were flying in and out so rapidly it was hard to tell.

The sweetcorn cobs are starting to fatten up. Cranberries are almost ripe and blueberries are still coming a 

few at a time. The horseradish leaves are dying back - it may be ready to harvest, must check the books. 

No beetles on the asparagus, pulled out the invading brambles. Tidied behind the bed so as to plant the foxglove plants and found yet another bin lid! I don't if previous owners used them to collect water or if this is the natural resting place for lids that have blown in from elsewhere.

 Pulled some rhubarb, picked some soft fruit and put them in a bag with good apples and a few runner beans for A.

Robins declaring their territories, magpies flying low, shedding baby feathers. 

Hedge needs trimming, grass probably needs strimming, fruit trees need pruning, beds need topping up.

Plans for next season?

Meanwhile, cakes made from apple puree and plums. Note to self - if using gf flour, add more liquid.

 

30th

 It's quite early and only a few people here. I'd not realised it had been windy, but the ground was covered in apples. Not just from the old tree but also the long eater and even a couple from the little red apple tree. Too many for me to carry, so I sorted them and left three bags in the shed for later collection. The plums are dropping as I walk over, so ripe the wasps and butterflies are feeding. 

Red Admiral.

So I picked some while they are still on the tree.

Just to the right of the long apple is a wild carrot. I was sat next to it, having coffee and there was a wonderful floral fragrance, not carrot-y at all.

Life on the plot - wasps, bees, mint moths, speckled wood butterflies, many red admirals, a green shield bug on the blackcurrant leaves.

There was a single house martin flying over, the last at the party?

A surprise was a single ribbon of green beans. Perhaps a left-over from last year.

I had put away the tools after cutting back some of the brambles, a last sit before folding up the seat when I spotted a hairy caterpillar on the back of a blackberry leaf (and the camera was still in my pocket!).

So, there is a choice of - fuzzy but some colour, or clear but lighter because of the sunlight.

Not identified as yet.

Blackberries are starting to ripen, raspberries are still performing well, one or two brave strawberries (half eaten by - something!). 

Only one asparagus beetle and no squidgy black young. And there were two different crickets. No camera by then, of course. But the first one leapt about a metre into the grassy knoll when disturbed and the other was quite brown and only jumped about eight inches (cms?). I did heard its rasping call. 

Last job was to pick some mint. Having put last weeks apples through a jelly bag, I plan to make apple and mint jelly.

Tis the season of mellow fruitfulness.

Herbal storehouse

 I have been trying to decide how best to describe the plot, so looked for some definitions on t'internet.

Cottage Garden - an informal garden with colourful flowering plants. (No)

Physic Garden - a herb garden with medicinal plants. (Hmm, maybe)

Apothecary Garden - (from the Greek, meaning 'storehouse') herbs of a medicinal and/or culinary use.(Yes?)

What it isn't, is what is generally thought of as a traditional allotment (straight lines of potatoes, onions, carrots etc.)

Nevertheless, it takes a lot of work to plan and develop the planting even (or perhaps especially) if you opt for no-dig, raised beds.

This is one of two triangular ericaceous beds.  The heathers are flowering and the blueberries seem to fruit successionally over the past couple of months. The cranberry also has a reasonable crop this year.

The second bed has lavender, hypericum perforatum (?) on the left and chicory (blue flower) on the right. I have only known chicory as the bitter salad leaves (once sold as an exotic winter salad, wrapped in blue tissue paper and boxed). This plant is about my height and has beautiful blue-washed flowers.

Life today included four butterflies (Painted Lady, Red Admiral, both too fleeting to capture) a Large White (female) and a Comma.

Also a hover-fly (Volucella zonaria) which is spreading up the country year by year and lots of Greenbottle flies (Lucilia caesar) on the mints. So many bees, bumble, honey, flower and all too quick to photograph.

Swifts and house martins seem to have all flown south to their winter palace. Not many birds about at all today (apart from the ever-present gulls and pigeons). Perhaps it's the weather.