My seed order has just gone in and I have done it again.  Far more seeds than space I will have for them once they need potting on. There are so many varieties that I want to try and so many tried and tested that I just must do again for next year.  With half an eye on both the sale of plants that our Gardening Club has each May, to which I send about 40 plants and then of course I need plants to sell on our NGS day.  This is of course the excuse that I give myself as I buy just one more packet of seeds.  That is the one extra packet of seeds to add to the 25 other packets I have already collected. 

I don't believe it!  We are told that we might get snow here by the end of the week.  I have just finished lifting the dahlia's, however, I have not quite finished chopping down all the dead stuff out of the long borders.  The BBC often get it wrong and I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is another one of these times.

I have a couple of bird feeders hanging from the cob nut tree in front of the cottage.  I love to do the washing up and being able to see the birds feeding there.   Today I was watching a woodpecker working his way round the tree.  The under gardener, who is very keen on garden birds, was not impressed with his antics in case he did any damage to the tree, especially when he moved on to the very old apple tree. Because of all the different trees in the garden there is always a wonderful variety of birds in the garden.  We have bats in the pine tree by the greenhouse and an owl in the woodland garden not to mention the hedgehogs in the garden.  All life can be found in this garden! 

It feels like only a few weeks since I took the bobble wrap down and now I am putting it back up again.  Not a big job but a very important.  It took more time trying to locate the paraffin heater.  Gosh hasn't the price of paraffin gone up  .  I had hoped to get the job done before the first frosts come as the tree fern and gunnera are next in line to get their winter coats on!

 

 

 

I just spent two days tiding up and the side of the greenhouse.  The "holding pens" located here were very untidy and the big pine tree which stands to the one side and drops thousands of little needles at this time of year.  The roof of the greenhouse was totally covered in the needles and blanked out all light. It took hours to clear all the needles up, tidy each plant stored in the pens, cutting down and weeding and in some cases just throwing out!  Now it looks so tidy I just have to keep walking round there to admire the tidy view!!