September 27th in the South West

Definitely Autumnal! A and E visited The Orchard to see how things are looking there in readiness for S coming back this week! Lots of things still going on, although it's coming to the end of the season...

R's wonderful brassicas!

Sunflowers still going

One of the last corn-on-the-cobs (delicious apparently).

Apples looking beautiful in the evening sunshine.

The last of the flowers - what beautiful autumnal colours the rudbekia are.

Things slowing down in The Garden as well. After the Michaelmas fair success, the sunflowers and sweet peas are going over.

Sorry about the shadow!

This is a serpent radish - takes up an absolutely massive amount of room, and the produce is... okay. Not sure whether A will grow them again.

Jerusalem artichokes lost all their colour now. But making the last of the sun!

Finally, the Bramley is dropping its apples - lots of windfalls up for grabs.

7 September

We've had sun in the south west for the last few days so the garden has revived from its dankness. 

Flower wise there are still sweet peas, (we will leave some to set seed now) bright orange and chocolate rudbeckia and calendula, magnificent sunflowers and E's bright dalias everywhere. The white antirhinnums are still flowering and the pink cosmos are scattered through the veg patch. 

Vegetable successes - the beans are at a slow trickle despite

Plans for winter - the new shrubbery bank has the saved  quince from Stradbroke now finally planted, the windfairing tree from the pot under the mulberry and 3 remaindered plants from Sandra's world chosen for berries and colour.

Flowers of the season - dahlias!!

Not great photos, but here they are in all their glory!

Mid September at the orchard

Over at the Orchard

So, S is away for the whole of September (*sobs*), so A and E went round to take a sneaky peak at the Orchard one morning in the fog. We thought the fog would make for some beautiful artistic photos, but it didn't really work so well.

Autumn is really set in! Everything is going over ready for planting out next Spring... Still, there were treasures to be found.

I counted 34 butternut squashes waiting to be picked! That is an amazing number.

Rudbekia still looking gorgeous in all their autumn glory colours.

Still some runner beans! (A didn't manage this year). Cooked up: there's nothing like homegrown. Also took a few sweetcorn cobs - ones past their best for AJ's chickens and a couple for A and J at 2CC.

Bright blue of the cornflowers against the brown of flowers going over. (Sorry it's out of focus!)

The last gladioli! Glorious colours to mark the start of autumn.

So, a little look at the goings on. S and R - hope you're having a great time away, thinking of you here.