Kitchen Garden Forum

Glad you are making good progress, IDWIDG.....it was also kind of you to help the other tenant, people really do appreciate that sort of thing.

I saw today that the wasps are still working at the momment...

There were bees out too this afternoon OH. I spent an hour emptying the full trays in my wormery and starting a new one for them to move into when they've finished breaking down the current one. I've put some special worm food pellets, a bit of kitchen waste a layer of leaves and a few sheets of newspaper for insulation. There are several different kinds of worms and masses of baby ones so they've done really well this year.

Then I painted the hen hut so I can tick another two jobs off my list.

A beautiful day here, too, not a breath of wind and sunshine all day, wasps and other insects out and my OH sitting on the bench in the garden reading the newspaper - not bad for mid-November.

Me and my youngest Son sat and had our sandwich in the sun today, I have been saying for the last five weeks, that this will be the last week.....it has been a beautiful Autumn.

A poem for the last sunny days of a lovely autumn by the Welsh poet R S Thomas.

A Day in Autumn

It will not always be like this,
The air windless, a few last
Leaves adding their decoration
To the trees’ shoulders, braiding the cuffs
Of the boughs with gold; a bird preening
In the lawn’s mirror. Having looked up
From the day’s chores, pause a minute,
Let the mind take its photograph
Of the bright scene, something to wear
Against the heart in the long cold.

According to the traditional Welsh calendar we are now in winter. Appropriate if the forecast of cold weather to come next week is accurate.
The first of November is still called Calan Gaeaf (the first day of winter). Here November is Mis Tachwedd which means the month of slaughter when traditionally the livestock which could not be fed over the winter was killed and preserved.
Next month will be Mis Rhagfyr - the month when the days get shorter and shorter.

I always think the Czech names for the months are mostly so much more descriptive, like listopad - 'leaf fall' for November.

Have got 60 new Strawberry plants from Blackmoor fruit nurseries, to plant today, Florence, Lucy and Sweetheart.....rather exciting.

oldherbaceous wrote:Have got 60 new Strawberry plants from Blackmoor fruit nurseries, to plant today, Florence, Lucy and Sweetheart.....rather exciting.

You'll be looking forward to the fruits of your labours

Wrap up warm OH - it's perishing out there today.

Diane wrote:Wrap up warm OH - it's perishing out there today.

Apart from he leafless trees it's like a summer's day here in North-west Wales: cloudless sky, no wind, full sun and warm
And even better forecast for tomorrow,

We have cold dank sea Harr(fog) not very pleasant at all, nice fire going though.

I've always had a soft spot for the short-lived French Republican calendar, which started the months from the autumnal equinox and named them from their agricultural relevance. It was rather unpopular as it divided the months into ten day weeks (nine days work, one day off)!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar

I got them all safely planted and although the wind had a bit of a nip to it, it was rather pleasant.
Think I better try cutting some of the Dahlias down in the front border today, some have been caught by the frost, others are still flowering quite gayley....