Between Showers

Six On Saturday is hosted by The Propagator.  For links to SoS blogs, check out his comment section & the Twitter hashtage, #SixOnSaturday.

Flowers & shrubs still bloom in our garden - even the pear tree's got a few blossoms.

But it's the last week of October, first one of November, clocks go back, winter's coming at us full throttle.

So for me, this week's been about getting things done during breaks in the rain.






1.  Faulty weather report.

We had our first frost on a night it wasn't supposed to get below 7C.

Fortunately, nothing was damaged.  This chocolate mint pelargonium's been waiting for the pumpkins to vacate his spot in the shed.  Now that the jack-o-lanterns've been carved, all is right in the pellie universe.


2.  Anemone coronaria.

With several bags of anemone to plant, I'd watched the forecast for dry days, so groups of bulbs could be soaked the previous nights.  The surprise frost made me realise this plan could have me planting bulbs in the rain.

The new plan is, if it's dry in the morning, I soak some of the anemones while walking the dogs, then plant a patch in the avoe.  So far, that's worked.  Only one lot of bulbs to go!


3.  Truly shady bed.

As to where the anemones are going . . .

This summer, plants from the oft mentioned not-so-shady bed got moved to the truly shady front garden.  The same front garden which had no available bed space.

I'm well passed being able to dig up large areas of sod for new bedding, so simply plopped each refugee plant into its hole, then covered the lawn around them with sheets of sheep wool that come as packing in our food boxes.

The middle section of the photo is what the whole bed looked like - pots held the wool sheets in place with small gaps for the refugee plants that've since died back.

The left side of the photo is what it looks like when the wool sheets've been lifted.  The grass is gone & the die hard dandelion're easily whipped out using a trowel.  A shallow skim of the top soil gets the last of the grass roots.

The right hand section has been planted with anemone & grape hyacinth, then covered with old compost from the tomato plants (grown in these green fabric planters below).

Not a method for those who suffer from critical neighbours - the wool sheets've been down for months, but the end result is going to be mighty fine.


4.  Winter colour.

I finally succumbed to one of those Winter Colour sales - stock, pansies & primula.

Once the summer plants in this area died back, the cat (mine or someone else's) claimed it.  These tiny new plants'd get dug up by any feline worth its salt, so out come the bamboo pole deterrents.


5.  Still in love.

There were those who said it wouldn't last, my love for the hops/bramble combo.  Now that the hops are turning colour, I love it even more.

If the bramble loses its mind next year, I'll cut it off at the ground & let the grieving hops cling to its skeleton.


6.  Neighbour's shrubs.

The landlord for next door doesn't trim his shrubs (or the brambles growing therein).  As the tenants are students, neither do they.  Believe it or not, I trimmed this fence line in the spring.

You might be able to see that the middle shrub is in bloom, so it got spared until next year.

A nice little sprig to enjoy during the work.

Louis Bonne pear blossom well out of season.

There's my Six.  It's supposed to rain again today, but so far, it's dry, so I'm outa here.

Thanks for stopping by.  See you next time!