September garden update

October is knocking and the dark nights are rolling in. It is the time of year for warm fires, stews and hot soups. But still the garden is providing despite the early frost of a fortnight ago. Cabbages have had a good year, as have onions. I do wonder though if the onions will store well as they have grown so big. The tomatoes were late but are still ripening. We’re enjoying apple and raspberry crumble too.

Red cabbage

This is an old Irish variety called Gortnahort

Onions have done well

Raspberries

Tomatoes

Brambley cooking apples

We haven’t bought any eating apples for a good two months now and these red pixie apples are still to harvest.

Eating apple, Pixie

One of the great things about autumn is free seeds. I have been harvesting some from my flowers and already have lupins, delphiniums, campanula and some wild flowers including ox-eyed daisy, foxgloves and ragged robin germinating and growing.

Lupin seedlings

Campanula seedlings

Ox eyed daisy seedlings

Delphinium seedling

The chicks are growing too, and are spending most of their day in the greenhouse in a little enclosure that keeps the from digging young lettuce plants up!

Chicks

Shadow

Summer flower shadow

The autumn winds and the rain are here, the leaves are coming down fast and furious. We are just left with a few remnant, fading flowers and seed heads, storing the future.

Joining in this week’s one a week challenge – shadow

Silent Sunday

Yes our friend has been back!

Orderly

This week’s one a week challenge is “orderly“. I am not an orderly person so finding an orderly photo wasn’t that easy. But lupins are probably one of the most orderly flowers in my garden, particularly before the flowers open fully. And they are also loved by bees.

Lupins

Lupins

Lupins

Lupins

Lupins

 

First frost

We woke this morning to blue skies, but also white encrusted grass. The sun soon had things gently steaming and the frost quickly disappeared. It was just the confirmation of what we already knew – autumn is here. The frost wasn’t sharp enough to do away with the beans – so we may get another couple of meals.  But the squash and pumpkins, which didn’t have a good year anyway, are gone for another year. It is the cycle of seasons, but this one is always one I am reluctant to let go.

Web

frosted leaves

Web

Web

Cosmos

Kale

 

 

Beach

Summer days on the beach seem a long and distant memory now, as the haws ripen and the rain falls. As a family, beach days are one of our favourite types of days. Even a winter walk on the beach can be exhilarating. I am not sure what the magic is. It has something to do with the space and freedom – there are few boundaries. The smell, that ozone filling your nostrils. The feel of the sand on your bare feet. And of course the water, even if it is just a paddle that numbs your toes.

So for this week’s One A Week Photo challenge, a gallery of beach photos to help me remember some of those great days.

Ross beach

Sandcastle

Ross

Our sandcastle at Keem Bay, Achil, Co Mayo

Sunny April on beach

Sand castle

beach art

Three Musketeers

Mind your toes!

What does this remind you of?

Pink-barred Sallow

I saw this little moth last week. It’s the first time I have recorded one of these, but was struck by the beautiful colour and markings. According to my ID book it is a late flying species seen from August to October. They are widespread in Ireland.

Fairy Trail

Just before the summer holidays finished, we visited Belleek woods in Ballina, Co. Mayo. We had visited the woods before, but one of the paths was now part of a new cycle greenway from Ballina to Killala (called the Monasteries of the Moy Greenway) and we thought we’d try some of the route.

Monasteries of the Moy Greenway

As we followed some of the woodland paths on our return we found these lovely fairy houses.  The fairy trail has been a relatively recent addition to the woods and many of the fairy houses have been made locally through the men’s shed project.

Fairy house

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Fairy house

Fairy house

Fairy house

It was a great little find and particularly entertained our six year old who enjoyed running ahead to see what little fairy house she could spot next.

Silent Sunday

do you see the face?