Muddle Sunday

A muddle of poppy seed heads

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Rusty objects

No more than Cathy at Nanacathy I seem to have a bit of a fascination with rusty objects. Wonder what that says about us?

The following gallery is inspired by this week’s one a week challenge – Rust.

 

old car

old tractor

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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

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

 

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!

Thistles

A gallery of sharp thistles for this week’s – one a week photo challenge. While thistles can be invasive and are seen very much as “weeds”, they are a great source of pollen and nectar for late summer pollinators.

Peacock butterfly

White tailed bumblebee (Bombus lucorum) – queen

Thistle

Thistle

Thistle

Thistle

 

 

 

 

August: Garden update

We are definitely having an early autumn this year. Leaves are already beginning to turn and blackberries are ripening. While the summer seems warmer than last year, these last few weeks have been showery with very few dry or really warm days. In the garden, we’re enjoying the first plums and apples but like last year the pears have a very bad case of scab and are splitting and seem inedible. Not sure if this has been exasperated by the damp and often humid weather.

Apples

Plums

Splitting pear

The weather has definitely brought on the potato blight, which we get each year. But this year the potatoes did go in on time and those we have harvested are a good size. Cabbages too are appreciating the plentiful rain and where not ravaged by slugs, snails and caterpillars are getting big.

Red cabbage protected by netting

Cabbage protected by netting

Runner beans have done much better than last year too. Not sure if it is because I got them in early and they had a couple of warm, dry weeks in May to get well established.

 

Runner beans

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Interestingly the courgettes outside are doing better than the one in the polytunnel or greenhouse. The older plants have established much better.

Bumblebee pollinating courgette

Carrots again failed to germinated well and / or were eaten by slugs! The same with beetroot, which last year I grew in modules before planting out. I must remember this for next year!  Squash, are small and will probably not come to much. I feel that each year you need to grow a variety of vegetables and then hopefully something will do well!

Mini squash!

So is growing your own vegetables and fruit a sign of “thrift” – defined by the Oxford dictionary as “the quality of using money and other resources carefully and not wastefully”?