Tag Archives: Six on Saturday

Six on Saturday 23rd January 2021

So I have been missing from the Six on Saturday slot for a while. All has been quiet in the garden, but things are beginning to stir. (Apologies for picture quality this week – photos taken with phone and not camera).

Look – the first snowdrops!

And the first hellebore.

Under the shelter of the porch, two foxgloves have decided to self-seed.

We have a new bird bath. Our wild birds often use the pond for a wash, but hoping they will like this too.

They may wait for warmer weather though. We had the tiniest sprinkling of snow this morning, over frost. Hoping for a little bit more tomorrow.

Definitely the time of year for potato and leek soup.

Thank you to The Propagator for hosting Six on Saturday.

Six on Saturday – 7th November

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A late six on Saturday for this week.

Calendula – the only thing really left flowering and it is in the polytunnel.

2. Still the leaves, what is left of them, are still providing some colour.

3. More leaves

4. We are still enjoying brassicas too. Firstly a very mini cauliflower in the polytunnel.

5. Romanesco

6. And finally my favourite to eat, purple sprouting broccoli.

Thanks to The Propagator for hosting Six on Saturday

Six on Saturday – Happy Halloween

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Of course it being Halloween I have to start with the pumpkins this week. Not home grown this year, but kids made good job with their carvings all the same.

There is also a full moon tonight. Not the best of photos, but this is it through the trees.

We had some gales earlier with Storm Aiden, leaving most of the remaining leaves on the ground.

However, I did manage to get a photo of the dogwood yesterday before the storm arrived (it is pretty much stripped bare now).

And the field maple, which always goes a lovely yellow shade too.

We have also started feeding the birds again too. Here a blue tit, coal tit and great tit all sharing.

So wishing you all a very Happy All Hallows Eve. And special thanks to The Propagator for hosting six on Saturday.

Six on Saturday – 17th October 2020

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This week it is all about leaves.

Birch leaves – the leaves are fast disappearing from the birch trees.

2. America hawthorn. Bigger leaves than our native hawthorn, and bigger berries too, though there was no berries this year.

3. Crab apples are looking nice now especially as the leaves are turning yellow.

4. Lime tree leaves also go a lovely shade of yellow.

5. Rowan leaves. Redder leaves. The rowan in the garden has actually lost all it’s leaves already, this one is in the field below the house.

6. And finally oak leaves, one of my favourite trees.

Thank you to The Propagator for hosting Six on Saturday.

Six on Saturday – 3rd October 2020

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October and things are looking autumnal – so some autumn leaves to start.

Chokeberry leaves

2. Medlar leaves – no fruit on it at all this year.

3. Szechuan pepper, pretty leaves but no fruit on this one either this year!

4. And finally a success – well if you can call three pears successful!

5. And some decent sized onions.

6. And finally this week elderberries, which grow wild in our local hedgerows and they are having a good year, with plenty fruit.

Thank you to The Propagator for hosting Six on Saturday.

Six on Saturday – 26th September 2020

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Today we woke to the first frost of the season, with more forecast for tonight. So it is the end of the runner beans, courgettes and no more opportunity for the world’s smallest pumpkin to get any bigger for Halloween! It about the size of my fist. It was just not warm enough for the squashees and pumpkins this year.

2. I thought I might be able to salvage some of the remaining runner beans but they were soft and not very appetizing. There are a few dwarf ones left in the greenhouse.

3. Plenty brassicas to keep us fed though and the leaves of the kale were looking rather good in the frost.

4. We didn’t get many blueberries either this year but the last remaining berry and the reddening leaves also looked nice in the frost.

5. A self-seeded fennel, also with frost crystals.

6. And finally this week some parsnip seeds, looking very autumnal.

For more Six on Saturday you can visit The Propogator here.

Six on Saturday – 19 September 2020

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Here we had a lovely warm sunny day, better that most of the days we had in August. The warmer temperatures the last week have finally brought out the asters which were stubbornly refusing to flower.

The first is a pink one. Not many flowers but the poor thing is living in a pot waiting for a nice bed to find a home in. I think I have the place now – not sure if it would be best planted out once it has finshed flowering or to wait till the spring.

2. A purple aster with smaller flowers. This one at least is in a flower bed.

3. Next this week is a late flowering opium poppy with a common carder bee.

4. A bit of a caterpillar infestation on the ragged jack kale!

5. A marrow that will hopefully make its way to be chutney with some of the green tomatoes in the greenhouse.

6. And finally this week I just liked this pattern on a beetroot we had for dinner so I thought I would share it.

Thank you to The Propagator for hosting Six On Saturday.

Six on Saturday – 5th September 2020

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Yes it is definitely feeling autumnal now. So first this week some apples.

Crab apples. This tree was packed with blossom earlier in the year and we have some fruits but not as much as other years. They are also a bit scaby.

2. Another apple – this time an eater – a Bardsey. Again very few fruit but one of the few which has fruited this year (we had a very late frost).

3. Chilli peppers in the greenhouse. I just had one plant, but it has a good crop so I will probably dry them.

4. Caterpillar damage on the brassicas – mostly in the polytunnel. The netted beds outside are generally okay.

5. Now this one is puzzling. This is purple sprouting broccoli which isn’t relay supposed to produce broccoli till spring – so is it just very confused or did I plant it too early? I shouldn’t complain though as I will enjoy eating it.

6. And finally two of our seven chicks . They are growing quick.

Thanks to The Propagator for hosting Six on Saturday.

Six on Saturday – 29th August 2020

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This week I am combining Six on Saturday with the Lens-artist photograph challenge, using the word “Growing”. So what is growing in the garden this week?

Twin courgettes – in fact con-joined twins.

2. Squash: very little fruit – too wet and cold this year I think.

3. Runner beans – not plentiful, but there at least. Let’s hope for a good September so we get a good crop.

4. Rose – possibly the last rose of summer.

5. Chamomile flowers.

6. Beetroot – we have had nice sized beetroot this year.

Thank you to The Propagator for hosting Six on Saturday, and

The Lens-Artists for hosting their weekly photo challenge.

Six on Saturday – 22 August 2020

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Hard to believe we are heading into the last week of August. So here is the six from this week’s garden.

Despite the damp morning this large white was hanging about.

2. It could probably smell these – brassicas. The wet summer has suited pretty much all our brassicas and they are doing well – but netting is essential to keep at least the majority of butterflies out.

3. Cucumbers have been coming but not in any quantity – I think it may not be hot enough for them, even in the greenhouse.

4. Another item that is scarce this year is fruit. I counted four pears on this tree today and that is all the pears from three trees and apples are equally scarce. I blame the late May frost.

5. This on the other hand was a success. I collected some bloody cranesbill, Geranium sanguineum, seed from wild plants growing in the Burren last year and have managed to grow two plants. I don’t think they are frost hardy so I am going to keep them in the polytunnel in pots.*UPDATE – Thanks to Eliza for spotting that this is probably not Geranium sanguineum but possibly Geranium sylvaticum, in which case it is not from the Burren but from seed from a friend’s garden!

6. And finally this week – one of my favourite later summer wildflowers – devils bit scabious in the meadow.

Thanks to The Propagator for hosting Six on Saturday.

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