Category: Chilly mornings.

Thunder and rain.

The morning started out much the same as they have been lately, a bit chilly and sunny. We walked out to the bog even though the grass was pretty wet with dew. No ticks on us today but I had to kill quite a lot of moose flies instead. I had hoped it would be a bit too cool for those flies but unfortunately not.

I hadn’t planned to do much in the garden today, just watering the dry sensitive plants I’ve kept on watering all summer and those I’ve just planted but found a few dead branches in the big apple tree that I used the new saw to remove. I also trimmed the Golden rain, Laburnum, and then I got the idea to start cutting down the wild plum tree. Its branches are full with big thorns and I have been a bit worried that those would injure us badly if one of those branches hit us so I had to plan every branch I would cut down so it wouldn’t fall the wrong way.

It almost went as I had planned except for one big branch that fell down over the strawberries and rhubarbs. No big damage but it made me even more careful with the rest of the branches. I guess it was just before 1 pm and I only had the top left to cut off when the thunder and rain arrived. So at the moment I have a rather long and thin and very thorny tree standing there looking really sad 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ll use the chain saw to remove the rest as soon as the grass dries up.

I also planted the last Perennials I had in pots, well I hope they were but one never knows what is hidden in the flowerbed close to the entrance because there are so many self sown flowers there now that they can be hiding some pots I’ve forgotten about 🙂 🙂 🙂  So now all I have to dig down are two pawpaw seedlings and two quince trees, I think I know where the pawpaws will go but still can’t figure out where I should plant the quinces, I’m not even sure if they will survive the winter here.

It is still raining here, it’s so much that it looks like they have fog on the other side of the village, we need it so I’ll not complain. We might get a foggy morning and then towards the evening we might get more rain. In between we even might get some sunshine. I have that last cup of tea by my side and at the moment I’m waiting for the loaf of bread in the oven to get ready and so do the dogs 🙂 They always get a piece with cheese on it when the bread still is warm 🙂

Have a great day!

I’ve started to use those wood chips I’ve made.

I was expecting a sunny morning and I hoped for morning mist again. We had sunshine but the mist wasn’t here but closer to the mountain.  It was a bit chilly when we walked down to the creek and my shoes got drenched in the morning dew and Malkolm who always wants to walk in the grass and follow tracks was even worse 🙂 He had no ticks walking around on him though so that was a good thing 🙂

Lots of small birds tweeting and Jays arguing but there were now bigger animals around. Once I saw a pure white wild hog and I have to admit that it was really beautiful. I didn’t manage to get a photo of it and have always hoped to see another one. Turns out that they are quite common, perhaps not pure white but with spot or markings of other colours on them. Since we don’t have white moose in this area I really think I deserve to see a white wild hog again 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’ve put up the new LED light ramp in the cellar so this morning I started to clean up down there. Lots of soil and sea leafs and twigs on that floor so it took its time. I knew that the monster pooped down there when she had sucked in when I didn’t notice it and therefore locked her in for hours sometimes 🙂 I did however not know how much until I had that light put up, on the plus side though is that I didn’t find any moose droppings which I see as positive 🙂 🙂 🙂

I took some photos to show what my garden looks like at the moment. This shows the south side east corner.
South side western corner.
North side towards east where the cottage stands.
North side towards west.
And the north side towards west corner where my Pawpaws grows.

Lots of smaller lorries have been driving up and down to where the latest neighbours live, looks like they’re moving out today. Too bad I liked them but I fully understand them, the owner of the place is just too greedy. So now we’re waiting for new tenants or perhaps someone from a big city buys it, they usually have no idea. what places like that costs here, anything is cheaper here than I the big cities. I’m not even sure if they could buy a two bedroom apartment in a big city for what they want for this place but it is still too much. Lets hope that who ever comes here are just as nice as the ones moving out.

This is one the other side of the cottage, the northern side looking towards west.
And this is the opposite side towards east. Big and thorny roses on both sides of the entrance 🙂

I’vedecided to plant those five Pawpaw seedlings I have, I can’t trust the cat wanting to go down in to the cellar so I think it is best that they’ll stay outside and I’ll cover them as good as I can instead. The biggest threat to their lives are the dogs running around playing with each other 🙂 🙂 So I’ve put up sticks so the dogs can avoid running in to them. Oddly enough the dogs actually tends to avoid those sticks but can happily run in to smaller trees so hard that they break them 🙂 🙂  According to our folklore the winter will be harsh if the Rowan trees have lots of berries, this year they have almost no berries so it should be warm, almost hot here 🙂 🙂 🙂 Unfortunately it doesn’t show anything more that if they have lots of berries the spring was absolutely perfect for them.

I’ve started to fill up the area around the English walnut with the wood chipping I made from what I’ve been cutting down. The layer is around 20 cm (eight inches) thick. Just remember when using fresh chips they will when slowly decaying steal a lot of nitrogen from the ground. No bigger problem with a walnut though since they have taproots.
The Pawpaws are small and while living in a pot they were eaten by slugs. So far I’ve never seen a slug in this part of the garden, there’s just too little to eat for them I guess.

It is time for that last cup of tea and perhaps a bowl with corn flakes.  Nothing on tv at all so I have no idea what to do for the rest of the evening 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

 

Morning mist again this morning but we came out a bit late so it wasn’t much left when we had our morning walk. Still the one still left was rather nice. 

 

The rain prediction they first guessed should fall today were changed to showers and then changed to just cloudy so I wasn’t surprised that we mostly have had sunshine today with the occasional cloud passing in front of the sun. It has been rather warm as well so I did some sawing in the old apple trees. I bought one of those on a long stick so I could cut off dead branches higher up in the trees, Now I realise that I should have bought one of those telescope sticks because there’s lot of dead branches pretty high up in the trees. 

I also by mistake cut of a big branch that still was alive but to be honest it opened up the tree a lot so now air will flow more easily through the tree and hopefully it will keep apples from rotting and perhaps it will help to keep the different fungi infections the trees can get since they’ll dry up faster after rain and high humidity. There are still lots I can cut off and I do have the time to do it without feeling stressed about it, I’ll have lots of tea and coffee breaks that is 🙂 

The paper shredder has arrived at the grocery store in Gudhem but I’m waiting for another parcel coming via another shipping company to the same grocery store. I don’t know when it arrives though otherwise I would get it at the same time, I really don’t like to drive around unnecessarily even though it just a ten minute drive away. So I guess I’ll pick it up on Monday when I’m going to a bigger grocery store anyway and pick it up on my way home. You might think that I should buy my groceries in the smaller one but they don’t have especially much to be honest, I will however buy more ice cream there to make sure it doesn’t melt on the way home 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I think I’ll have the last of the ice cream I bought the other day. Also it is time to give the dogs their dinner as well. My headlamp is now charged so if we need to get up in the middle of night to do our businesses I’ll go outside first to check so there isn’t any badger walking around there again 🙂 🙂

The Jerusalem artichoke, a perennial sunflower, already flowers, almost a month early.

Have a great day!

Another perennial sunflower, they are quite popular amongst pollinators.
They needed to have a long rest after my hard work with the apple trees 🙂

That was truly a surprise :-)

I’m feeling a bit surprised today because facebook tossed me out 🙂 🙂 🙂 I was sent a warning that I had behaved inappropriate and something about their ads. So they removed me entirely 🙂 🙂 🙂 I have no idea why though because the only thing I post is the blog and my wordl scores. I have removed lots of the ads they show because I haven’t liked them and they were not about something I needed or wanted. Also I have liked all the anti trump posts I’ve seen 🙂 Someone said I could have been hijacked but since I’m removed totally it doesn’t matter.

Very few acorns here this year.

No matter where I look I look at Yarrow. Perfect since I can rub them on the dogs to try and keep the ticks away.

This flower is called Eye comfort. These flowers however is almost ten times bigger than they usually are. All other plants I saw were normal sized, tiny that is.

I have been thinking of leave anyway so I’ll not try to get back again, not by appeal or getting a new account. Still it would have been nice to say good by before I left. Well I do hope they don’t think I’ve died 🙂 🙂 Nice day once again here, more cloudy and with some rain now and again. I was using the compost grinder and since it is electric and with a cord it stopped me to work twice. Still the first pile is done, what’s left is some branches so old that they broke while I tried to lift them up. So I’ve been walking over them a couple of times and now I’ll leave them to autumn and winter to break them down totally. Tomorrow I’ll start on the second pile if it isn’t raining.

I don’t remember if I’ve told You about my mobile phone, I managed to drop it on a small stone and it hit the button that helps controlling the sound and if I want to take a photo of the site I’m looking at. It hit so good that I know can’t use the button and will until the day I say goodbye to it play everything on the highest volume 🙂 🙂 🙂 It can’t be changed in any way so if I look at something with sound it screams out and I have to block the speaker with a finger 🙂 🙂 🙂

Well it is time for that last cup of tea for the day, the machine is baking a bread and it would have been nice to have a cup of tea when I eat that first slice but the machine is anything but fast so milk is what I’ll have instead some time tonight 🙂

Have a great day!

It worked after all these years.

+1 C (33,8 F) this morning but since there was no wind what so ever it actually didn’t feel that bad. I’m glad I covered the sensitive plants last evening. I don’t trust those temperatures the weather web sites show though, they say around 10 C (32 F) so I’ll cover them again tonight.

Perfect weather during the morning walk though, the sun was mostly shining, there were a few clouds that managed to hide it a few times, so it was nice in the sunshine but still so cold that the flies didn’t fly around. No cranes in the air this morning but four song swans (like Your trumpet swans) passed on their way to the little lake in the bog. I also saw a Jay fly away but that’s it when it comes to wildlife. All that rain we had last week has already dried up and very little dew as well but I managed to pick the three ticks that were climbing on the dogs. When we have lots of dew the grass is too wet for the ticks to stay there since there’s a risk they actually drown.

I also mowed the outside of the garden grass but the mower barely trimmed the tops 🙂 That’s the positive part with a long drought 🙂 🙂 🙂 I then remembered my compost grinder that has been standing beneath the roof of the patio for I don’t know how many years. So I brought it out on the lawn and took a look at it. The grinding parts were covered in rust and it was impossible to see how it looked inside the motor. I plugged it in just too see if it showed any signs of life anyway and to my very big surprise it started!!

So today I have started to work away the two big piles with all the branches I’ve cut away lately from most of my trees and bushes. I managed to grind down a lot even though it doesn’t show to be honest 🙂 🙂 and the mound of grinned branches isn’t especially big either but I thin I’ve actually done half that pile oaf branches today. I’ll continue tomorrow and I hope that I’ll at least worked through the rest by tomorrow evening. After that I’ll start with the second pile.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and then I’ll watch a show on tv called Elsbeth, It has gotten good reviews so why not 🙂

Have a great day!

Trellied tree, or at least it will be.

Once again we woke up to a pretty and cold morning. No frost but I had still covered all the more sensitive plants. I will not do that this evening because from now on nights will be warmer again and therefore we’ll be annoyed by the flies again. They might not be many but oh how good they are in annoying me 🙂 🙂

This morning however was more or less fly free, later in the day when it warmed up though lots of them did their best to irritate me here in the garden. we actually saw two deer on our walk this morning and thankfully Alma only noticed one of them 🙂 Today we walked down to the creek but from the other direction than we usually walk there. The beavers are damming up the creek so almost no water runs away from it. I noticed that they’ve brought lumber there so I guess they’ll try to trap it, don’t think regular hunting is allowed now in summer since they have small ones.

I’ve continued to cut down the big rose in the corner of my garden, it is anything but fun or enjoyable 🙂 🙂 I managed to cut of a branch that went above my head. Do You know what it is like to remove thorns from ones scalp and not being able to see what one does 🙂 🙂 🙂 I also planted that last pear tree seedling (are they called seedling when they are over two and a half years old?) I didn’t know what to do with it but then I started to think about trellised trees! So that’s what I’m going to do. I’ve put up the poles to the side of it. It is still to small to do that but all I need to do know besides waiting for it to grow 🙂 is to get some steel wire to be able to trellis it when it is time to start.

It is time to have that last cup of tea for the day and after that I think it will be an early night. I’ve had loads of tea and coffee but still feel pretty tired. Tomorrow I’ll go to the supermarket, I don’t need much but I hope they still have some of the Juniper berry soda I loved as a kid, Hadn’t seen it in years but then suddenly I found it in the super market. If You wonder how it tastes I can say that it is something between cola, dark beer and Dr Pepper 🙂

The big rose. This is what it looked like when I started

and this after twenty minutes work. My hands and head were really in bad shape after that 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ll continue slowly and steady 🙂

Have a great day!

The work had begun. To be honest this will be so much easier to manage than a big tree. Perhaps not as much fruit but the quality of the fruit will be better. Plus it doesn’t take up as much space and it will not shadow anything behind it.

Every fifth month.

Looks like the cold weather scared som cranes to move south, usually they don’t do that until mid or late September.

Another cold night so I’m glad I covered the more sensitive plants. Yesterday we had several thunderstorms passing by and we had hail falling in at least three of them, there was even some hail left when we went out in to the garden when we had woken up.

The rest of the day has been really nice though. It was so cold on our morning walk that not a fly or anything but migrating cranes were moving in the air. Well a couple of Jays flew around screaming, most likely warning about us walking down the gravel road. The sun shone almost the entire walk and has continued to do so with the exception of a few clouds passing by. The clouds weren’t big but manage to pass the sun in a place so the sunshine couldn’t reach us. It has actually been enough warm to have the kitchen door open almost all day.

When there are like two or several individual mist clouds we’re saying that the Elves are dancing. Normally we see this in fields and usually in a ring formation. One doesn’t want to interfere in it because it usually means the end of life is here. These two however let us pass without being punished 🙂 🙂

It should have been open all the time if it hadn’t been because of Alma, she is now in heat. Malkolm is still chemically castrated so no such problems but he still behaves like a bewitched teenager 🙂 🙂 🙂 Almost all female dogs that have been living with me has done that every six months, not Alma though she does it every fifth month 🙂 which is at the time rather good because I was unsure for how much longer the chemicals would work on Malkolm.

Most spiderwebs had been destroyed by the heavy showers of rain and hail.

Some had however managed to build new ones.

I’ve planted most of the sown coneflowers (Echinacea) today. I really like them but for some reason I have never had one, bought or sown, surviving the winter here and that’s not because they aren’t hardy enough and the sand in the ground here should be perfect for them. The only one that I actually had for several years was the pinnate prairie coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) but those were slowly pushed away by some wild roses I used to have 🙂 🙂

This is a rather nice tasting mushroom and it grows in my garden.

My bigger citrus trees, smaller this year due to frost and my four Pawpaw seedlings. Two from last year badly damaged by mice and two from this year.

The coming three days will be much like today they’re guessing but after that we’ll get clouds and rain but at least not as cold as it washes last days. The tea is waiting and perhaps I’ll have a sandwich or two 🙂

Malkolm looking slightly ashamed all the time now 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

We had a rather chilly night and morning here as som of You know, 0 C (32 F) as coldest but no frost, they day itself was rather nice and warm though. if we don’t have clouds covering the sky tonight we’ll most likely have frost. That’s a bit early even for us, normally the first frost night happen around September 6 here.

This one didn’t look as if it would live much longer so I decided to check if there were any potatoes in the bucket.

I poured it out and immediately found a couple potatoes.

and the more I diggged the more I found.

So from just two small sprouts I got enough potatoes for three dinners 🙂 I have two more much bigger pots waiting to be emptied.

We had a really nice morning walk though, not a single fly but the dogs got caught by a few ticks, easily removed though since they were walking around on them to find a nice and cosy spot to bite them at. Alma had that annoying whine again and Malkolm decided he had to pull the leash almost all the way so I was a bit annoyed to be honest. I did see a Roe deer though but the dogs missed it thankfully 🙂

I brought out the two electric chain saws I own, both have been outside all the time but covered so no water has been able to reach them. I wanted to see if they still were working and they do but I did have to remove a lot of rust so the chain could move. So I went online to order new chains and that wasn’t easy 🙂 I can find both models without any problems but no places tells me what kind of chain I should buy. They’re giving lots of examples but only say that this chain works on most models 🙂 even on those that are too short or two long. I did find one that I think will fit on one of my saws and hope it does because I’ve ordered it 🙂 🙂

The first red toadstool for the year.

There she was and we looked at each other for a short while before the dogs and I started to walk back home again.

The Heather is in full bloom now.

My neighbours 5 year old daughter wanted to give me fresh eggs today, they had forgotten to check last afternoon so she wanted me to have two warm eggs and two cold ones since the older ones were cold today 🙂 🙂 So today the dogs and I had pancakes for dinner 🙂 Besides this I’ve done very little today. I did water all plants I want to be sure to have next year and I’ve moved a lots of potted plants close to the cottage south heading wall so that if it is a light frost it won’t hit them. Also I have covered that five small Pawpaw seedlings, the big dahlia and all the big citrus plants (and tea bush). Also I have now placed all the Lemonquats inside the cottage until next spring.

Last year when I brought in the orchids I, after a while, realised that small red ants (piss ants as we call them, the sting is truly nasty) had a little nest in one of them. One really doesn’t want those in the house so I had to put pesticides in the pot. I thought it might also kill the plant but it is still alive and well and I think the dead ants must have worked as fertiliser  🙂 I won’t have a last cup of anything this evening, I’ve been drinking so much coffee today that anything more caffein related will keep me up all night 🙂 🙂 🙂

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Last day with hot weather.

I haven’t done much today to be honest, we had our morning walk and it was just slightly warmer than yesterday morning. That changed during the day though and it became so warm that the dogs preferred to stay indoors.

That will all change tomorrow though when the temperatures will stay below 20C (68F) and after that they’re guessing it only will reach 13 C (55,4 F) for two days but after that the temperatures will slowly, slowly rise again. Arctic winds will reach us for a while. They also guess we’ll have some rain but it’s hard to believe them when they’ve gotten it so wrong all summer long 🙂 🙂 The only rather boring thing is that when the rain finally starts to fall it usually continues for weeks.

Filled in a job application this morning, a staffing company is looking for a painter (well could be more than one but it didn’t say anything about that in the ad). Guess if I was surprised when they called me around noon to ask if I could come to an interview tomorrow afternoon. It did surprise me a lot, usually it takes at least a week before they check if anyone applied for a job 🙂 I don’t know what company it is that will hire a painter and I have no idea if it will be me they hire but it do feel good 🙂

Besides that the only thing I’ve done is to water the garden and done some shopping in the supermarket. I actually never wrote a list but it looks like I’ve got everything I wanted 🙂 That’s unusual even when I have written a list of what I want 🙂 🙂 I’ve only had one cup of tea today because I bought some coffee in the supermarket and I can’t drink coffee after 4 pm so I’ve already had it 🙂 I’m also out of bread so I might have to bake now or just be happy having a bowl with cornflakes 🙂

Most of the horses have already moved to another stable.

Have a great day!

A tad chilly in the morning.

I always have the bedroom window open during summer, day and night unless it’s hot as h..l outside. I woke up during the night feeling rather cold but didn’t think more about it than pulling the blanket over me and having a dog sleeping closer to me 🙂 I checked the thermometer when we went down to the kitchen and it had been a tad chilly outside. It was 4,9 C (40,82 F) outside and as coldest it had been 3 C (37,4 F).

The sun has been shining all day though and the northern winds we’ve had went from chilly to rather nice during the day. Besides watering plants I really can’t remember what I’ve been doing 🙂 🙂 🙂 Yesterday I did start reading a book again and actually enjoyed it so much that I had to force myself to put it away. That hasn’t happened in a very long time, not since I was hit by covid and the brain refused to work as it should. I have been reading on and off anyway but sort of not enjoyed it.

Sometimes it’s hard to chose between keeping the orange sky but see the fog a bit less good or see the fog but losing the orange sky 🙂

Well I did dig up some potatoes and raw fried them in the oven and it was just as tasty as I remembered it 🙂 With them I had a few meatballs and sausages 🙂 Nothing fancy but really tasty 🙂 I’ve also been locking for a place for my last pear tree seedling but so far no luck. I have started to cut down the grape elder and the huge rose (it has a couple of English names so I chose Beach rose) living side by side. The wild form is seen as invasive and should be removed and that’s a tough job since those thorns are nasty. This one has been left alone for well over twenty years so it’s really tough to cut down. I’m pretty sure that job will take a year or so but otherwise that would have been a good spot.

I found some rust coloured mums the other day and realised that it’s now days the only colour I like on them 🙂 I’ve planted them in a new flowerbed because they might survive the winter here. They’ll look very different next year though because they’ll grow rather high and if they get the chance to flower it’ll be late in autumn I’ve heard.

I’ve already had my last cup of tea for the day so now I don’t know what to do 🙂 🙂 Well I can always have a bowl with cornflakes, I like to slice a banana in it and dust it with cinnamon plus the dogs will get a piece off banana each 🙂

I have the same problem with my Giant Sequoia seedling as the Pawpaws, mice seems to like eating them so I can’t have them in the cool cellar. This one should have been twice as big if it hadn’t been for the mice. So I’ll try and cover it during winter and hope for the best and I’ll have to do the same with the Pawpaws.

Have a great day!

So nice!

Today has been pretty wonderful because the temperature fell down to 20 C (68 F), the sun has been shining all day and a slightly cool wind has blown all day long and with the exception on Monday when it will be hot again, this is what we’ll have 🙂 No rain though but a ten day prediction isn’t something that most likely will be right.

So every time they’re out hunting they put up this sign at the end of the road. We did have a “conversation” about what if we walk from the other side of the forest, why isn’t there a sign there too. It ended with them texting me every time they’re out (works mostly really good). This time of year they’re hunting wild hogs and for that we’re grateful. The only thing we really hate is when they for some reason hunts our foxes, they can’t sell the skin and they don’t eat it, our foxes eat so many rodents so we don’t have them in our homes instead.

Do You remember when I wrote about why my neighbours down the road moved instead of buying the place? It was because the seller suddenly, after agreeing on a price, rose the price considerable. So the new neighbours will move at the end of this month, because he did it again! Three different businesses have made the same valuation on the place and still he demands almost the double when it’s for sale! Greed of course but it really doesn’t work when people know the real value of the place 🙂 🙂 🙂

Yarrow, yarrow, yarrow. Everywhere I looked I saw yarrow and since they say ticks avoid it I’ll be happy to see it all 🙂

It was 8 C (46,4 F) when we went out on our morning walk. The hunting sign was up so this time we had to walk elsewhere. They had forgotten to text me but as long as the sign is up it’s ok. We still have lots of dew so both the dogs and I were soaked when we returned back home 🙂 🙂 Still no ticks on us so it was worth it 🙂 Also the entire way was covered in Yarrow so that could have helped :-)We went out after most of the morning mist had risen but in the shadowier places I still could see some and today was easy to see spider webs 🙂 There were so many more than what You see in the photos.

I noticed that despite a drought the water level in the creek was unusually high on one side of the road but, as You can see in the next photo, very low on the other side. Suddenly I heard a huge splash and realised the beavers are back again 🙂 Beavers have attacked people , for instance at a bust station in a bigger city, without we knowing why so I didn’t go any closer to check 🙂

I haven’t done much rest of the day, I baked s spongecake and put an apple in tiny bits and put them in the batter plus I also put some cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and cloves in it, I wanted that gingerbread taste. I did one mistake though, I didn’t think of how much liquid the apple would give 🙂 🙂 🙂 So it had to stay in the oven two times longer, I did reduce the heat after 30 minutes otherwise I would have had a charcoal surface on it 🙂 🙂 🙂 Tastes Christmas but to be honest I can’t taste any apple in it 🙂 🙂

It was 28 C (82,4 F) Yesterday so the playing was at a minimum.

Malkolm decided eating all the strawberries were more fun while

Alma decided she wanted an apple instead.

After eating all the strawberries he went for the Sand cherries instead 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I’ll have a slice or two of that spongecake as well 🙂

My first tomatillo 🙂

The tomatoes are on the way as well 🙂

Have a great day!

I’ve felt a bit cold today.

I’ve felt that the day has been a bit chilly even though it almost reached 20C (68F). I think it’s mostly because I have been tired all day since I didn’t sleep that well during the night. I have no idea why though. I did warm up a bit when I visited my friend in the garden center though. They’ve been closed for four weeks and they’ll open for the new season tomorrow again. This one is so much bigger than the one I had and it was completely empty of new plants so they have a big job filling it up before they open tomorrow morning 🙂

They did have some plants left in the greenhouse and I I took a look and like a scavenger brought a few plants with me home 🙂 Just a few since I’m planning on sowing new perennials this winter. Now they need to stay in shadow (as much as possible) so they don’t get burned by the sun, just like us they get burned easily if they have been indoors for a long time without direct sunlight hitting them. If You buy plants in a garden center when they stand in a green house always ask if they have been standing indoors all the time or been outside because then You’ll know how to treat them when You get back home.

There’s so little water in the creek now that it’s early visible in some places.

I now have cattle just outside my garden and with them the flies have returned, no biting ones but those annoying ones that do whatever they can to annoy us. Trying to get in to our nostrils and ears or just fly around in front of the face until You wish You had a spray can with pesticides so You could just spray and get rid of them 🙂 🙂 🙂 The problem is that most would hit ourselves and there’s no end to how many flies that now hangs around just waiting to the chance to take the others place 🙂 🙂 🙂

There were also more flies on our morning walk today, not as many as we use to have but enough to force me to wear the hood on my hoodie. I could hear lots of animals moving away when we walked so that could be the reason there were so many, it was most likely wild hogs and a few deer being a hotel for those flies until we came along. This has not been a year for biting flies, I’ve only seen a few and only been bitten once. Also we have very few wasps/ Yellowjackets this year but those wasps that is do eat a lot on my apples before they fall to the ground. I normally give fallen apples to my neighbours but this year they are all half eaten before they hit the ground.

Sometimes when one has bought soil something starts to grow in the pot that has nothing to do with us. Normally tomato seeds that survived the sewage plant. So when I first saw this one I thought it was a tomato. Now I’m not sure because the leafs doesn’t smell anything. The only other thing this can be is a potato plant and since we don’t eat potatoes tomatoes this seed must have survived on of those industrial compost makers. I’ll plant this in a pot and when it hopefully flowers we’ll know what it is 🙂 🙂 🙂

It’ll be warmer tomorrow so I’ll mow the lawn while the grass is fairly short. They’re guessing we’ll have sunshine tomorrow, especially in the afternoon but we really need rain, even some of my trees now look sad and I really can’t water them all. I only water the newly planted plants so they survive. People who knows gardening usually say that one should water trees and bushes once a week and then at least 10 litres (slightly more than 2,5 gallons US) because just enough for the day You’ll teach the tree/ bush to never develop the roots that should grown down to the ground water. That might be true but if there’s drought and there’s a risk having no water at all to think like that might just make You teach the tree to die. When the rain comes those deep roots will start to grow.

The English walnut isn’t big but it lives, so I’ve started to remove nettles and other weeds from it so the sunlight can reach it.

The Flowering quince decided to flower a second time. I do hope this one stays calm and doesn’t spread via its roots like the Japanese since I just have removed. No thorns on this one and that’s a huge plus 🙂

I’ve just had my last cup of tea for the day and there’s nothing but re-runs on tv so I think I’ just have an early night today.

Have a great day!