Chelsea and Cakes...

I have been baking most of the afternoon with my little helper Chelsea. We made ginger biscuits, jam tarts, treacle toffee, and bread. The house is full of a gorgeous aroma, of home baking. It fills every room, and the smell makes your mouth water.
I looked through the window at the garden. I will spend my time in the garden tomorrow. The grass needs cutting again, the borders tidied up.I have been paid, so tomorrow i will buy some bulbs and more plants, yippeeeeeeeeeee!!
I dont mind mind being broke a lot of the time, just not all the time so i can buy plants..hee hee i love the garden.I would rather spend money on it than going out or buying CD's or books..
I will post pics tomorrow.I am chilling now after all that baking...

A garden torch through Autumn and Winter

I have finished my three nights. Now i have nine days off to garden to my hearts content.

To revamp the borders, cut the grass, and plant some bulbs. I have several idea's for posts of a garden theme..

The joy of blogging about gardens is that it touches so many other area's..

From botany, to biology, to environmental studies, to ecosystems, to traditional uses of plants, folk myths, cooking natural ingredients, to growing food, to wine making, to photography, to wildlife attracting,.....

It has grown exponentially as i have continued to blog. I notice the updated blogs list is growing smaller as summer fades. However snappys garden blog will continue to bloom through the fall, and into winter..

Stories from my garden, and whatever else i think will be interesting for posting.. It will all be related to gardening though...

Back garden view

Here is yesterdays panoramic view of the back garden, two days after the cut.The fuschias on the bottom left are awaiting to be trimmed for overwintering.The sun was shining.

A Rose

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.Shakespeare was a gardener I think.With lots of flowers mentioned in his plays..
The sun was shining today.I took some long range garden pics but they will be tomorrows post.
The rose sunshine is at its heighest perfection with honey/vanilla scent, perfectly formed petals.It almost glows in the sunshine.
The grass is recovering from the cut, but looks so green now.The edges look trim, and set off the height of the border plants.
There are patches of flowers but it looks calming still..
As im back on night shifts I will need it too, more calming posts tomorrow!

Work and Busy lizzies

Ah, me too much work is exhausting the snappy gardener. I am having problems still with uploading pictures. Need a new laptop ASAP. Im getting symptoms from not having one!!
The picture is a busy lizzie, grown from seed, now sat in the spare bedroom.This one is amazing as it has two different colour blooms on one plant.One white, and one peach.How bizarre (to go into old roses wierdness chronicles!!).
Im dreaming about the garden going to and from work.New plans, new plants, wish lists.
I guess Autumn gardening is tidying up from the party that was summer, and winter gardening is dreaming of springtime that signals a new cycle of life..
I need to weed the borders, and make some compost ready for adding to the soil.The roses are blooming still in two borders.The long border can do with some rose magic to lighten it up..
I have Alaskan Iris seed pods to break open.I will designate a section Alaskan Iris and see if they grow.They are hardy so they should love the yorkshire weather.
I have 8 tomato's on two plants.One is as big as the beefsteak tomato I got the seeds from originally.Next year I will grow a half dozen plants for salad and sandwiches I think..
Three night shifts to go now before days off.I will plan the garden in my head on the way to and from the hospital, i need a healing garden for all the winter pressures about to come.

Saturday in the Garden

It finally stayed dry long enough for me to cut the grass.It needed it, thick, wet, and slippery under my shoes. I am back to work tomorrow so it was today or not for another week. I think its psychological cutting the grass. Once I trimmed the border edges it was looking nice again.
I will have to post one pic a day. However I take so many that i have a few days left yet..
My spider came back to hang around the spade/wall area.
I have spotted a self seeded forget me not plant behind the roses. I have the tomato plant in a pot that was growing out of the front window border.
The grass however looked so green and lush. All that rain has made it beautiful. I thought of an old American poet today as i sweated with the hover mower, Walt Whitman..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman
I read leaves of grass when i was at school. It is full of lines relating to the natural world. Its funny what you think about when you are working outside.
But the sun was shining and the wind was gentle. The coffee breaks were frequent. I spent about four hours outside, untill the light started to fade.
Next jobs for my days off will include revamping the borders, some plant moving, and sorting out the compost. I checked it today the bottom third is full of lovely dark compost, totally rotted!!
I was able to visualise more garden changes today working close to the grass when i was trimming.
My hole by the back fence has collapsed again with the rain running through it. Im considering a raised bed above it so it wont be so noticeable.
What do you all use to trim the edges of grass? my mower is hover so it only cuts the large area's.Im using big scissors to trim the edges neater. I have a half moon edger but that is not good on hard edges. I thought about a garden knife? What do you all think?
I mention that because i have blisters on my fingers again. The last ones have only just healed up, and i go and do same job.
The roses are still blooming in the square border, and the arched border. Just when I think they are finished more buds appear..
I want more roses next year. Beautiful, sumptuous David Austin roses with nice colours, and scents. I would love a rose garden with a circular pathway, with fragrant roses to smell on both sides. Maybe a bench or seat in the middle. Watch the flowers blowing in the wind!!

The elements have been cruel to the Sun man.He has some chipped paint from his nose and cheeks.The wind kept blowing it against the concrete post.Windswept and interesting? 

Rose sunshine, the flower looks like an ancient greek maze with the spiral petals.. 

Baking Friday 

Rain and Cakes

It rained, and rained, all day.I spent most of the day inside looking at the rain falling down.I nipped out for a few pics. The rose frosty morning splattered with rain drops.

I baked for a lot of hours. I made ginger biscuits, jam tarts, a victoria sponge which Sallyanne made up with butter icing and jam, two one pound loafs of bread. I made rock cakes yesterday, and fairy cakes the day before. We have a lot of cakes, and biscuits now. Im hoping tomorrow will be drier for garden tidying up. It must be near the end of summer.My borders are running out of flowers. The monarda are still flowering, the glads are sagging. The Erysimum and violas flower half heartedly. This is when i need shrubs for Autumnal colour. My garden sprinted from April to September, but has run out of steam.I need some marathon loving plants, or late starters..

Raindrops look like jewels dripping down my white birches leaves. The cunning design means the water is channelled down to the roots. They must be VERY fat roots with all the rain we have had from July onwards.

The snails are out in force now. I trod on some after walking to the garage to buy things.

Today though the whole house smelt of home baking. I found a link where you grow something from seed, and make a dish from the ingredients.

http://cc-calendula.blogspot.com/2006/09/green-blog-project-crookneck-squash_20.html

The original link was from Malaysia though, so they could grow something really different from me in wet yorkshire.

http://injimanga.blogspot.com/2006/05/green-blog-project_02.html

I have moved my tomato plants inside. They are sat on the upstairs landing on a black TV trolley. Sallyanne made me move them. I think of the kitchen as a base for my over wintering plants, a greenhouse for growing experimental seedlings that i want to observe. For me the warm well lit kitchen is ideal for gardening projects. Sallyanne thinks they clutter up the kitchen. I had to remove my Plum wine too (its upstairs now bubbling away happily in the bedroom).

Hope that its not too inclement wherever you are gardening in the world!!

Reflections on spiders

Castleford Spider with tiger stripe colours.
Sallyanne and my workmates think im mad taking insect close up shots.This one had a leaf in its web.He dropped down to inspect the leaf.Even though it was double his size.He proceeded to cut the web to remove the leaf.He climbed back up and started spinning more web to repair the damage.He was quite photogenic too and posed with is stripey body.There is great learning in watching nature at work...





The oriental martial arts have learnt a lot by copying animal movements, like in karate and Tai Chi.
He had persistance, and worked on cutting the leaf away, ready to make more web to catch some juicy flies.
Since blogging about the garden I have become aware of all the variety of life in the garden. the worms that till the soil for me. The ants that bite me. Butterflies that flit around my garden. Wasps and bee's. A grasshopper before. My suprise frog visitor. I still do not see many birds even though i have the bird bath table and feeder, and feeders from the posts.
The spider reminded me of the story of Robert the Bruce, the main other hero in Braveheart. He looked at a spider too as a source of inspiration when all hope had gone after many losing battles. He took heart and beat the English. Scottish Independence owes much to a cave dwelling Arachnid..
http://www.storiestogrowby.com/stories/bruce_and_spider_body.html

Days off are here

At last after a six day stretch, coming after an eight day stretch. The garden is calling me. Have taken a few random pics to put on here taken over past few days. I still need to solve the getting photo's to the blog problem. I am sending them by text to a site, then copying them to the computer, to post on here!
It means i can take the well focused photo's on my phone. Tomorrow will be long range shots on Sallyanne's. I am lost without my laptop.It has been a companion for years. Hopefully will get one sometime. Got Sallyanne's untill then..
Tia was chilling today waiting for some gardening tomorrow and Saturday.She likes planting bulbs and sleeping..
It was 28 degrees C today and Sunny.Like a proper summer day weeks after the heatwave had petered out, and became grey wet and drab.
I am tired out though from 14 shifts...need to join Tia on the chair.No work untill Sunday, im very happy!

I worked early today, and fell asleep this afternoon. I had some tea, and tried to take photo's in the falling light which was not good.
I answered the comments. I am not a drinker really, so the wine making is experimental like the tomato plants.I just want to see if i can do it.
The weather is getting colder, more rainy, windy. The summer drawing to a damp squibby end.Its getting dark earlier, and not getting light untill later.
Two more shifts to work before days off...need a rest from the hospital.I want to finish sorting the garden out, cut the grass will be therapeutic i think.
Bulbs to plant, weeds to remove, compost to turn in the big green bin.So much to do when i am not working...some pics soon.

Sunday night

Its sunday evening now. I worked my early shift too, then came home and fell asleep. Ooops.I answered the comment and am drinking coffee now.
My plum wine is fermenting nicely. The first night it exploded out of the demijohn. A mass of seething, moving foam ran up and out. I had to divide it untill it settled down. It is a cloudy liquid now, but needs straining in a few days.
The dandelion wine is in a cupboard, finishing off now. It is cloudy, but has five months to clear. The wine making from flowers or fruit is a slow process...need patience much like gardening and growing flowers from seeds.
I got a lot of comments about the chocolate scented candle, thanks!! I love the sweet smell of it.Makes me want a bar of chocolate..
The garden needs a lot of work still. I have four days of work before i can get to it. A whole day in the garden sounds like bliss.
The tomato plants are growing madly now. They have a half dozen large green tomato's on them and more forming. As an experiment with a store bought tomato they have grown into two foot high plants. I just wanted to see if i could get the seeds to germinate.
I read a very complicated way of getting seeds to dry, involving soaking, fermenting, washing, and drying. Very labour intensive.. I grew mine in a simpler way than that.
I'm slowly putting my links to blogs back together. Will be posting loads again soon,Good night world!!

September 16th

Maria wanted people to post a candle picture with some link to Autumn. The one i will use is my new chocolate scented candle next to the exploding plum wine. Autumn after this year, reminds me of the harvesting of fruits for eating, and turning into wine. The Laymens alchemy, and the magic of the leaves slowly changing colours.
There is a picture for you Maria!!

Home made day

Apart from not cutting the grass I spent most of the day making home made bread. Started the plum wine off fermenting, and baked an apple pie. That took a good few hours. A second loaf is in the breadmaker.
I had a close encounter with a frog. Learnt how to message my photos so i can blog them from a new internet site. This will help untill the laptop problem is sorted out. I'm back to work tomorrow for six shifts in a row...
Just need to cut the grass on one day. Go daffodil, bluebell, and snowdrop shopping. The seeds need planting in new compost.
I have started my own version of the retreat from Moscow, with plants moving inside for the winter to avoid jack frost. He starts stalking from October sometime here.
How addictive is blogging? writing posts, uploading photo's. I must say here I lost all my links which was my daily garden magasine. Sixty or so various blogs. It will take me time to relocate them all and leave comments..
Off to read my David Bellamy book. He is a famous british botanist, and enviromental campaigner. I saw him speak at the Cheltenham literary festival, then queued up to get him to sign it. I was speechless when i had got to the front.I watched him on TV and he was a great hero. Standing in front of him i could not speak...
He signed it, and now i am finally making progress reading it. I thought of a post which would be which person/persons have influenced you the most in regard to gardening?
He loves plants and insects, and use to infuse over them. I am the snappy gardener now because of his TV show.

Dandelion flowers, picking them caused a third bloom.Like dead heading I guess to encourage more flowers. 

Monarda flowers 

Three mushrooms dried out on the playhouse roof 

Anemone again... 

hosta busy lizzie and anemone 

Hosta's in the sunlight 

Rose hit by buckshot 

View through side window in kitchen 

Suprise visitor

I was walking around the garden trying to remember where i put the aqualegia seeds.I suddenly noticed something small and green jumping.I dont know who was more suprised me or the frog!
There is no pond in our garden or even next doors.Where did you come from froggy?Did it rain frogs??
Maybe he wanted a snack of some delicious snails or slugs.He hid between the log post and grass watching me.His little heart was beating fast (as was mine).
We sat eye to eye, me with the camera.I took photo's on my good camera.I thought there must be a way to send them online from a mobile.I can do it but not as good as just uploading to the laptop.


If I have some special pics I can now get it onto my gardens blog. Just untill I get a new laptop when i get paid..
I left him a washing up bowl with some water in it. I think he was parched, and looking for some water.
Do frogs migrate from water to water? Was my garden frog a traveller migrating to ponds new?
I have solar light frogs, ceramic ones, but never expected to find one hopping in my grass.
I guess people who have ponds with resident frogs (like Dalty, he is cool) get used to them.I think they are magic, spirits of the garden. Devourer of slugs and snails...
I am still happy i found him (or he found me), now i want a small pond in the garden, for my froggy and all his brethren.

Night time reflections

I finally got out into the garden today.I tidied some of the long borders, removing the snapdragons which were tatty and the viola's that were mildewy. The weeds had gone mad in my abscence. Sticky weeds, chick weed with white flowers, creeping buttercups, bindweed, and nettles.
The grass still needs cutting. It rained overnight, and then today it poured again. Thunder storm too. I took a few pics on Sallyanne's phone. Im using her laptop now..
I was sad when i realised my pics could not be uploaded. The disc would not run on the main computer, and this laptop.
The photo's are the best i could manage untill i can get a new laptop to connect the sony erricsson phone.
Maria sent me a reminder to post a photo on the 16th September with a candle and autumn theme. Im still thinking. Expect me to post one photo, but take about twenty to get it right.
The beautiful flowers are the roses under the arched border, beneath masses of pink morning glory blooms. The busy lizzies in the square border look bright compared to the hostas. I have some Anemones bursting from the soil, months after they should have. The Hollandia is photographed with its peacock red eye.
The Monarda is a metre tall now and bursting out of the long border. I love the flower heads which were worth waiting for. Pink and purple crab claws on a wedding cake arrangement. It has been this years biggest suprise for me.
Busy lizzies in small pots and cajun balls of fire have moved indoors. The tomato plants will soon follow to sit in the downstairs toilet window.
The lavender and the white Dahlia are still attracting bee's to their pollen. The Erysimum are flowering still with the delicate yellow flowers.
I got an email from better homes and gardens saying have blue flowers in the garden.Earlier in the year (seems ages ago now) I had forget me nots.
I saw some attractive blue monkshood flowers.Those are now on my wishlist...along with purple coneflower, rudibeckia, some more roses but from David Austin, some honeysuckle, a climbing rose, blackberry bushes...
Sigruns Hollyhock is indoors now after the mouse ate the starter leaves.It has two nice crinkly leaves now.The Amaryllis has moved inside after a slug or snail devoured one of the leaves.
Buggers, but its late in the season.They never have eaten my hostas so i will let them devour the late summer plants.
There is still a lot of flowering even in September.Its not as gloomy as i thought.The compost bin today was hot when i lifted the lid.Its three quarters full.I used a lot of soil for pots so in the winter it will go back to bring my borders up.
I am musing over changes for next year.Bright idea's.Massed planting schemes.More tall plants in the long border.A herb garden, a raised bed for veggies, a half dozen tomato plants, A more cottage garden approach to some of the borders.
Weeding and bending down to the soil was therapeutic after work. I watched extreme makeover home edition about Biloxi, mississippi after hurricane Katrina.Preston built a memorial with a curved garden, granite wall, and glass display case with momentoes that meant something to people. He apprecriated the healing power of a garden.
Sometimes we need a place to retreat into. I have been reading a biography by David Bellamy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bellamy
He reflected on some woodland retreat with a pond and flowers. He says he returns
there mentally all the time.
If you are lucky enough to have a garden you have that place to retreat, to recharge the batterys, to ponder the mysteries of life and the beauty and variety of nature.

Viola faces 

Roses 

Anemone De Caen flowering months late 

Arched border 

Square border 

Grass keeps growing, rain delay though.. 

Kitchen window border sans snapdragons 

Two Dahlia flowers 

New gnome from Cleethorpes 

Laptop Disaster

Soon after I posted last night the laptop switched itself off.Ever since i have been unable to get it to work.The screen will not come on.It needs repairing when I can get it to a shop.Not before payday..
eeek i am on Sallyannes main computer.I need to find my disc to be able to upload my photos onto here to post them.Nightmares!!
The snappy gardener will return soon, technology willing....

Days off

... Are finally here. After eight days of work, stress, and exhaustion. I have two days to unwind, sort out the garden. Move my plants for overwinter indoors, plant seeds, cut grass, taking cuttings, start my plum wine fermenting...
I have missed the garden, the daily walk around examining plants, flowers, and finding bugs to photograph. I showed people at work my blog site.I felt quite shy about that too..
How can you let people you dont know see your inner most garden secrets, but feel embarrassed about work mates.
They said ooh you are a deep thinker, based on the films and books on the profile list. They wanted some overall garden shots to compliment the macro shots of flowers and flys! They were spooked by the spiders. The red armour plated one and the diamond spider..
Have you missed me? Work tires you out and cuts into gardening time. I literally have just taken a few photos but nothing else!!
I seperate work and life.At Pinderfields I am David because thats what my name badge reads.It is on display.I wander sometimes how people know my name when i have not told them.Doh,I forget its on my heart side!!
At home I'm Dids, a nickname that Sallyanne and the family use. I have no problems with that split. Its still me, but two different sides.
The garden, and the snappy garden blog are home life, not connected to nursing or medical admissions. A few people at work have green fingers (Angela who gave me cherries, plums, and apples, a demijohn and airlock bung, and has strawberry plants when i can get them from wakefield to Castleford. Fran who took my Hydrangea cutting and lovingly put it in wet tissue and cling film to keep it fresh).
They share the gardening bug, but many others dont, or dont know. The blog is getting me known, and they like looking at it on nightshifts between admissions!!
I am home now, let the gardening commence!Woo hoo!

Rain and thunderstorm

Just finished work. Day six out of eight...oh me to be in the garden. So much I want to do to the garden, to the borders.Im feeling tired now. Two shifts to go before days off.
Here is a picture of the spider that had made its web between the Dahlia and tomato plant.
I love taking pictures of the insects that let me get close enough to them.
Life is full of joys if you can see them. How many people notice the things growing around them except gardeners? They appreciate the beauty and variety of nature.
It rained heavily tonight with loud thunder and lightning. Sallyanne is glad im back at home. She does not like being left alone with a thunderstorm raging overhead..
More posts soon.The garden is still calling me...

Night time after my late shift.. 

In context, with gnome.. 

red one 

Closer.. 

Nasturtium 

buzz moving up rose petal 

buzz 

Different rose, different fly 

fly ahoy 

Orange tea rose 

Under gardener checking the quality of the Violas and Gladiolus

Arch way cascading with morning glory, flanking the rose sunshine.Both of the other rose bushes have flower buds on, love them a lot... 

Sigruns Hollyhock seedling, something was hungary... 

Dahlia looking scrumptious 

Fuschias, pink angels.. 

Roses, the colours are better in sunlight 

Under gardener lazing in sunshine 

Past the church on the corner.. 

Bottom flower stalk is clearer 

Another fav plant growing on hillside verge.Dont know what it is.. 

Sunshine after the fog 

Hanging onto the pavement from the iron fence 

My fav flowering weed.Been dying to photograph it.Think its wild Mallow?? 

The tree's on Pontefract road on my way home.. 

But Sunny by 3pm after my early shift 

Like old London pea soup.. 

Foggy morning at 6am... 

Glads that had keeled over, now beautiful cut flowers 

For Kerri the Monarda (or collinsia lol),exqusite flowers and scent. 

Nasturtium with pale orange flower and clown fish like markings.This is a new flower from that plant.The rest have been crimson red, or dutch orange.. 

Sunrise serenade in the twighlight 

Still flowering en masse 

Sunshine rose flowers, yellow/orange colour and they smell like honey and vanilla.Gorgeous scent.. 

Rose Sunshine blooms 

White busy lizzie, i tried to grow these for years but ended up with red and pink.I think the gene is recessive for white flowers.. 

Of Mushrooms and magic

Another day, another Joanne Harris book. After i finished Blackberry wine I found the third book on my bookshelf. A review to follow after i have read it all.

Im working too much, the garden is growing nicely with the rain and wind. It has rained a lot. More mushrooms have appeared. Its magic how they appear from nowhere. Do birds eat them and drop spores? Do they blow in the wind and grow on damp earth?

No wander europeans used to associate wild mushrooms with pixies and fairies. Its miraculous how they appear overnight.

I still need to go bulb shopping. the grass needs a trim before it slows down its growth. The borders need cleaning up and weeding. Remove my summer flowers ready for bulb planting and soil improvement.

The roses have suprised me by reblooming when i thought they had done. The Sunshine rose has bloomed eight flowers in one go. It looks like a wedding bouquet!!

At 5am this morning it was FREEZING cold.I shivered all the way to the bus. I thought i need to bring my busy lizzies inside, and take cuttings of my fuschia's to overwinter. The spare room is to become my indoor greenhouse. For over wintering plants and growing seeds..

I have had lots of idea's for winter blog posts even if not much is growing. I will keep going through the dark and cold winters days. When i go out now i have my camera ever ready to photograph with the idea thats a good pic for the blog!

It has made me look at the world differently, looking at plants, tree's, flowers, etc with a different perspective. Sometimes from a distance, othertimes close up.

There is magic i think in nature all year round.You need to know where to look, and when to photograph.

Photo's are universal in that you do not need to understand the preceding language. A dandelion flower might be called a hundred different names but the picture is something all hundred people can say, i know this.

The foxgloves are germinating.Tiny little seedlings peeking out of the earth, sensing the failing light and dropping temperatures. Sigruns Hollyhock looks healthy, and no kittys have tried eating it yet. Five days of work left before days off.

Some pics to follow to keep me happy untill days off...

Space Cat

Here's Cara sitting in a cat made hollow under the tree. She has squashed the grass to the shape of her body. I guess there was a hollow there before and she found it.
Not much gardening done due to working night shifts and too soon after day shifts. I need the garden healing vibrations more now with work stresses..
I got a one gallon demijohn today off angela, and fruit from her garden. Sweet plums and apples. I am deciding whether to make plum pie or some wine? The apple will become a pie!!
The one gallon glass jar has an airlock that allows the CO2 to escape via bubbling water.
Someone told me today there dad put all the homemade wine in the airing cupboard. It exploded taking the door out and putting glass shards in the walls, and fermenting fruit soaked into the wood. Ooops!!
I saw a sign today for spring bulbs. My next gardening mission is to acquire and plant lots of daffodils, bluebells, and the snowdrops i got from tashas garden before.
I have a small budget so it might be the long border that gets bulbed out. I can let them naturalise and spread i guess..
Its wierd thinking about spring in September. Summer days are fleeting now, with daylight hours dwindling like sands through an hour glass.
I will take some flower pics tomorrow after my early shift. I had a violin lesson today after my early.A cat nap. Then it was dark after tea. Traditional fish and chips with curry sauce.
more snappy posts soon....

UK Bob

I am pleased to say there is another English gardener. UK Bob ran a farm before retiring from that, to start work as a gardener in a big estate. His Blog is a mixture of the gardening on the estate, and his own garden. He is somewhere in Yorkshire, so maybe near me in Castleford!!
The link: http://the-estate-gardeners-diary.blogspot.com/
He has given me an idea of growing a climbing rose along the fence. Because i was not sure how to grow a rose along a flat fence. Blackberries too will be tried out too.
Hope you can all drop by to say hi, and give him encouragement. He has answered some of my many questions already.
Its always good to find new blogs.Send me your links if i have not dropped by yet.Want to feel some love blogosphere!!

Roses are my sunshine in the grey rainy days. 

There was a spider between the fir tree and the hedge, hanging around on his web.He had caught some nice juicy flys.He was camera shy.. 

Monarda in flower, how do you collect the seeds? 

Monarda growing bigger than the hebe.. 

Beautiful flowers... 

The purple flowers of a hebe i think? 

Glads again 

Tia moved her face to look at me closer. 

Pale blue/lilac Gladiolus

morning glory luminescent 

how about them conkers?from Wikipedia 

Night time insomnia

I finished my nights with the most amazing sunrise i have seen.The sky looked on fire as the sun rose.The clouds went from red to orange to pink, looking like a lunar landscape.
I put some photo's on earlier.My tomato plants were drooping from water loss.The evening primrose has collapsed.
I watered the pots, found none of my seeds have germinated.Only one of Sigruns Hollyhocks lives.Im keeping it in the black plastic box untill its bigger..the others succumbed to wilting.
Im nearly finished reading blackberry wine.A new blogger called UK Bob has given me an idea how to grow cultivated blackberries next year..watch this space.
The grass needs a trim if it stops raining for a bit.The soil is cloggy, waterlogged, and new mushrooms have sprung up in the grass.
The sense of summer drawing to a close fills the air.Gardens look colourful, but ropey around the edges.Seed pods are appearing on plants..
I had lots of cheerful comments about winter posts, so there will always be something to read, or look at.
My gardens blog will be a yearly project, through all the four seasons.Vivaldi style...
Angela from work has ten strawberry plants for me.I need to buy some container with feet to grow them on in.She said she has a demijohn for me for my wine making experiments.The dandelion wine is fermenting madly, the liquid is being carbonated by CO2, from the yeast...
I look at it daily, releasing the co2 occasionally when the bottle threatens to explode.Sallyanne tells me i need to find a new home for it.Not by my side of the bed!!
I want to look for a traditional wine making book over the winter, so i can decide which fruit wines to make..and jams too.The bread maker can make jams and marmalade.
Good night world, time to try to sleep now, easier said than done after three night shifts.Have not been in bed before 8.30am past three mornings.

Conkers Link

Here is a fab website that tells you about the conkers, a game originating only in great Britain.I grew up playing it at school.Hence the photo of my first found conker this year.
Edible for horses!so thats why we call them horse chestnuts.I remember drilling a hole with a knitting needle, threading and knotting string and playing.I can remember having my hand mashed by a rival conker, and boy does it hurt!!
Some conkers were unnaturally hard, with high numbers.They were always scrutinised for signs of vinegar or baking to harden them further.
Was there anything sadder than your prize conker being shattered by another in the mad game.
Why did people start putting them on string, then take turns to break other conkers?Like two nut like prize fighters slugging it out.
Maybe the British are war like, and a game you can play with just horse chestnuts and string (or shoe laces) helps that need.We have fought many wars across the world.The saying is the sun never set on the British Empire, because it was so huge.It was always light somewhere..
The link: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/conkers.html
Another link i found is on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Horse-chestnut

Crocodile Hunter

I was saddened today to hear about the death of Crocodile hunter Steve Irwin. He was filming underwater off the Queensland coast.

He was a true blue Aussie, and famous naturalist. He loved the crocodiles and snakes that he was frequently filmed with. The TV shows we watched here, and all over the world.

His Catchphrase was "Crikey" as he interacted with dangerous animals, poisonous snakes, and Saltwater Crocs etc. He knew how to interact with crocs, even though it scared people who watched him. He had what he called "Croc Savvy".

He was bought a reptile when he was six, and began a lifelong passion for the natural world. His honeymoon was spent capturing wild crocodiles , for a relocation to Australian zoo's when the crocodiles in Australia were threatened with extinction.

He leaves behind his wife, two children, and an army of fans throughout Australia and the world.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5313078.stm

The under gardener supervising the photos being taken.She followed me around the garden at 8am after a long night outside with Tia. 

Another day, a new mushroom growing on the grass 

Breakfast...im sooooooooo hungary.. 

Orange and red 

Morning glory after my three night shifts 

Look what flowered en masse after i said it never does. 

Hello is it time to go inside now?8am this morning 

Orange tea rose 

sunrising 

Fiery sky.. 

Some strange clouds like lunar surface 

Sunrise at 6 am this morning, the skies on fire.. 

Lastly, my vanilla viola with green glow 

Underside of the conker 

Conker came from this spikey covering 

Its Autumn nearly, here is my first Conker I found walking to work last night 

Rose bushes, two sunshine and one frosty morning 

Rose sunshine bud 

Gnome with violin 

Busy lizzies have been blooming when im at work.. 

Last Nightshift tonight 

GardenDummies returned

I got an email today from Stuart, after the wrangling with the Wiley book company he has set up again with a new title. Also he has took the garden gnomes idea to a whole new level with them as a sidebar on your blog.
Wander what changed his mind from hating them before? Anyhow here is the new link:
http://www.gardeningtipsnideas.com/
I hope you have Patent pending this time Stuart, welcome back...

Night Shifts

Well I am in between night shifts.I want to thank all the comments that cheered my up after the melancholy grey day post.

Im happy that lots of you will post through the winter. I will be reading and leaving comments.

Nightshifts turn your life into sleep, eat, commute, work, then around again.

The Rose is sunshine, which i dont see a lot of during the night.

I cant wait to finish these night duties so i can get back into the garden, comment on all the nice comments, and catch up on peoples blogs.Will see you all very soon.

Love in the mist, hidden under some grass 

Smoke bush like a wagon wheel (not the choc one either) 

Monarda with pom pom flowers or fraggles.. 

Erysimum, little rays of sunshine :) 

Viola again (there are lots in flower though still) 

Flowering weed, unknown name 

Amaryllis leaves with nice green pinstripes 

Can see the burgundy colour in these viola's 

State of near perfection, smells lovely, lots of power for a small rose