Lazy Days

I have enjoyed my single day off yesterday.I spent a lazy day in the garden.The sun was shining and I went outside into the garden to take some photos.The Asters have started to bloom en Mass now,in lots of soft colours.I love the pink of this flower contrasting to the lilac one behind it.The squirrels continue to raid the bird food on occasions.I love the way they use their tails like a flag bearer.They seem to be swishing secret messages to the trees as they eat the sunflower hearts or peanuts.They eat the birds food,dig my pots up,but generally are quite benign.The mole has been back causing chaos on the grass with his earthworks.The battle continues to find an organic solution to driving him into the neighbouring houses.Today's trick is to use pop bottles in the ground with their tops off.The wind blows across them making a woo-ing noise that penetrates the ground and hopefully stops the mole from venturing out.This Butterfly was flitting from my Everlasting flowers before stopping on the Parsley leaves in our herb planter.I got a good close up photo with him chilling in the sunlight.I have not seen as many butterflies this year in our garden.I think I need to revamp my butterfly attracting plants to draw them in.The allotment was full of hundreds of butterflies.Is not all about the pretty Butterflies.These Hover flys and normal flys love the sweet nectar of the Everlasting Flowers.These have offered quite fiery colours into the planters.I have two bunches drying in the greenhouse ready to be put into a vase over the winter.A surprise to me was this Gladiolus blooming in the corner of the sunken border.I planted the bulbs under the Dogwood,and near to the Bronze Fennel.I love the pastel effect of the pink and yellow colours.It looks like an artist has used two colours and rubbed the two together where they meet,smudging the colours for a seem less change.I picked all these Tomatoes and Strawberries yesterday.The Strawberries have nearly finished now.I want to decant the herb planter strawberries and plant them in our raised bed.It gave us lots of Strawberries this year.The soil just needs more compost adding to enrich it.The Tomatoes are starting to turn red now.The small Cherry Reds are delicious eaten fresh off the plant.They are a good mixture of sweet and sour.The large one is the second Outdoor Girl Tomato plant.These seem to be growing really well on the garden path.They will all start ripening together so I think we will give some away.I love growing Tomato's and Chillis every year.I will look for new or heirloom varieties to grow next year.The final photo shows the Teasel seed heads in shadows against the white sky.These are magnificent plants and most have been covered in flying insects.The seed heads are ripening slowly.I will leave these for their architecture and presence.The three plants are like three giants in the garden.Nothing else can match them for height.The Goldfinch's keep landing on them.I want to see if they will eat the seeds in the winter.
Summer is drawing to its end,and the leaves are starting to change colours slowly.the garden flowers are blooming for a last hurrah before the Autumn starts.I'm back on nights again so the posts will be short but sweet untill Friday.