Dorset Garden Diary - A Quiet Week And Some Pics From a Devon Break

Evening everyone,

It's been a bit of a nondescript week regarding the weather. Apart from one day that felt like summer it's been murky and foggy and damp and miserable. Today's been warm and sunny though, albeit a bit windy. And now it's getting darker an hour earlier. I was looking forward to my extra hour but today seems to have gone on forever.

I moved the olive tree, lantana huff, lemon tree and alstroemeria plants into the greenhouse this morning as it's forecast to get colder from tomorrow and we could have some frost

There was a tomato plant growing in with the alstroemeria

I've pulled it out but it was growing well and even had flowers on it.

Also in the greenhouse is the jasmine, bougainvillea and mimosa. I  potted on the poppy seedlings and sowed sweet pea tickled pink which are on the shelving in the greenhouse along with some cuttings and the three lemon plants grown from seed.

I replenished a couple of the bird feeders and hung out the fat balls. The seed feeders have suffered in the gales we had and are basically beyond cleaning so I will get new ones. There are a lot of red admiral butterflies in the garden this afternoon.

Earlier in the week I went out to pull up some carrots. The parsnip leaves have drooped and are starting to go brown and I started to move one out of the way...and stopped. Because it wasn't a leaf...

it was this little fella. Thankfully I stopped just in time and saved us both from unnecessary squealing!

The only other job I've done this week (apart from feed the fish who are still loving the full pond) is rake the leaves off the lawn and put them at the back of the beds as shelter for wildlife and also for the worms. Did you see Autumnwatch during the week? There was a piece about how worms drag the fallen leaves into the earth and, of course, the leaves are good for the soil. Nature is amazing.

On a walk round the garden I discovered the miniature buddleia in flower (it didn't do anything in the summer!)

and the winter jasmine.

It's taken a couple of years to get established but looking good now.
A couple of weeks ago I went on a short break to Devon with work. We went to Paignton Zoo and this tree caught my eye, contrasting with the surrounding green and reflected in the water

And when we visited the reptile house I had to take a pic of this...

 

 which is...

 

We stayed in a hotel on the banks of the River Teign and the view was amazing (this doesn't do it justice)

 

And then on another trip we went to Babbacombe Model Village which I definitely recommend. This gorgeous acer caught my eye as soon as we went in

 

 

and these trees

 

It's an incredible place and must have taken a lot of hard work and patience to create.



The fish weren't small though

 

Well that's it for this week. According to Countryfile, October has been a dull, dry and warm month but over the next couple of days the temperature is falling close to freezing overnight then mainly dry and warming up slightly.

I'm not going to tidy up the garden too much now until the spring so that the birds and other wildlife can make use of the seed heads and shelter so I'll be blogging once a month for a while. Have a good month and catch up at the end of November.

Regards,

DD

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