RAMBO...

...The Shed...

(Little Shed gets a name)

This week the door of Little Shed was in danger of falling off.   It was becoming unhinged due to rust...can I use the same excuse about myself, I wonder?    A shed without a door through the autumn and winter is not at all desirable, therefore I asked the carpenter, the same one who re-hinged the garden gate...everything here is slightly unhinged I think, I asked him to please fix it for me.   He did. Immediately.   Using the hinges he had in his van...they are enormous.

Huge hinges for a little door

 So the Little Shed is now called Rambo because the hinges are quite out of proportion to the strength of the door.   Ostentatious, even.   I will paint the name on the shed soon.   However, there is more chance of the shed blowing down altogether than the door blowing off in the winter storms now.

I am slowly putting the garden to bed for winter, little bit by little bit.  It's difficult, there are so many plants still wringing the last of the summer rays from the autumnal sun.  It would only take one sharp frost to turn them black.   While they are blooming the bees have  food so I tend to leave them till the last possible moment before cutting them back.   However, annuals are over so those I pulled up and composted.  Then I dug over the bed, pulled weeds and planted spring bulbs.

All ready for a long sleep over winter.

 This afternoon I continued planting more bulbs in pots for the patio in spring.  I usually forget what I've planted in which pot so it is always a surprise.   I hope at least some come up, usually they do. The trick is to plant with consecutive flowering bulbs all in the same container so the daffodils come up first, then the tulips, grape hyacinth and so on.  This should mean that there is a little bit of colour from February on till late spring with luck.... we'll see.  Just one more 'set' of bulbs to plant into a container, I ran out of time this evening.

Meantime there are a couple of star players still performing in the garden....

The Passiflora, abundant beauty.

Also sweet-peas...these have been flowering since July ...every time I pick a bunch I think it must be the last but no, another little bunch for the table again on Friday...

Sweet-peas

And the fragrance of 'new' rose, Bridge of Sighs, is just heavenly.   It seems to flower continuously too.

Bridge of Sighs Rose

At this time of year the Cyclamen start to come into their own.  I love the butterfly flowers.   I have planted a few of the little hardy ones in the front of the bed directly in front of the patio...now I spend my days yelling at JP to stop taking a shortcut across the bed...

Hardy Cyclamen add a touch of colour

The bigger more flamboyant Cyclamen make wonderful houseplants, but be aware they don't like being too warm or too wet, so don't stand them close to a warm radiator or over water them.

Cyclamen make a lovely house plant.

I've potted up a varigated salmon pink Pelagonium to take to Chris at the end of the week.   He helped me propagate them years ago.   Now he has his own  cottage I thought it would be nice for him to have one to brighten a windowsill in winter.   He can have more as I propagate more next year.   I want to try growing Agapanthas from seed too.   I have promised some to Sarah if they grow as she will one day, no doubt, have a place of her own....they are easy to look after and usually flourish with almost no attention at all.

In every gardener there is a child who believes in The Seed Fairy. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

I must repot my hostas too.   They did really badly this year.   The slugs got them.  They will recover, I hope, if I repot and move them to a better location.   Next season I will treat the pots with nematodes.

There is still much to do...all in good time.   A little and regularly is the only way I can manage it. Jonah has started to help in the garden.   On Friday he 'helped' me plant miniature daffodil bulbs and then he planted Thomas his Train Engine.   He is trying to say the names of plants.   He likes the starry Asters.   Leah usually comes to help too but she was engrossed in playing with her little toy farm.   Both of them love to smell the herbs and the lavender.  She is already very good with the names of the plants in the garden.   I think it is how it all starts.   It is fun to see things grow.

Why try to explain miracles to your kids when you can just have them plant a garden. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

Some I was given recently, aren't they wonderful!

That's all for now...chat to you again sometime soon.   Have a great week!