The slow relentless march towards shorter evenings is well underway and the overnight dew is now a daily occurrence that drowns everything that is left outside. The washing can no longer be forgotten, everything has to be in at dusk. Slugs have re-emerged with renewed vigour ready to devour any young plant or unsuspecting tomato. I now have to go out into the greenhouse earlier each morning to surprise them as they retreat back to their various lairs, in order that I can protect the few tomatoes that might make full growth.

On Tuesday I was building a pergola in my back garden. This proved to be much more exciting than I could have imagined.

Firstly, as I set-up the vice and lined up the tools under a seeming blue sky, a scudding grey cloud emptied itself all over me and the materials. Looking to the heavens, I decided that the cloud was just passing and pressed on. By the fourth shower within 30 minutes, which were now getting harder, I de-camped to the sanctity of the greenhouse. No sooner had I started to work in there than the sun came out and heated it up such that it was unbearable to be in!

This stop / start arrangement continued for some time. Then the weather really got started. Thunder rolled, lightening clapped and it felt like the sky was about to fall in. This carried on for about two hours continuously with stronger winds blowing and the lightening looking like a damaged strip-light continuously flickering on and off.

And then as if by magic, it stopped.

I rushed out to put the wood in place and screw it together. The ground now was soggy enough that my ladder sunk into it. This made standing atop the ladder rather challenging. Then I heard a strange sound coming from my house. I marched into the house to find the smoke alarm was chirping for all its worth.

There was no smoke and nothing obviously wrong, but the alarm wouldn’t reset. I dismantled it just in time to see that it was now pouring with rain again and all my tools were outside. I dashed back to rescue the electric screwdriver from a soggy end.

Well the pergola is up now, and I just wait for the winter storms to do their worst.

I once had similar fun and games building a set for a production of “Fiddler on the Roof”. On that occasion part of the set sadly collapsed, so I hope my latest creation lasts a bit longer! 

Successful winter planting

I’ve always wanted to be a self-sufficient gardener. I created a vegetable plot for just this purpose and this year I have almost managed to be self-sufficient for the whole of the summer. If we didn’t like culinary variety we could have lived happily on potatoes, courgettes, onions and beans.

What I have never managed to do is grow proper vegetables through the winter to start the self-sufficiency earlier in Spring. This year I am determined to make a success of it, but no sooner had I planted out several decent broccoli plants than several were reduced to matchsticks by the slug population.

I am so glad that I don’t have to live by my vegetables alone as I would be a very hungry person most of the time. I would potentially have to resort to eating the slugs that ate my vegetables to get my necessary nutrition. 

I recognise that high pitched call!

It has been really nice to see our resident kingfisher more this week. They really are one of the most beautiful creatures in the countryside. Our garden is sited between a large lake, a large pond and two streams and therefore the kingfisher is regularly whizzing by from one habitat to another. We have finally managed to recognise its call and see it when it flies by.

Spending a decent amount of time in the garden makes me realise just how much is there that I normally miss. 

What do you think of my camouflage?

The picture at the top of the blog is of a Brimstone Moth. It does not look very camouflaged when photographed on the wall as above, but when it is sitting on the wilted vegetables it is pretty much invisible. This one took a particular liking to my t-shirt and so I was able to guide it to a place I could photograph it.

There are many creatures in our garden that are particularly good at being camouflaged. Each time we pick up a pile of weeds or dig out a vegetable we find a hidden toad, a jumping frog, a coiled snake or one of many types of butterfly or moth.

Watching this, one of our cats has come up with a new style of ambush. Having succeeded in catching squirrels by chasing them from the bird feeders, he has now decided that he is invisible when sitting up in the branches of trees and he can grab them as they jog by. I have now seen him twice nearly fall out of the tree in trying this tactic. The trees in question are 20ft high and over the stream so falling out of them would be catastrophic, (excuse the pun). But he very nearly succeeded in grabbing one on Wednesday so he obviously thinks the risk is worth the reward.

This particular time I was picking damsons up a ladder when I was surprised by the cat sitting up there. I nearly fell off the ladder when he appeared in my face.

Good to be alive

Although the weather has been somewhat dramatic this week, my wife and I sat out on Tuesday evening and enjoyed the sheer majesty of it. We had hundreds of birds flying above us like a swarm of insects and yesterday evening we had three owls all hooting at each other. This time of year is very special and our country really does have so much to offer if you go out and find it.

New slot on the blog

From this week I am starting a new slot on the blog. I am starting to publish weird pictures of things in the garden to get people to guess what they are (see below).

It is just for a bit of fun but there are five pictures of things in my garden that are not easily recognised (or are they). I will publish a different set of pictures each week.

If you would like to know what they are please see below to register. Once registered I will send out the answers each Saturday morning. You only register once and it only takes a minute.

I would like some feed-back as to how hard the pictures are to recognise and whether this is something people enjoy.

Have a good weekend!

If you liked this post then please use the 'I like this page' button to give me feed-back.

Why not register your email address to get notified of updates and get the answers to any questions that have appeared in this blog. Visit the Register for Updates page for instructions.

Alternatively, please make a comment (no names or locations please), but be aware that everyone will see it. Please do not write anything abusive if you don’t like this, just vote with your feet.