Autumn is a-comin'

So:

• The carrot wine is bottled 
• Elder tree has been stripped of berries (not by me!)
• The log store framework is underway
• Hazelnuts have been collected
• The borders are almost tidy
• Compost pile no. 2 is breaking down nicely
• No sign of the rocket or spinach I planted
• Rabbits are trying to dig back into the wild area at the top of the garden
• Pumpkin fruit have been de-cluttered

Carrot wine
After a little taster and the addition of a tad more sugar the wine is bottled and sitting in the rack ready for Christmas.  It's a little sweet for my taste, but it would have been too sharp without the additional sugar. But wow, does it have a kick!  The difficulty now is keeping my hands off it until Christmas, although hiding it in the cupboard under the stairs does help.

       

Elderberries
Unfortunately for me, my elder tree produced most of its berries on the side that overhangs my neighbours garden. Fortunately for me, I have lovely neighbours and they were happy for me to pop round anytime and pick the berries.  Unfortunately for me, by the time I got round there early last week, the tree had been picked clean already............by the birds! Not to worry, a short trip this weekend to nearby Respryn with my neighbour Sue and her two girls brought in great rewards with 5 freezer bags full (just over 6lbs) of elderberries.  Just some large bags of sugar required and I'll be starting it later this week.

I've also been keeping an eye on the sloes in the hedgerow at work; they're in abundance this year.  I know you're supposed to wait until there's been a frost before you pick them but, to be honest, we don't tend to get frosts down here until later in winter so I'm just going to wait until they feel soft and I'll pick them; not for sloe gin, but to have a go at sloe wine.  There's also a recipe in my CJJ Berry book that says 2/3 elderberry and 1/3 sloe makes a good wine - possibly 6 bottles of elderberry and 6 of elderberry & sloe wine this year then?



Log store
I've had some much appreciated help from Sue's husband this past week, in getting the log store underway. A couple of weekends ago, I started by clearing, levelling (which also included removing enough soil to fill 7 wheelbarrows) and compacting the ground only to then remember that I'd lent my saw to a friend and couldn't proceed with installing the support posts.  In steps Carl with his trusty saw, hammer and nails and up go the posts and 2/3 of the roof.  There's only the side slats to put in - I'll be using the wood left over from when the fence was cut down earlier this year - and a cover for the front to be found (I'm thinking along the lines of heavy tarpaulin) and it'll be finished. Hurray!

Hazelnuts
Well I've managed to get enough to make what I call my 'winter cookies' this year; the filling is white chocolate, cranberry and hazelnuts.  It's popular amongst family and friends.  If I remember I'll post the recipe when I make them. Thankfully, the strong winds of the last week have helped by shedding loads of nuts into the garden; saving me the trouble of having to reach up into the trees in my hedge to try and get at those 'just out of reach' ones.  There's about 12oz (340gms) in the dish so far; I'd like to get a full 1lb (450gms) if I can.....just a few more windy days might help.

Border plants
I've been far too ashamed to show any images of my lawn borders recently; for fear of being accused of cruelty to plants or neglecting my gardening duties. So the last couple of weeks, I've been out after work on the odd pleasant evening and tidied them up.  The Forget-Me-Nots have gone mad this year and it's about time they were replaced with something less invasive, so I've been clearing them out (I know I won't get them all this year) to make space for something with an autumn/winter interest. I've also been dead-heading the Siddalcea, the Herb Marsh Mallows and the Glory-of-the-Snow but left the seed heads of the Alliums on for a little longer; I rather enjoy the silvery grey colour in the garden this time of year.

Weeding has been a big problem as the weather's been ideal for weeds and I've struggled to keep on top of it. But I'm finally managing to get around the borders one bit at a time. I'm using the last of the compost from Pile no. 1 as a layer of mulch on top of the border soil; I hope it will help to keep them down. Talking of compost........

Compost
Pile no. 2 is breaking down nicely; I bought an 'activator' to help speed up the process and it's worked a treat - just wish I could remember the name of it now!  Once I've used the rest of Pile no. 1 on the borders I'll be starting it over again.  There's still a couple of bags of horse manure that have been breaking down for 12 months and they'll go on the raised veg beds soon enough.  Should all help towards a good growing season next year.

Rocket and spinach
Of which there has not been a peep! Maybe I did leave it a little too late to plant the seeds, but I was hoping for at least some small leaves around now.  Never mind, keeping a record of things like this will help me to do better next time.

Those damn 'wabbits'
Ok so some of it's my fault, I haven't managed to get up the top of the garden and strim away the rest of the overgrown area.  As a result, on taking a walk up there the other evening I discovered a freshly dug hole in the ground. Now it was heading towards the hedge and my neighbour's garden on the other side (not Sue and Carl's garden) so I didn't feel too bad about digging it back in as there's probably other entrances on his side of the garden.  But it does mean that if we get a dry evening this week (not looking hopeful I have to say) then I'm going to have to get up there with the strimmer and clear it down to the ground and check for other potential 'digs'.  Oh, and I'll be having a serious word with Jasper as well - obviously not the great rabbit killer he made himself out to be last year!

Pumpkins
These have developed around 6 small fruit and there are still some flowers developing.  So, I've taken all but two fruits off so far and raised them above the ground to prevent them from rotting.  The plant will need to be helped along with some tomato feed now.  The mildew (see previous post 'Future fruits' dated 28th August)  that appeared on some leaves doesn't seem to have spread since I sprayed with the mixture of Bicarbonate of Soda and water, so fingers crossed...........!

Out and about

It was a lovely week last week - despite the weather!  Firstly a bit of work news.  I've mentioned in previous blogs a little bit about the dementia project I'm involved with.  Well one or two activities at least.  The great news is that we now have a date to start work on redeveloping the garden at the care home; it's an essential element to the project.  The project's aim is to reconnect people with dementia, living in a care home, with their local community.  We're using outdoor environments to do this; in particular enhancing the garden at the home so that it not only provides for the needs of the residents, care staff and relatives but also so that it can provide a great space for community events and activities.   It all starts on the 25th of this month and I can't wait!!!  I'll keep making notes of it's progress on my blog so if anyone's interested keep an eye out for future updates.

Okay, moving away from work, I'm still not getting much done in the garden at the moment. It's still too dark for me to do anything during the week and this weekend's weather hasn't been helpful either. So on Saturday I visited Heligan Gardens; The Lost Gardens of Heligan, to give it it's proper name.  I have a real soft spot for Heligan.  I was initially based there when I came to Cornwall 17 years ago to work as a volunteer for the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV).  After two years of learning practical skills and running conservation holidays I was at a point where I needed to get paid employment and Heligan came to the rescue.  They offered me a job there and I began in the office before taking over organising and facilitating educational visits for schools and other educational establishments.

The Woodland Walk; a gentle giant awakes!

It isn't just the story behind the house and gardens that captures my heart with Heligan; it somehow has the ability to ease away my worries and make dark times seem easier to deal with. Maybe it's because there are so many different areas and each has an ability to provide for my needs on each visit.  The walled gardens (Vegetable, Melon Yard, Flower and Sundial) offer inspiration for my own garden.  The Jungle and Lost Valley provide areas for contemplation and places where you can just go to clear your head.  The Italian Garden, Woodland Walk, Northern Garden and Flora's Green are all places that are just a joy to be in. It's good for the soul, as they say.

Perhaps some of this is to do with the fact that I have a Witch Hazel, which is of great personal significance to me, planted in the Jungle Garden .  Every year I go and see how it's doing and to take photos of it, followed by an enjoyable, relaxing stroll around the various garden areas.  When one of my friends saw these photos she said it looked like it was singing it's heart out - what a wonderful expression!

the glorious flowers of my Witch Hazel

my Witch Hazel in full bloom

This visit I headed for the Jungle first, then up to the wildlife centre where you can watch the birds feeding, use cameras to see view further afield or watch the latest video footage of nesting birds or rare 'visitors'.  A stroll through the Italian Garden before heading up through the Melon Yard and Vegetable Garden and my therapy session was complete.

And finally yesterday I went for a walk with Sue, my next door neighbour and her two children; the other members of the Tywardreath Highway Gardening Team (see October 2010 blog 'Sunday Sunshine' and December 2010 blog 'Holly and Ivy').  We decided to re-visit the walk in the Luxulyan Valley, near the viaduct.  At which point the rain decided to arrive earlier than expected and accompany us on our walk. Typical!

The waterfall, December 2010

Last time on the walk, it was cold and icy but the sun was out; the leats were full and were feeding the man-made waterfall where it tumbled over the edge, spraying our faces as it hit the bottom.  This time, the sluice gate at the viaduct was open and the water trickled along the leats in a lazy fashion; the waterfall reduced to a small flow.

The waterfall January 2011

Our wellies made sucking sounds in the mud (thankfully no-one ended up face down in the mud; nearly - but not quite!) and the wind constantly whipped our hoods off our heads but nothing could detract from an enjoyable morning spent walking in the woods.

mud, mud, glorious mud!

You have to watch your step!

water runs through the sluice to join the river below

Like I said, it's been a lovely week. But my fingers are crossed for some better weather soon and a chance for the earth to dry out a little - I miss digging in my garden!

Holly and Ivy

Blimey, no blog for over 3 weeks!  Where has the time gone? I mean, I know what I've been doing but are we really only a week away from Christmas?

I've spent the last couple of weekends walking in woods collecting anything on the ground that I could use for a Christmas-themed activity for people with dementia.  So I've been going out and coming back with bags of ivy, holly, berries, cones, conifer leaves.  I had to buy mistletoe from the garden centre (well everyone's entitled to a little peck at Christmas!) and ribbon, cranberries and other bits and pieces from the shop but everything else was outdoors.  The idea being that we were going to make outdoor Christmas decorations together of stars, wreaths and garlands and food garlands for the birds. .  I say "were" because I've just spent the last week off work with the flu and had to cancel the activity - great timing!

Still the walks were lovely; I wandered first through Kingswood near Pentewan where you can usually guarantee finding broken conifer branches lying on the ground close to the entrance.  It's a steep-sided wood with plenty of tracks that you can choose to go exploring off the main hard path.  You have to be observant when picking things up though; it's a popular dog-walking area and there's always a few dog owners who give everyone a bad name by not picking up the dog mess!  Then the following week I drove up to the viaduct in the Luxulyan Valley, taking the other two members of the Tywardreath Gardening Team with me, where we wandered along through the wood finding lots of fallen berries, moss-covered wood and whole 'ropes' of ivy hanging from the trees.  Luxulyan Valley is a World Heritage Site due to the industrial remains of a copper mine owned by Joseph Treffy in the 1800s.  You can follow the old leats and find hidden man-made waterfalls and mysterious machinery parts throughout the woods.  Enough of the history, here are some photos I took along both walks.

main route through Kingswood

off the beaten track - Kingswood

Aaah, good sign of a cold winter!

Luxulyan Valley - top level walk from the viaduct

No toe-dipping this time of year!

end of the man made watercourse

 

Python? in Cornwall?? Just an odd-shaped fallen branch caught up in the trees.........................or is it?!

Work has been busy this month but we've managed to fit in the annual Christmas sing-song in the office,  and a day for our Sensory Trust team to have our own Christmas 'party'.  This year we all got together at a colleague's house and made lots (and I means LOTS) of gingerbread shapes to give out to people we've enjoyed working with this year.  Various offspring came and joined in too and together we rolled out the dough, made shapes (including several crocodiles, a goat, a sheep and a Phoenix bird!), baked and went completely mad with icing pens, silver balls and chocolate and candy decorations.  Great fun!  You can see some images on our work's Facebook page if you're interested.

Thankfully the bout of flu finally dissipated this weekend and I spent a lovely afternoon in the garden yesterday.  We've only a smattering of snow here so I was able to get up into the field and cut some logs in the sunshine before collapsing back on the sofa with the realisation that perhaps I'm not quite back to full health just yet and that I really ought to get a good bow saw as soon as possible!

This isn't snow that's leftover; this is as much as we've had so far

Evidential footprints; rabbits have been eyeing up my apples trees!

at least there's food for the birds

one single, tiny Cinquefoil growing on the path caught my eye

Today I went for a walk in the nearby woods that are at the opposite end of Luxulyan Valley to the viaduct, following a route that follows an old railway track (there's that industrial heritage again!) through the woods and out along by the river and local railway line.  There's a lot to see in the Luxulyan Valley; if you've never visited you should next time you're in Cornwall.

by foot, by boat, by train 

old railway line now provides a route for walkers

                                         

                                                    old railway route passes underneath Par - Newquay branch line

coming out of the woods to the riverside walk

Anyway, the walk must've done me a lot of good because I've had more energy today.  I don't think I could've coped with the 'bird' incident otherwise. Oh yes, Jasper the Giant Killer went out to hone his ninja stalking skills and came back dragging a live bird through both cat flaps and into the kitchen.  The poor thing, a female blackbird, was dragged in shrieking and flapping.  She managed to get away from him and fly from the kitchen through the living room to rest on top of the curtain poles, having left a series of, well lets just say 'messages' across the floor, on my sofa and all down the curtains!  Nice!

Jasper was promptly removed (whilst he was still trying to get various feathers from around his mouth) and my next door neighbour, whose over 6 ft and very handy at getting things that I can't reach, was equally promptly fetched to catch the bird.  Thankfully, it wasn't hurt and was swiftly released over the fence outside whilst Jasper looked on confused and wondering why the early Christmas present had been rejected!

Having washed the curtains, I've spent the afternoon baking.  Home made presents for the neighbours as well as biscuits and chocolates for Christmas, although I may have to make more because the white chocolate, cranberry and roasted hazelnut cookies are mighty fine if I say so myself.  Thankfully the chocolate isn't yet set enough for me to make the Cointreau truffles, otherwise it's highly likely that they won't last until next weekend either!   It's all Quality Control, honest!

I'm spending Christmas at home in Cornwall this year, with various friends and then hope to see the family before, or after, New Year; depending on the weather.   Wherever you're spending your Christmas and New Year I hope it's with good people, good food and the odd tipple of something warming and I hope you spend this festive time sharing laughter and memories and making many more new ones!

Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year xx