13th November 2004
The Harvest is Over
The winter frosts are not very far away, but the garden still looks very green and active. The bean plants still stand as a monument to their great harvest and the sunflowers are leaning precariously, pulled down by the weight of their great heads. There is nothing left to harvest, so the garden will be left to wind down. The beans will be taken down in December.
Some Plants Refuse To Give Up
Mr S.'s favourites, the nasturtiums, have not yet realised that it is cold outside, and are still carrying on with their plan to take over the whole of the garden (and looking great!). Apart from Mr S., there is only one thing that can stop them - the frost. They don't like it. Will it arrive in time before we are all engulfed in a sea of nasturtiums?
What's This Then?
The Mini-Garden Hippo, seen here in his usual place, inspects some keen young egg-plants that are growing on his tree stump.
It Could Be The Amazon...?
You would have thought that this photo of the Mini-Garden Hippo and his stump was taken in the young summertime, looking at the forest that surrounds him.
Natural Recycling
The compost heap has been doing well, rotting down a huge amount of cuttings from the garden, old fruit, banana skins and apple cores from the school children, and anything else that we could find to throw on it. Just think - if it had not rotted down, there would probably be a pile of organic stuff here the size of a small classroom!
This Is Good Stuff!
Mr S. worked hard to take off the unrotted top layer to reveal the nicely rotted bottom layer below. Some of this was used when planting up the new pond area (see next section). The rest will be used next spring to dig into the vegetable patch.
Cream Cakes For the Plants
It may not look very nice to us, but it is wonderful stuff for the plants. It is always important to put nutrients back in to the soil, as we take them away when we harvest the plants. They need good compost to help them grow well, just like we need good food to help us grow properly. Whilst you'll enjoy a cream cake, the plants will 'enjoy' a dollop of well-rotted organic matter.
How You've Grown!
Do you remember that Horse-Chestnut bud at the beginning of the year? Well, if you look carefully at the bottom branch, roughly in the middle, you'll see a line showing where it was. There are other little buds just to the left of it, waiting to burst out next year.
What I Did This Year...
This is how big it has grown! From the left, in front of the red door, right along to the top right of the photograph. All in one year! It now has another huge, sticky bud at the end of it, waiting to explode into growth next year and make the branch even longer. If it carried on, it would be a huge branch in the future.
