December veggies

The veg patch is a complete soggy weedy mess that I have no inclination to work in or clear up right now. However it's still productive and I shall attack and clear the dead sunflowers and chickweed lawn in the new year (before passing over to my digging machine, aka my OH, to get it prepared for next season's planting).

I still have salad veggies - spring onions, beetroot, Chinese leaves/cabbage (although that's looking a bit the worse for wear after -4C last week) and rocket, which is still merrily flowering despite -4C last week! I'm quite surprised by that actually.

As for the usual winter veggies, I have purple curly kale which isn't as big as it could be, but there's enough of it and pointless having too much like I had last year. The PSB isn't very big and really needs better staking as it keeps blowing over in the wind, but I feel very bleugh right now regarding gardening so it may just have to grow at a 45 degree angle. My leeks however are disappointing for the first time in 8 years here. I sow seed direct in the spring then transplant them in the summer just as I always have done - by this stage they are usually much larger than the pencil thickness which is recommended - some of mine are more like chunky marker pens! However they just didn't grow much after transplanting, which may have something to do with the 2 month dry period which followed. Then again, we always have a dry period..... so I don't know. Suffice to say we have not yet eaten any leeks as just harvesting enough for a leek risotto would probably need the majority of my autumn leeks which are still small. The winter variety have grown a bit better.

Chillies looked like this when we came back from our trip to the UK, so whilst they'd survived mild frosts with temps above freezing, they weren't happy with temps of zero C! The background here is of dead marigolds and sunflowers - and happily thriving weeds!

Frosted chillies - I don't need them as I already harvested plenty

Rocket flowers with leeks in the background

Frozen rocket leaves - they survived!

Pathetic leeks. Left two rows are 'Bleu d'Hiver' which have grown
better than the autumn leeks 'Prizetaker' on the right.

They have been better as photographic subjects!

Chinese Leaves looking a bit frosty

Purple Curly Kale

This kind of kale also makes a great subject to photograph when covered in drops of rain.

This is my wildflower meadow after I'd cut back or pulled out all the dead growth, mostly annuals. There are plenty of biennial or perennial plants here which I'll be leaving in place to see what happens next year. I think I spot one Honesty which I am pleased about, various things I can't identify and quite a lot of what looks like Centaurea montana. There are also two Foxgloves which is rather amusing, as I weed them out all over my flower gardens - however they just might be white which would be great, as I only have pink ones.

Wildflower meadow.
When I know what these plants are, I'll be able to transplant anything
that I like to other parts of the garden.

Look! Something still flowering! (I don't know what it is)

Beetroot leaves - the chickens love these.
They are edible for us humans too.

Chunky Beetroot Soup
Only had time to take a quick snap at the last moment so that's why I've cropped
out all the background!

There's only one slight problem - I still haven't planted my garlic yet!!!
 

Autumn colours

A final catch-up post for November so that I have a record here of a whole year in the life of my garden. I can't believe it's just over a year since I started this blog, so I'd like to thank everyone who has ever looked in, commented, or followed my blog - it's really appreciated!

At the beginning of November the trees around my lake were hardly even changing colour, whereas many of the shrubs and trees elsewhere were already colouring up beautifully. For some trees and shrubs the colour seems to last for ages; for others it is fleeting and to be enjoyed in all its glory whilst it lasts.

1st November, some leaf fall but not much colour change

Smokebushes are fantastic shrubs for autumn colour - not only do they have great leaf colour anyway but in autumn they really come into their own for a final fiery display.

Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple' turning a lovely red colour

I usually just call this plant 'Purple Smokebush'

Coloured bark Dogwoods have lovely autumn colours too before losing their leaves and then really coming into their own for their lovely winter display of coloured bark. It's a shame I had to remove a large dogwood with red stems but it had outgrown its place; however my orange stemmed one remains. Here it is as a background to a Blue Tit at a feeder that I can't resist sneaking into this post!

Cornus sanguinea 'Winter Flame'

The Liquidambar tree is late colouring up but is late to come into leaf in the spring. This tree still had a few colourful leaves lasting into early December.

Liquidambar looking great

A close-up of the leaves showing the amazing different colours all at the same time

Spirea japonica 'Goldflame' ends the season with beautiful bright red tints.

Spirea japonica 'Goldflame'

My little evergreen Abelia has pretty leaf colour all year round but looks particularly pretty in the autumn, although the tiny flowers aren't that noticeable unless you get down close to it!

Abelia - think this is 'Kaleidoscope'

The other Smokebush that I have which I think is called 'Golden Spirit' turns from lime green to spectacular shades of orange and red. Here it is on the 3rd November.

Cotinus coggygria 'Golden Spirit'.
Taken with flash turned on
to show the colours against a dark background.

Without flash

In sunshine it just glows

6th November - leaves turning colour

Below are: top middle and right are Sycamores; top left is a Horse Chestnut; middle peeking out behind the conifer is the Liquidambar; bottom left is the Dogwood 'Winter Flame' and behind the bird feeder is the Smokebush 'Golden Spirit'.

Various trees and shrubs 12th November

The picture below shows on the left: an ornamental Cherry, which sadly never has many leaves at the best of times and is rather straggly, which is such a shame as those leaves turn an amazing orange colour! On the right, a Lime tree (Tilia) and right foreground, my Purple Smokebush.

Garden and lake 12th November

When we arrived in England mid November we were rather surprised as there were far fewer leaves on the trees and autumn seemed far more advanced than here; however by the time we returned at end of November there was hardly a leaf left on a tree here! How quickly it all changes.

Meet Hallie

Our new kitten! She certainly came to us at the right time with all that happened afterwards with poor Smokey.

She 'found' us a week before we went on hols to England. She was sitting on the windowsill outside our kitchen, mewing. Tried to ignore her but when I went into the cellar/laundry, next thing she was outside the catflap crying. I could see she was only little so opened the door and in she shot, just a wee mite who was really friendly and inquisitive and just wanted cuddles. She looked lost but in good health but given her age we gave her some food which she wolfed down ravenously. We then decided we'd keep her inside overnight then take her to the vet in the morning to see if she had a microchip or tattoo to ID her. We also called around several neighbours to see if they knew of anyone round about with a black kitten but no luck. So after much wondering where to put her we eventually shut her in our large downstairs bathroom with food and a spare litter tray. Smokey knew something was up and didnt seem too happy!

As imagined she had no ID and sadly in France it is all too common for 'pets' to be abandoned so nobody seemed that surprised. The vets told us to go to the Mairie (Town Hall) as they should deal with all lost or abandoned cats and dogs. The woman there told us the SPA (animal protection society) only dealt with dogs and that there were no refuges for lost cats (I knew she was talking rot but she stood her ground).

So back home came the little kitty whilst we searched the Yellow Pages and tried several refuges, only to either have a message saying 'the Voice Mail is full', or 'check our website and leave us a msg there'. One did answer the phone and told us that every Mairie has a legal obligation to deal with lost cats and dogs and must have an official refuge they deal with for this purpose (I knew that woman at our Mairie was talking rubbish!). What to do? Well as you can imagine, by this time we were growing more and more attached to the little mite and as she'd managed to escape the bathroom many times and had even met Smokey, who only really hissed at her once, we decided to let her out to the rest of the house and see how it went.

Our resolve to try to find a refuge waned. We started thinking abut kitty vaccinations, worming, toys, all those kitten things we'd kept since we last had a kitten (Smokey) 13 years ago, oh and we'd need some kitty food as she couldn't eat all his 'Obesity Management'!

She's now official, microchipped, vaccinated, has a pet passport and a name. She's grown a lot in about 5 weeks and alternates between being a little terror and a little angel. I guess that's kittens for you!

I can't get any really good photos of her because I need more light to get shots without flash, and with flash she half closes her eyes, or you get cat 'green eye' which human 'red eye' correction doesn't work on!

My usual evening slob in front of telly position with blankie, pillow and cat(s).....

Smokey didn't seem to mind sharing his blankie with her

I love this one! She looks so tiny compared to my OH!

The following photos were taken after coming back - her size difference isn't really noticeable in photos but before I could pick her up with one hand and now she needs two.

She is actually saying "please don't shine that horrid
flash in my eyes" whilst also grabbing my camera strap to get even!

And then she became even more fixated with water so I'm mostly having to keep her out of the bathroom now.....

Last night I let her play in the basin a bit but as she'd put her head under the tap and got rather wet I thought it was time to stop. Put her on the ground, wiped her head and then a nano-second later she was on the side of the bath about to jump into the basin again when she slipped and managed to scratch my finger whilst falling down, drawing blood again! Oh well at least she is not doing it on purpose, but with a kitten it's hard not to get scratched so the antiseptic is always on hand at the moment!

I'm sure you'll be seeing plenty more photos of her, and who knows, we may even add to the family next summer with a teeny weeny kitten.... we'll see. :-)