Playing "guess what month it is"

You and I know that it's November, there's been frost overnight and the garden should look like this - covered in fallen leaves, berries bright on the mountain ash and pyracantha - but the garden doesn't. In fact it seems to have no idea what time of year it is at all.


















Bright sunny days seem to be keeping the summer flowers going. Antirrhimuns and campanulas ...









clematis

love in a mist

nothing can stop the continued spread of these nasturtiums

and even an oriental poppy has suddenly burst back into flower!











On the other hand, winter is definitely here with jasmine flowering round the kitchen window ...

... and a couple of polyanthus seem to think Spring is on the way.

Picked this week - 26th October 2014

 For a while, I thought this was going to be a lean week - the tomatoes, peppers, cucumber and courgette above were all hubby brought home from a mid-week trip to the allotment...

fortunately we both went down on Saturday...

 more soft fruit..

 a bunch of spinach and american land cress

 another courgette, a bit small but I'd sooner pull it than it get frosted

 clearing more tomato plants

 tiny cabbage and equally tiny handful of broccoli

 better luck with radishes

a mix of various beans and peas

and this week's flowering 'weeds' - verbena bonariensis and love in a mist

Picked this week

It rained so many days last week that I thought that this might be all we could get to pick, but Friday was lovely and sunny so we managed to get a 'few' more things...

more raspberries, a couple of blackberries and strawberries







 mouldy peas

 Clearing the greenhouses so ... green tomatoes

 small peppers...

 red tomatoes....

 chillies and jalapeno






 baby-sized cucumber and courgette from the cold frame





 spinach and a few kale leaves







radishes

and a brief trip on Sunday, when this mixed batch of veg were found while digging up weeds



 and a couple of tiny cabbages were picked

and a few allotment 'weeds' - love in a mist and feverfew

Growing all on their own....

 In between all the rows of deliberately planted veg at the allotment there's always some that managed to grow all on their own....

we've found a clump of beetroot that have produced at least one reasonable sized root

 this unknown brassica - probably a cabbage

 half a dozen plant of American Land Cress

 Another brassica  and a 'wild' potato. On the bottom right are the radish seedlings that should be growing there

And there are unexpected flowers too - love in a mist has taken over this 'died-off' pea row

and in lots of places we've found verbena bonariensis which we've lifted and taken home

A Vase of Weeds

No matter what I do, some plants always insist on growing in the wrong places 

and sometimes they're beautiful flowers!

So instead of just throwing my 'weeds' in the compost bin, I've brought them inside.

February in the garden - flowers

At first glance the garden isn't looking to exciting this month but look closely and the signs of Spring are there.

Snowdrops are waiting to burst into flower any day now with some more sunshine.


The first crocus are peeping through the weeds

The polyanthus have flowered well for most of winter





though something, possibly birds though could be mice, has been eating this pink one.

another all-winter flowerer, the winter jasmine is starting to look bedraggled











as is the hollyhock. I'm hoping this will survive any cold weather still to come and grow to the upstairs windows in summer.

and the oriental poppy is trying, again!, to flower.

More usual signs of Spring are the first flowers on the bergenia

buds on wallflowers

and a solitary pansy

Spring definitely feels like it's on the way - though Groundhog Day/ Candlemas was sunny bright so we should be in for more wintery weather yet.