Oh dear, the mornings are so much darker now as we wait for Dan's school bus in the gloom. At least these days we can watch from the house instead of driving a mile up the track to the main road and waiting in the car like we did at the last house! I always find it takes much more effort to get up in the winter when dark. The way I feel at the moment I could stay in bed all day, David still isn't well and coughing all night, so neither of us have had any sleep for four or five nights now, not good.
This will probably be the last week of cut flowers from the nursery gardens then I'll move onto to seasonal berries and evergreens and it's been fantastic to get flowers so late into autumn. Because I had a half day on Wednesday I did another lot of odd jobs in the nursery and office. I put away the outdoor furniture for winter, cleared the herb table (the herbs will go to the tunnel with the rest of their batches for winter), the unsold annuals went to the compost heap and plants that need some winter cover to the workshop tunnel, whew! I headed home for some lunch then took David to the doctor to see if there is anything can be done for this awful cold he has had for the past week. It's not like him to be so ill and in the end he spent four days in bed! Turns out it's a virus and he'll have to keep it until it goes. The rest of the afternoon was spent doing household tasks and cooking a roast chicken dinner, my fav, especially nice as I roasted the tatties in with the chicken, yum. There was noting left so I guess it was a hit.
After the calm weather we have had recently, Thursday blew in with strong winds, taking a lot of leaves off the trees with it. I hope there are some left to photograph when I'm off next week. The nursery now has a carpet of leaves over the sales area and track and it's all suddenly looking very autumnal. The wind brought a drop in temperature too and I spent most of the day catching up on paperwork and planning for winter with my nice big heater on. I did start the stock take and managed to get all the grasses and Persicarias done which was so much easier this year now they have all been re-potted, sorted and are in neat rows and batches.
I bought some lovely bright squash and a pumpkin form Whitmuir earlier in the week to do a wee seasonal photo shoot with. I finally got it all put together on Thursday afternoon and here are the results, it was fun to do and I'm really pleased with the results. The pumpkin will be carved by Dan, the squashes become soup and the chocolate eyeballs and toffee apples will go to the lads in the house or any guisers that come to the door. Nothing is wasted and I get to have some photography fun.
On Friday I had Jo helping me, she's hoping to volunteer at the nursery on a regular basis to get some practical experience to go along with the course she is doing at Edinburgh Botanic Garden. She was a great help and we got lots done, starting with clearing the alpine table and putting them on a trolley to go to the tunnel, then moving the winter bedding to the table and putting more trolleys and trays away for winter. In the afternoon we got on with more stock taking, managing to get all the shade plants and all the general stock beds done! That's a huge chunk of it done, way before I was anticipating, yeh! You can read her beautiful blog here Edinburgh Garden Diary
The main task for me on Saturday was to get the tunnel winter ready and finish off any tasks in there. It was amazingly warm and I ended up down to short sleeves as I weeded and made room for the alpines and herbs from the sales area. Keeping up the pace with stocktaking I got the whole tunnel done over the day, finishing up with watering and then covering tenders with several layers of fleece. That was a really good achieving day work wise but unfortunately we had to cancel our dinner date as David still wasn't well, so it was home for pizza, wine and a big box of chocolates.
Adam came with us to the nursery on Sunday and helped David get the last of the winter preparations done. They took apart the fountain, lifted in all the sale table labels, took down the bunting, roped the hurdles and took the shelves in the covered area into the office. I finished the stock take, yes I did, the whole nursery is now done, I really didn't expect to get that task done before we finished up this week. This means I can update the database, the website and do the return for the RHS Plantfinder, organised or what? The weather was lovely on Sunday, sunny, cool and no wind which made it pleasant for working outside and brought a few customers up too.
Monday and holidays, yeh! We've taken a couple of weeks off now its the quiet season for both businesses, we've got days out and quiet relaxing days planned, I can't wait. On Monday I took Poppy cat in to the vet for her operation. She is having an eye removed because it has become swollen, uncomfortable and she has no sight left in it.It will be sent away to check there are no tumours in it Once home I took Bracken for a walk up to the local village and back by the other road, our old four mile circuit. It was good to get out for a walk in the sun and warm enough to be in short sleeves and the autumn colour is still stunning. Once home it was on with domestic chores until I had to go and pick up Poppy and my glasses.
Tuesday was a gorgeous day, sunny with blue skies and not too cold. I had a lovely long lie before heading to Wishaw to pick eldest up from the train station and taking him to hospital for a check up on his arm. He's got a new plaster on and an appointment for four weeks to see the doctor. I treated him to lunch before dropping him back at the train station and heading home. Wanting to keep up with trying to walk the dog every day I am off, I headed to Biggar on the way home. We walked along the old railway line which is one of my favourite walks. It was great to make the most of the late afternoon sun and enjoy the views.
That's been my busy week, hope yours is going well and the weather is being kind, until the next time, take care.
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| This week's cafe flowers |
This will probably be the last week of cut flowers from the nursery gardens then I'll move onto to seasonal berries and evergreens and it's been fantastic to get flowers so late into autumn. Because I had a half day on Wednesday I did another lot of odd jobs in the nursery and office. I put away the outdoor furniture for winter, cleared the herb table (the herbs will go to the tunnel with the rest of their batches for winter), the unsold annuals went to the compost heap and plants that need some winter cover to the workshop tunnel, whew! I headed home for some lunch then took David to the doctor to see if there is anything can be done for this awful cold he has had for the past week. It's not like him to be so ill and in the end he spent four days in bed! Turns out it's a virus and he'll have to keep it until it goes. The rest of the afternoon was spent doing household tasks and cooking a roast chicken dinner, my fav, especially nice as I roasted the tatties in with the chicken, yum. There was noting left so I guess it was a hit.
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| Autumn sunshine along our road |
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| Thai curry in the making, I've been messing around with photography again, now work is a little less frantic |
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| The end result which was very tasty |
After the calm weather we have had recently, Thursday blew in with strong winds, taking a lot of leaves off the trees with it. I hope there are some left to photograph when I'm off next week. The nursery now has a carpet of leaves over the sales area and track and it's all suddenly looking very autumnal. The wind brought a drop in temperature too and I spent most of the day catching up on paperwork and planning for winter with my nice big heater on. I did start the stock take and managed to get all the grasses and Persicarias done which was so much easier this year now they have all been re-potted, sorted and are in neat rows and batches.
 |
| This was a fun photo shoot to do out in the garden |
I bought some lovely bright squash and a pumpkin form Whitmuir earlier in the week to do a wee seasonal photo shoot with. I finally got it all put together on Thursday afternoon and here are the results, it was fun to do and I'm really pleased with the results. The pumpkin will be carved by Dan, the squashes become soup and the chocolate eyeballs and toffee apples will go to the lads in the house or any guisers that come to the door. Nothing is wasted and I get to have some photography fun.
 |
| The last of my autumn Raspberries, "Autumn Bliss", very tasty too |
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| The Nasturtiums are still flowering, scrambling over everything in the back garden |
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| Leaves from the big beech tree at the end of the drive |
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| Those yummy raspberries again |
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| I love Nasturtiums, I've even remembered to save the seed this year, childhood memories of being fascinated at how the seeds fell into sections when you picked them |
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| Macro Raspeberry |
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| Birds eye view |
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| Chocolate eyeball view |
On Friday I had Jo helping me, she's hoping to volunteer at the nursery on a regular basis to get some practical experience to go along with the course she is doing at Edinburgh Botanic Garden. She was a great help and we got lots done, starting with clearing the alpine table and putting them on a trolley to go to the tunnel, then moving the winter bedding to the table and putting more trolleys and trays away for winter. In the afternoon we got on with more stock taking, managing to get all the shade plants and all the general stock beds done! That's a huge chunk of it done, way before I was anticipating, yeh! You can read her beautiful blog here Edinburgh Garden Diary
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| I found half a packet of heritage seed carrots and sowed them in a window box in the nursery, there werent' many but they were tasty |
The main task for me on Saturday was to get the tunnel winter ready and finish off any tasks in there. It was amazingly warm and I ended up down to short sleeves as I weeded and made room for the alpines and herbs from the sales area. Keeping up the pace with stocktaking I got the whole tunnel done over the day, finishing up with watering and then covering tenders with several layers of fleece. That was a really good achieving day work wise but unfortunately we had to cancel our dinner date as David still wasn't well, so it was home for pizza, wine and a big box of chocolates.
 |
| The Quirky bird in the poly tunnel |
Adam came with us to the nursery on Sunday and helped David get the last of the winter preparations done. They took apart the fountain, lifted in all the sale table labels, took down the bunting, roped the hurdles and took the shelves in the covered area into the office. I finished the stock take, yes I did, the whole nursery is now done, I really didn't expect to get that task done before we finished up this week. This means I can update the database, the website and do the return for the RHS Plantfinder, organised or what? The weather was lovely on Sunday, sunny, cool and no wind which made it pleasant for working outside and brought a few customers up too.
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| We don't need to go fr for autumn colour with this fine display at the bottom of our drive |
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| Looking along our road |
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| Holiday time, boots are looking forward to exploring |
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| Our chooks |
Monday and holidays, yeh! We've taken a couple of weeks off now its the quiet season for both businesses, we've got days out and quiet relaxing days planned, I can't wait. On Monday I took Poppy cat in to the vet for her operation. She is having an eye removed because it has become swollen, uncomfortable and she has no sight left in it.It will be sent away to check there are no tumours in it Once home I took Bracken for a walk up to the local village and back by the other road, our old four mile circuit. It was good to get out for a walk in the sun and warm enough to be in short sleeves and the autumn colour is still stunning. Once home it was on with domestic chores until I had to go and pick up Poppy and my glasses.
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| Moo to you too, a young calf on our walk |
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| Lovely views over the valley |
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| The birds have eaten all the rowan and hawthorn berries, but there are still lovely big jewel-like roe hips left |
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| Planting tulips in containers at home this week |
Tuesday was a gorgeous day, sunny with blue skies and not too cold. I had a lovely long lie before heading to Wishaw to pick eldest up from the train station and taking him to hospital for a check up on his arm. He's got a new plaster on and an appointment for four weeks to see the doctor. I treated him to lunch before dropping him back at the train station and heading home. Wanting to keep up with trying to walk the dog every day I am off, I headed to Biggar on the way home. We walked along the old railway line which is one of my favourite walks. It was great to make the most of the late afternoon sun and enjoy the views.
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| Views from the old railway line |
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| Bracken enjoying the autumn colours |
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| Great autumn colour |
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| It's been a perfect autumn so far |
That's been my busy week, hope yours is going well and the weather is being kind, until the next time, take care.
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Fantastic photos. I'm a huge fan of pumpkin compositions; yours are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThank you Agnieska :)
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