Saturday, 18 September 2010

Autumn preparations

Blue sky
Cloudy moment
The weather the past week or so has been a bit unpredictable - we have had some heavy rain and some beautiful sunny moments - often in the space of a few hours! Of one thing there is no doubt - Autumn is here.



Spiders' webs
Still flowering
We have been out in the garden this afternoon preparing for autumn - the grass has had its last cut of the year, the shrubs are pruned and the leaves that are on the grass have been picked up ready for the real downfall to begin. 




Hops - anyone for beer?
Blackberries
Most of the flowering is over for the year and there is an abundance of seeds and berries. I have been trying to persuade the bird population to take advantage of the fushia berries (and so create a new generation) but so far without much success. The annual hop crop of SE7 is in full swing.

Path rediscovered
At the far end of the garden (where the compost bins live) we discovered that a small landslide had covered the path. Rich dug it out again and I created a small retaining wall either side so hopefully there will be no more path incidents!

The problem is that the foxes spend a lot of time playing in that area - they are number one suspects in the path disappearance - but I think if the path can survive until a rainfall that should bed it in nicely.

 
King Frog
Most of the toads seem to have gone off to hide under dark damp places or wherever they go for the winter but the King Frog and his entourage are still around - and last weekend King Frog was out enjoying the sun.