Imitation is the greatest form of Flattery.

Rudbeckia, Bergamot, Echinacea, Tansy and Dianthus. This weeks flowers.

A month ago we paid a visit to the Organic Centre in Co. Leitrim, we were very impressed with how much the centre had improved since our last visit,

Garden seat at the Organic centre.

we were also smitten by a rustic seat in one of the poly tunnels, definitely something for a new project, the only problem was where to obtain suitable wood. A visit to a friends place at the weekend solved the problem, she and her son had been very busy maintaining their ash hedgerows and were only too willing to let us have five pieces of ash two to four inches in width. To cut up small diameter pieces of wood takes quite a lot of time in relation to the heat that it would have provided. So we came away with the basic materials to make the seat. I, in exchange, will provided her with cuttings from my garden as she is trying to develop a flower garden.

Our new garden seat.

The seat has worked out beautifully at a cost of fourteen euros, and four hours work. The seat part is made from split posts at a cost of six euros and the screws were eight euros, why are screws so expensive? All we have to do now is a coat of wood preservative and  decide where we want it.
It seems just a few weeks ago that we were harvesting the garlic and onions and already the time is approaching for planting next years crops. I don't think we will  bother with onions outside this coming year, they all suffered badly with thick neck and I ended up having to slice and freeze them, plus we seem to have every crow and jackdaw living on our land, they have removed every one of the leeks and feasted on the young spinach and turnips. The leaks and seedlings have now got cloches over them until they are established. The new plants that I had ordered arrive the day after ordering them and I duly planted them, complete with labels, ( I often forget what a plant is called). Every day since planting  I have found the labels removed, every day I have replanted them, I had blamed one of our cats, then I discovered the culprits, dam jackdaws! No doubt by now the label's are well muddled, so I still won't know what's where, never mind, the plants have all taken and the new bed should look good next year.  To date a further one hundred and twenty spring bulbs have been planted in this new bed, just another sixty to plant and it will then be complete.

Pansy's are such jolly flowers.

The garden seems to be more colourful now than it was in July,

Perpetual sweet pea, we have waited all summer for it to flower.

so many things have bloomed late or have just continued to flower.

This rose grows in one of our hedgerows, this year it has tried to reach for the sky, and is now ten feet high.

The pansy's have been flowering for eleven months without stopping,

It keeps on flowering.

and one of the clematis has been blooming for over two months.

They keep on coming.

The sweet peas are the best we have every grown, with very long stems and they just keep on coming.
It has been a good year for most of the vegetables, and for hatching, we have finished hatching now until next year, the last hatch was yesterday,  ten quail, we had set twelve fertile eggs, so ten out of twelve is not bad.

Another duck with attitude.

 The duckling that hatched with our goslings has now been named, Jemima  Puddle duck, she does show a little independence now, and loves to sit on top of one of the hen houses, fortunately the geese have not followed her lead.

Three boys? Three girls? or a mix? I don't know,can anyone tell me?

We are still not sure as to the sex of the goslings though, maybe someone will be able to tell me?
The weather has been mixed, but by and large not too bad, we manage to get washing dry on the line so it can't be that wet, and there is always something to do on wet days, making jam from fruit that was frozen is a good way to spend a rainy afternoon,

More jam for the store cupboard.

the last lot I made was raspberry, and I still have some Seville oranges waiting to be made into marmalade.

Very late to start blooming even though it had spent the winter in the green house.