It will not always be summer; build barns. The potting shed goes on...

[echt]

Please ignore my first, illiterate thread. I'll try again.

I hope this quotation from Hesiod captures the moment of movement from high summer to the splendours of harvest and the planing for the new year.

:o

Goodness! I'm impressed!

I think I would nurture those little seedlings a bit and maybe plant them out in the spring? The papers are predicting a harsh winter.

Very impressive Shovetheholly. Having had some foxglove seedlings that got munched I would follow FP's advice.

Started potting up plants from the border that needs to go for drive entrance. I need to decide where to put the cherry Tree. It should probably go by the fence replacing g the hedge neighbour cut down. But i'm blowed if he gets the benefit of branches of cherries over hanging in years to come so am not keen.

Ha! It's not really impressive - it's a result of poor design in the first place! . I had just not divided the space up well. It is getting better now. I will see if I can get some pictures to get advice from you all about how to improve it!

I am an inveterate tinkerer too... I'm always moving things around. But there is a bit of an ulterior motive too, as I'm hoping to do a house extension next year, which means losing metres of garden. I am loathe to do this, but to be honest our kitchen is falling to bits and is really, really tiny - we cannot actually fit two people in there, and we have no space to store anything - which means that the house is full of jars of chutney!! It's either extend or move, and I can't move, I just can't do it. I do love my house. It is nothing special at all but it is the first proper, settled 'home' I have had in my whole life so I am very attached to it. So I'm trying to shift some plants now so that I don't lose anything - and am planting the top end with duplicate things that I've divided and can happily give away when the time comes.

Shove, the nearest thing to a hedgehog is only by appearance, the echidna, which doesn't live in gardens. They are widespread in Au, but you still don't see them much. I'm trying to imagine your chutney- filled house, our crawl space is full of passata, made by DH. :o

Today I'm in Nagasaki, a lively city crammed between low mountains that account for the fact that it wasn't as flattened by the atomic bomb as Hiroshima was. We went to the Peace Park and Atomic Bomb museum, both rather better realised than those in Hiroshima. In part this due to to Nagasaki being the less well-known, runner up in the whole horrible business, so more time to build an exhibition of the effects that can handle the crowds. Unfortunately, because Nagasaki is out of the way, it's less visited. God, this is beginning to sound like my favourite concentration camp.

It was unspeakably human and moving.

Well done holly it all sounds lovely. I planted out foxglove seedlings this time last year that took off once they had more room. That said I do live far South. Do you have enough to hedge your bets?

I've begun bulb planting, it's a bugger for my knees so its pretty slow going.

I have lots of sweet pea (purple) seeds. Do Pm me if any one would like some. I'm going to request an SAE though as they'll stand more of a chance of actually getting posted!

I've planted out the 30 or so foxglove seedlings with the same amount of lupin babies: we will probably have some lovely fat slugs this season. I'm hoping a couple will survive! ( plants not slugs!)

echt - ECHIDNA! Oh my goodness, it has such a cute little snout! Your trip sounds amazing, too. You've been travelling round the country quite a bit, right??

geoff - I do have plenty of foxgloves, so I might plant out one lot and risk it, and keep the others in the greenhouse as back up. If they can get their roots down before it gets cold, they might establish. It is a gamble up here, though.

pizza - I have given up with lupins for that reason. The last one I had was torn to shreds in one night - I ran out to look at it in the morning and there was nothing but an orrible slimy stump left! Hope you have better luck!

On the foxglove issue: today I noticed mother had a few foxglove heads with loads of seeds still in situ so I sprinkled them around as there were gaps at the back of that bed

funnyperson I've done that in the past and they never seem to come up, which is why I've now sown them in pots and waited until they look like foxgloves before planting them, I intend to go and check on them every daythis will never happen

Impressed by Shove's epic plant moving session. The positioning of paths and borders is all-important .

I spent today lifting and dividing Persicaria and Bergenia in my client's garden. It was a beautiful day and very enjoyable, but I'm going to feel all that digging tomorrow.

Nagasaki sounds fascinating.

My malus Red Sentinel has arrived and will be planted tomorrow. It's a good looking specimen, although annoyingly most of the crab apples have dropped off in transit.

I loved GW tonight. I'd quite like more of Monty's recipe slots. I'm no great cook but can bake an apple and would welcome ideas of what to do with some of the more exotic produce from the allotment (or simply some novel ideas for familiar things).

Oh and yes, I too need to shift done things around. A woman's gardener's work is never done, eh?

My acanthus rue ledan has arrived from Sarah Raven - it's tiny but very pretty. I'll get it planted this weekend along with a variety of things from plants I had split from the front. The Forecast is looking good for gardening.

Maud did any kind person ever set up the 'cooking gluts from your garden' thread that was mooted a while ago? If not why don't you? Monty and Sarah Don did a cookbook, but it's very expensive on Amazon & I have Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook, but I don't find its recipes are that great. Have you got Jane Grigson's 'Vegetable Book'? I think that's very good ( though it was written before Oca, for example appeared on our shores), as is her Fruit Book.

I could do with some good apple recipes, that use more than an odd apple. I've started harvesting the American Mother apples now; it's a big crop this year. They are delicious but mostly have worm holes in so they won't store for long. I suppose they'll end up getting juiced, it's the village Apple day next weekend.

I missed GW last night and then discovered it failed to record.

funny - I got rid of some wild foxgloves that had set seed, and I was just amazed by the amount of seeds they had producedl! I was trying really hard not to spread it everywhere, but simply touching the plant led to a deluge of brown seeds all over the place. I managed to snort a small quantity by accident (!), which led to me feeling rather odd for a bit (but no harm done).

Haha holly at snorting digitalis seed.

We went to Chartwell today, and I snaffled a nigella seed head, (just the one) as it was a lovely colour flower. There were just so many seeds in it.

Rhubarb do you / MrR make jam/marmalade? I make this recipe:

englishmum.com/grapefruit-orange-and-apple-marmalade-with-english-grandma.html

And it's delicious - I just chop the peeled citrus fruit, I don't cut out the segments like she says, as it all cooks OK, and it uses lots of apples... Best to have an assistant as there's a lot of chopping.

Inspired by and learning from, our planting day at Funny's I sorted out a big bed in the back - moving things, planting things I bought a while ago and some things I got out of the front garden, and am very pleased with the result. Doing it all in one go, including considering what to plant where, is the way to do it, not piecemeal like I've done in the past. Rue ledan is still sitting in her pot though.

Yes I too liked GW a lot this week, and the apple cooking. Its such a lovely time of year when its sunny and its a good time to move plants.

I carried on all your good work and have been pruning back the other climbers and planting out some more clematis.

I've got another couple of foxglove heads with seeds: one pink and one alba, so will sow them in a tray I think shove

There are a few apple days round here next week but I might go down to Kent to choose another couple of trees or so for mum. Monty mentioned Arthur Turner which is a cooker but I might buy a sweet dessert apple tree.

I've discovered my cox is a 'spur' fruit bearer and not a tip bearer, which means I need to leave some spurs on each branch of the espalier.

I'm very behind with GW, must have a catch up session. Apologies but I did laugh at you snorting foxglove seeds. I probably shouldn't as was watching something last night where the central mystery was murder by foxglove.

Gorgeous day here and I have taken a car load of hedge to the tip.started cutting it into bits but soo realised much faster if I just chucked the branches in. This is phase 1 of operation driveway. I am currently known as Demolition Sugar and managed to do some serious damage with loppers tp our rather large hedge.

DD wanted to go to Nagasaki whilst o et there. Actually she just wanted to go on a road trip with her new friends bit put in the bit about it being educational to get me to agree. I saw Bergen Belsen about her age and would have liked her to go but her ticket wasn't transferable so she had to miss it as was flying back the day they went.

She's on her third course this term, hoping that is it now ! She's doing photography so about to make the most of the sun and take her down near some boats which she needs to photograph for homework.

That recipe sounds lovely SeaRabbit, thanks. I've never made marmalade.

On Sunday we visited Packwood House near Birmingham, as a journey breaker on the way to a christening. Has anyone been there? It is absolutely wonderful! The kitchen garden was one of the best I've ever seen; so pretty with squash pergolas, flowers for cutting, loads of interesting varieties of produce and a 'field' of giant pumpkins. The yew garden that the place is famous for, with immense old sculpted yews, was magical for the kids to run around, and I loved the sunken Mediterranean garden.

I want this Auricula theatre! It was full of succulents rather than Auriculas, but still gorgeous.

I went to Packwood House last week, Ancestral, I love to go this time of year to see the late summer borders on the raised section before you go into the yew area - so much colour, a bit like Monty's `Jewel garden'. The other wide borders were looking lovely too - all muted purples and tall grasses.

Like you I covet the auricula theatre even though most of my auriculas have succumbed to vine weevil/neglect. And weren't the pumpkins wonderful!

Ooh I would love an auricula theatre, and some auriculas for it, in little old pots. Pack wood House looks gorgeous.

Here's a great and simple, recipe for using lots of pears or apples:. This is the recipe per the book, with my comments in brackets:

Farm Wife’s Fresh Pear Tart
Author: From Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (Marcella Hazan)

Ingredients -(American cups)
2 eggs
¼ cup milk
1 cup granulated sugar (I reduce to about ¾ cup)
a pinch of salt
1½ cups plain flour
2 pounds fresh pears (must be full-flavored firm fleshed pears)
9-inch round cake pan
Butter for greasing the pan and dotting the cake
½ cup dry, unflavored bread crumbs
Optional: one dozen cloves (Never used them, sometimes I add a
Tsp vanilla essence)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375*
Beat the eggs and milk together in a bowl. Add the sugar and a tiny pinch salt, and continue to beat. Add the flour, mixing it in thoroughly to produce a compact cake batter.
Peel the pears, cut them lengthwise in two, scoop out the seeds and core, then cut them into thin slices about one inch wide. Add them to the batter in the bowl, distributing them evenly.
Smear the pan generously with butter, sprinkle lightly with bread crumbs, then turn the pan over and give it a sharp rap against the counter to shake loose excess crumbs. (Never use crumbs)
Put the batter into the pan, leveling off with the back of a spoon or a spatula. Make numerous small hollows on top with a finger and fill them with little bits of butter. Place the pan in the upper third of the preheated oven and bake for 50 minutes, or until the top has become lightly coloured ( I find it ales a little longer- it needs to be well-cooked)
While it is still lukewarm, carefully loosen the tart from the bottom of the pan, lift it with spatulas, and transfer it to a platter.
It is very nice served while still a little warm, or at room temperature.
(Notes: this cake can also be made with apples or other fruits. Also, the fruits can be cut into largish or smallish chunks; if matchsticks are used the fruit melts a bit and the cake is more elegant. But big (1/2 inch) chunky bits are lovely too.
This cake is very forgiving of time and temperature, as well. The moisture of the fruit protects it from being easily burnt. If you google it, there are lots of references - clearly much-loved by people all round the world.)

I love auriculas, but only have a couple of the toughies that live outdoors on a window ledge. My fantasy auricula collection exists only on Pinterest.

I understand! I have some in the garden, which are lovely, but they're not stripy. My sister says she doesn't like auriculas. I don't understand this.