First frost!

I saw the first frost of the season this morning, it looked beautiful:

The green of the grass changed color, I love it with this pale grey frosting color.

Hoy por primera vez en la temporada habia escarcha:

November primroses

The primroses are flowering in our front garden. These are not recently bought (I'm sure they treat them to flower early), I planted them last spring when we moved in so I'm very pleased they are already looking this good. They're not supposed to flower until spring, but with the mild autumn we've had so far we get this extra wave of flowers.

Las primulas se supone que no florecen hasta la primavera, pero el otoño esta siendo tan suave que las nuestras estan dando flor. Estas las plante en primavera cuando nos mudamos, no son recien compradas. Debe ser que les gusta su nueva casa!

October surprises

This year October has surprised me: there's a lot more flowers and colour in the garden than I expected. And I think it's all down to not being squashed between houses any more, there's a lot more light here than I had in London, and it shows. The tagetes I sowed in spring are really coming into their own now, but only the ones plants in the ground, the ones in pots dried up a month ago:

Este jardin tiene mucha mas luz que el de Londres, y hay algunas plantas se han dado tan bien en octubre que no me lo esperaba. Por ejemplo, los tagetes que sembre en primavera, pero solo los que estan en suelo directo, los de macetas se secaron hace un mes.

The strawberry tree has grown and improved so much now it's not in a pot any more. It's full of flowers, I've been eating the fruits as a when they turn red, and the leaves look a lot healthier.

El madroño esta mucho mas contento en suelo directo que estaba en maceta. Las frutas maduran de una en una y estan riquisimas, esta lleno de flores para el año que viene, y las hojas mucho mas sanas. 

The nasturtiums and the alyssum that I sowed in spring made fantastic ground cover, and it's been going for months (and the alyssum smells lovely!). You can see the las of the Californian poppies too, fantastic orange flowers that have been going for months, good for cutting (small) and beautiful foliage too.

Todas estas plantas las sembre en primavera y llevan meses dando flores. Las amarillas de hojas redondas son nasturtiums, las pequeñitas blancas son alyssum, y aun quedan algunas amapolas naranjas.

The tomatoes in pots in the summer were a disaster, so I had empty pots to plant some autumn and winter bedding plants - violas, ornamental cabbages and wallflowers for spring. It looks a lot neater now.

Los tomates en macetas fueron un desastre, asi que los quite y puse flores que duraran (en teoria) todo el otoño e invierno (pensamientos y alelhies para la primavera).

The veg patch is all "finished" now. We bought more soil to raise the level and it's deep enough now to grow anything. I have: spinach under the plastic cover, purple sprouting broccoli, cauliflowers, leeks, and one bed where I planted garlic and peas together. I put some sticks for the peas to grow up in the spring, and to hopefully stop birds from eating the shoots in the winter. The idea is that the peas will fruit in the spring, I can  then cut then to make more light for the maturing garlic but leave the roots that are full of nutrients in the soil. It is an experiment.

La huerta por fin ya tiene mas tierra (compramos mas) y ya tiene profunfidad suficiente. Debajo del plastico tengo espinacas, bajo red de plastico tengo brecol y coliflores, una fila de puerros, y donde estan los palos he plantado ajos y guisantes. Es un experimento: los guisantes salen antes y dan fruto en primavera, luego los cortas a ras de tierra para que los ajos tengan mas luz en los ultimos meses, y las raices de los guisantes fertilizan el suelo. A ver si funciona.

Y por ultimo plante estas macetas grandes con rucula, cebollinos, sorrel y las ultimas de las lechugas. Casi todas son perennes.

These big pots have rocket, sorrel, chives and the lady of the lettuces. Most are perennial and ready to survive the winter.

First sign of autumn

This tree (Rhus, according to the label) is always the first to turn colour in autumn. I noticed the first orange leaves a week ago. Today I put in place the green log mini fence, and now this bed looks so colourful! The small plants at the front are heucheras, in reds and purples, and there's also a purple elder (sambucus nigra) and a yellow-leaved fucshia.

El arbol de las hojas naranjas siempre es el primero en cambiar de color en otoño. Este ya lleva una semana asi. Hoy puse el borde de madera verde y ahora esta esquina esta preciosa, llena de color. Las plantas bajas son heucheras, en tonos rojos y morados, y tambien hay un sambucus nigra y una fucshia de hojas amarillas.

Crop of basil to freeze

This is some basil I picked today. I'm going to freeze the leaves in pots, as they are, and see how it goes. I wish I had even smaller pots, because I am guessing the leaves will get so compacted that we won't be able to pick only a few each time, but maybe this will work. The basil is growing happily in pots in the patio and these are only the tips, I reckon I will get another crop before the summer is over. Maybe next time I will try a different preserving method.

Cosecha de albahaca, para el congelador. Voy a probar a congelar las hojas en esos botes de plastico, son un poco grandes para una racion, pero con suerte podremos sacar solo una parte de cada vez. A ver. Aun tengo las plantas en la terraza y creo que me daran otra cosecha este verano, la proxima vez pruebo otra manera de conservarla.

Planting out leeks

I sowed these about April. Now, thanks to the pond that I'm digging and a bit of compost from the shop (for the top) I finally filled in these big boxes so I can plant out the leeks. They were ready to move on, you can see the pots were filling up with roots:

Sembre los puerros en macetas alla por abril. Ahora por fin rellene estas cajas de plastico con la tierra del mini-estanque que estamos excavando y compost comprado encima, y ya tengo espacio para transplantar los puerros. Veis en la foto que ya estaban listos para el transplante, las raices empezaban a llenar la maceta.

Visiting butterflies on the budleia

I've spent all morning in the garden today and I got to see a bit of the wildlife that visits us. The most spectacular is this budleia with its two visiting butterflies. They both have these colours (no idea what name), and they've been feeding on the flowers all day.

Tenemos dos mariposas como esta que llevan todo el dia posandose en esta budleia.