Other women buy shoes or handbags - my weaknesses are seeds and books.  When its raining or during dark evenings, I think of a word or theme and search the secondhand book sites - my favourites are AwesomeBooks and Music Magpie - both have FREE P&P. These books have just been delivered. Where to start? They cost £23 for 7 books and they're all like new.

"The Way Home. Tales from a life without technology" - Mark Boyle who wrote "The Moneyless Man" and the inspiration for the Moneyless Chicken.
"Free. Adventures on the margins of a wasteful society. What happens when you walk away from everything you think you can't live without".- Katharine Hibbert.
"Adventures in Opting out - A Field Guide to leading an Intentional Life". - Cait Flanders.
"Seaweed and eat it. A family foraging and eating adventure" Fiona Houston & Xa Milne
"The Weeders Digest. Identifying and enjoying edible weeds" - Gail Harland. I like her books and this one has pictures!
"The new English Kitchen. How to make your food go further" - Rose Prince. Like the look of this one - although quite a lot of meat recipes that I'll ignore. Even ways to keep lettuce for longer and to use it in soup!!
"Diary of a Modern Country Gardener. Secrets for every season straight from the Potting shed " Tamsin Westhorpe. She lives and works on the family farm "Stockton Bury" which also has a garden open to the public. Looks quite humorous. 

PS. My last theme was "Zero-Waste". I now own several books like Zero Waste Kitchen, even Zero Waste Gardening!!

I hope you're all saving seeds for this year's Seed Swap.

Please add your name below if you want to be part of it.- and a list of the seeds you'll be sharing if you know now.
We'll aim to have the seeds sent to me by 20th November and sent back to you in December - to take our minds off anything else that may be happening that month. 

Any questions - just ask.

1. Veggie
2. Small chilli
3. JJB

I'm always tempted by a new idea, then usually put off by the price.

Has anyone forked out for Bustaseed trays and inserts?  I look, I marvel at what a novel idea, I walk away considering the price. Each set of tray/inserts/ cloche is £16 ish.

A long time ago I tried to grow plants from various fruit and veg that were bought for eating. I remember trying citrus fruit, avocado, peach, blueberries, pomegranate and dates - some of which were successful. 
Winter is coming and I need a new Challenge. How about you? 
I have some citrus fruit, pomegranate and avocados to start. Any hints and tips are, of course, welcome.

Happy Birthday, I guess you're still sleeping off last night's celebration. 

You may have seen that this year's Butterfly Count showed a devastating fall in butterfly numbers. Its so bad that a UK Butterfly Emergency has been declared.
The details of the count are at https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-...45bdf23bce

I plan to grow more Butterfly flowers and food plants next year to do my bit for butterflies. 

This page has info on the best plants to grow https://butterfly-conservation.org/how-y...utterflies

The best plants for nectar are:-
Buddleia
Verbena Bonariensis
Lavender
Perennial wallflower (Bowles Mauve)
Marjoram/Oregano

There's a more detailed list of plants to download and a list of food plants. 

This is going to be one of my projects for 2025. Will you join me?

Can anyone tell me what’s going on with this hydrangea?
I have lots of hydrangeas in pot all together. Waiting to go in the cottage garden as a hedge.
I notice a couple of days ago a small head of lovely blue very small spiky (star like) flowers. Wish I’d photographed it then. Because this morning I noticed that lovely blue completely different shaped flowers was actually part of a plant with the usual big head rounded petals and pink!

         

Definitely the same plant. I checked it wasn’t too in the same pot. 
Any ideas?

This is I-Spy with a twist - its I-Smell something beginning with the appropriate letter of the alphabet.
We'll start tomorrow with Smells beginning with A.
If you can, tell us when or where you smelled it, any memories it brings back.........any old waffle you like.

What do you plan to do over winter - in the garden or indoors?

I had a bucket of small eating apples . Too small to peel as there'd be very little left, so I decided to cook them with the peel to see how it cooked. 
I topped and tailed the apples, then chopped them into quarters, removing the core. Bunged the apple flesh into a pan of water with lemon juice and cooked them to a pulp. Some skin remains but its soft and not objectionable. I won't be peeling them in future.