The votes are in and have been verified.

The 2023 Harvest Festival winners are

1st Small Chilli £25
2nd Doubly Jonah £15
3rd Mark Riga £10

Congratulations

I shall be contacting the winners over the weekend to see how they would like their prize.

Inspired by SC's walk and piccies recently, here's a compilation from Kato's favourite walk, where kato manages to get himself upside down hile having a drink from a stream

https://youtu.be/vLCefOm5eak

OK .. so on 21st 0ct I sowed five pkts sweet peas on surface of perlite.
Four were various cheapos from Lidl and Wilko.
The other one was an expensive £4.99 packet from Suttons that was in their sale for 89p. 
Bargain thought I!
Photos are attached showing between 70 and 100% germination in four of them.
Guess which “bargain” has zero percent germination.

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Awful rain on IOW overnight. Our driveway and garages are flooded with water higher than wellies and is rising . We put our old beloved Picasso in the garage for security and now it's full of water inside and won't go. We're due home tomorrow but that's not happening. Currently trying to figure out what to do.

      can't figure out why this pic is upside down
          

After a year of relative inactivity on the gardening front, I have taken on a new challenge......

Welcome to plot number 4. A total mess but something to get my teeth In to.

My target date for completion is 12 months from now.

   

That’s the end of that then.

   

We removed the cover completely. Secured everything as much as I could. Plants, seeds & cuttings are just going to have to take their chances.

It was a nice day. Bob was busy under the truck fixing/ replacing bits ready for the MOT . So I went for a walk to Glenbyer . It’s a walk I’ve done a few times before. Really not regularly enough. It’s lovely.

 from the blue dot to the red dot . 1.9 miles apparently. 

   

Unsurprisingly I took lots of photos along the way. Some are a little on the arty side     ( hopefully they’re arty and not just **it ).

Some abandoned creels

   

I didn’t even notice what variety of tree it was. Just liked the shape.

   

Very arty water droplet on an oak leaf

   

Just the view and a bit of in coming rain. Luckily it went past. 

   

Will post some more soon it’s the dogs tea time

Pinched this from Jekka's herbs.
Autumn is a wonderful time to sow culinary herbs to produce a winter crop because the soil is still warm and the pest and diseases that might have been present earlier in the year, such as carrot fly, have gone away. Here are some herb seeds we are sowing this month:

- Angelica (Angelica archangelica)
- Celery Leaf (Apium graveolens)
- Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium)
- Coriander (Coriandrum sativum)
- Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)

Time for a rummage in my seed heap again. 

Last night while suffering from insomnia (again) I came across this YouTube video. Just over an hour of gardening hacks. That will apparently blow your mind!! It definitely did blow my mind! Not in the way they were hoping, I don’t think! 

https://youtu.be/O_pMzgwaw7k?si=IHSOxoFVRTFYqr7n

Now as I was watching this in bed at 3.30 this morning. I didn’t have the volume on. So really couldn’t say if there is a stunning commentary to accompany this. To be fair one or two did look mildly interesting & believable. 
A couple of my favourite just so you have an idea. When a Christmas cactus grew after sowing dragon fruit seeds. And a couple of very funny mushroom growing methods. I particularly liked the ones that grew from stalks of you bog standard shop brought shrooms in a sealed jam jar of spent coffee grounds ( I think). Best bit they didn’t appear on the surface, like every mushroom ever! They grew almost at the bottom of the jar and had to be dug out almost! Gods help us if anyone believes half this stuff! 
If you’re a fan of cactus, don’t watch this video. Some of the stuff they do to them is barbaric !! And half the time, I couldn’t work out why. 

Anyway if you’re ever suffering from insomnia and want a flipping good giggle, watch this ! 

What’s everyone favourite climbers? Do you go for flowers or foliage? Are there any climbers you wouldn’t grow?

I need a couple more for along the fence in the cottage garden area. So far I have honeysuckle, clematis president ( big purple flowers) . A rose, small bright pink flower, variety unknown. A cutting from the place I used to clean. Also possible if the cuttings take a potato vine. 
I was thinking more clematis varieties as they are so many. But happy to be lead in a different direction.

Definitely not Virginia creeper or climbing hydrangeas.