2025 - What I did today

Scattered a jar full of old flower seeds in Middle Earth.
Weeded a bit of VP4 and sprinkled old lettuce seeds there.
Nothing too energetic today!

Harvested some stuff, brought some dried seed in for cleaning storing, emptied 2 potato grow bags. Some of the compost from them went on fish box container raised beds. Weeded the elephant garlic.

I've had a busy few weeks, as I'm cramming gardening time inbetween my hours at work. We will get a new shift roster in December and I'm reducing my hours from 32 to 26, which will be much better.
This is not what I've done today, but what I can (or can't) remember telling you about before.

The two polytunnels are finished - erected, plast pulled over, tied down, frame bolted to the concrete, and plastic pulled down and bolted to heavy wooden joists. So far they've not moved an inch.
I'm already looking at buying two more tunnels lol They're cheap enough.

All pelargoniums have been taken into the barn for their winter rest. I don't have room for them in the house, so I've cut them all down, repotted, and potted up all the cuttings. They'll be in low light, low temps all winter.

We are going to extend the loop for the robot mower, while the mower itself is taking a well deserved rest over winter. We have had several very hard frosts, so the grass won't grow much more now.

Raspberries have been rehomed to make a path down to the polytunnels. They've found new homes near the pond.

Lots of seeds collected from the climbing nasturtium, and dried them. Likewise with aquilegias, but I may have mentioned them before.

Picked about 20kg of mushrooms in the forests behind our land, and I have eaten, frozen or dried all of them. I'm even attempting to make my own mushroom soy sauce.

We have had a surplus of eggs from our five hens, and I bought the stuff needed to waterglass a massive jar of them. I am hoping to get together another jar, but smaller, for the winter.

Lingonberry, rhubarb, rosehip, hazelnuts, blueberry and even some wild raspberry harvests have been taken care of.

Firewood has been dealt with from huge fallen trees. Chippings have been done for the garden paths.

Leaves are harvested as they fall, for mulch or for compost.

Old lanterns have been given solar powered lights and hung from trees in front of the house, to brighten my mood, if nothing else.

An old kitchen double sink with drainage boards on both sides has been purchased. It will be placed on top of a home built bench to go next to the poly tunnels for cleaning vegetables before bringing into the kitchen.

My old potting table has been put together, ready for all the sowing and potting on that will happen in a few months.

Winter pots have been prepared with winter plants, and they will be topped up before Christmas to make them festive.

I'm exhausted after reading what Sarriss has done so I haven't done much today apart from have a Covid jab and go to Morries afterwards. The weather hasn't be much good for gardening, so that's another excuse from me.

I'm exhausted after reading what Sarriss has done so I haven't done much today apart from have a Covid jab and go to Morries afterwards.

It's at least two weeks' of work that I listed there, and the mushroom picking has been going on for a couple of months now, whenever I can run off up into the woods. It's pure therapy to sneak up there, honestly. I don't even bring the dogs. It's 'me time'.
My favourite mushroom to eat is definitely hideous gomphidius. I've just found out that it's called that in English lol It made me giggle. It's absolutely delicious, but it's slimy, and the slime turns your fingers dark brown.
Link to the hideous gomphidius

I've also picked an enormous amount of porcini, that we call Karl Johan here, named after King Karl Johan, who loved this mushroom and encouraged the population who was otherwise not at all interested in mushrooms for human food.
Link to the Porcini or Penny Buns

The scariest looking mushroom that I've found, that is edible, is the 'bloodsopp', or Dotted Stem Bolete (same family of mushrooms as the one above), with its bright red stem and bright red pores under the hat. It scared the life out of me when I found it, but it turns out it's edible and really tasty too. I've yet to try eating it. I just daren't.
Link to Dotted Stem Bolete

Pear-shaped puffballs are really interesting looking, and quite a nice one to eat too, before they go all dark and gooey brown inside - yuck!
Link

There's loads of different types of boletes, with Karl Johan/Porcini/Penny buns being just one type. I've picked lots of many more types from that family. 

I think it's fair to say I've learnt absolutely loads about mushrooms this year, considering I've never really been out to pick any before! I have a mushroom book and an online database to help me. It's coming to an end for this year. I'm going out tomorrow morning for one last look (unless I find loads, but I doubt that). I'm hoping for some hideous gomphidius and chanterelles.

Pottered in the house doing a couple of little odd jobs. Emptied a couple more fish boxes of finished plants and weeds. Rain stopped play.

Today I'm hoovering and tidying out the summerhouse. You may remember we had a wasp problem, which hasn't yet been resolved. No nest but just masses of wasps. Reluctantly I nuked them, I couldn't open the place without dozens of the blighters swirling around. I thought I had solved it and persuaded them to go elsewhere but yesterday opened up the place and was greeted once again with masses of swirling wasps, congregating around the eaves with the evidence of starting a nest. They must be chewing at the wood somewhere unseen. Anyway now I have a carpet of wasp corpses to clear. So sad really, I wish they'd chosen elsewhere.

Shopping yesteday and digging a bed over and planting broad bean seeds at allotment today...............unless I get waylaid and all plans go out the window?

Today I'm hoovering and tidying out the summerhouse. You may remember we had a wasp problem,  which hasn't yet been resolved. No nest but just masses of wasps. Reluctantly I nuked them, I couldn't open the place without dozens of the blighters swirling around. I thought I had solved it and persuaded them to go elsewhere but yesterday opened up the place and was greeted once again with masses of swirling wasps, congregating around the eaves with the evidence of starting a nest.  They must be chewing at the wood somewhere unseen. Anyway now I have a carpet of wasp corpses to clear.  So sad really, I wish they'd chosen elsewhere.

Found a nest. I had been looking up, when I should have been looking down. Even if I had looked down it was well hidden in a curl of carpet way at the back, behind finiture. It's good the at least have a reason behind the swarms. The wasps had eaten away at the carpet to make the nest I think.

Did a bit more clearing and weeding in the veg garden. Not for long a very cold wind I didn’t want to say in.