I WILL BE BACK

Just to let you know I didn’t have much time to blog what with my right arm in a cast. I just want to wish you all a fabulous long weekend !

LOOKS LIKE WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A LOT OF FIGS THIS YEAR

WHITE SPIREA FLOWERS

THANKS FOR VISITING !

IT HELPED !!

 Remember I told you I had to protect my figs from the birds ?

LIKE THIS

Well, it helped !

This fig is smaller than the big brown ones you find in the mediterranian area, this one is called white of Marseille, this is how they look when they are ripe. I made about 1 kilo of jam yesterday with the figs and a few apples.

THE PASSIONFRUITS ARE RIPE TOO BUT THE BIRDS DON’T EAT THEM

This is fruit from the passiflora caerulea, I was told they are edible but not really sweet or tasteful, does any of you know if you can use them for jam or jelly ?

My grapes are doing well now that I protected them fom the birds, so far they haven’t eaten a single grape since I gave every bunch a little dress.

Have fun in your garden, I hope you’ll all have a lot of fruit and veg ! and flowers of course !!!

Thanks for stopping by !

 

INVISIBLE EATERS

A while ago I had ripe red currants and black currants but I didn’t have the time to harvest them right away so a few days later I went into my garden to harvest the berries and every berry was gone !!!!! each and every one !!!I thought old cd’s on a string would frighten the birds away but obviously they didn’t do the job !!This week I wanted to harvest some ripe grape bunches and what did I see….the birds were there before me, mind you the grapes are in my greenhouse ! Now I gave each bunch of grapes a dress hoping the birds will stay away, also the figs outside are starting to ripen so I try to scare the birds away there too as I know from last year they always take the biggest and ripest and sweatest figs . I don’t mind that the birds eat some of my fruit but ALL is a bit much !

Here are some pictures I have taken this past weeks.

AS YOU CAN SEE I GAVE MY GRAPES A DRESS

HERE YOU CAN SEE THE DAMAGE THEY DID

I TRY TO KEEP THE BIRDS OUT OF MY FIG TREE BY SCARING THEM WITH THESE WHITE “FLAGS”

THE SNACK TOMATOES ARE ALSO RIPENING, THE GRANDCHILDREN LOVE TO GO TO THE GREENHOUSE FOR SOME LITTLE TOMATOES AND SO DO I

 

 

THE BIG TOMATOES ARE FINALLY GETTING SOME COLOUR

I LOVE THE COLOUR OF THESE SOUTH AFRICAN DAISIES

THE JAPONESE ANEMONES ARE STARTING TO BLOOM

THIS RUSSIAN VINE IS A REAL THUG BUT IT’S A BEAUTIFUL THUG

MY HYDRANGEA’S ARE DOING THERE VERY BEST AT THE MOMENT

CLEMATIS THE PRESIDENT TOGETHER WITH  A PASSIONFLOWER

MY YELLOW DAHLIA’S IN FRONT OF A MIRROR

ALBIZZIA JULIBRIZZIN IN BLOOM

Have a great weekend all and enjoy your gardens ! Thanks for stopping by and don’t hesitate to leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you !

EDIBLES IN MY GARDEN

Going into the garden or the greenhouse and pick some fruit or veg to eat instantly, I love it ! I don’t have a big garden but I have figs, grapes and several sorts of berries in the garden and veggies of course.

Cos of the soft Winter we had my figs are doing remarkably well, they are not ripe yet but they get bigger and bigger and there are lots of them so I think I’ll have to make jam apart from eating lots and lots of them and of course I’ll share them with friend and family.

HERE YOU CAN SEE MY FIG TREE TRAINED TO A WALL, I CUT MANY LEAFS AND NEW BRANCHES OFF SO THE SUN CAN GET TO THE FIGS, I SO WISH I HAD THE SPACE FOR A FULL GROWN FIG TREE !!! BUT THEY GROW SO FAST AND BECOME REALLY TOO BIG FOR A SMALL GARDEN, THIS FIG IS CALLED : WHITE OF MARSEILLE , THE FIGS ARE NOT AS HUGE AS THE PURPLE ONES, THEY STAY GREEN AND WHEN RIPE THEY TURN A LITTLE BIT YELLOW AND WHEN YOU SEE A LITTLE CRACK IN THE PEEL IT IS RIPE AND READY TO EAT !

The grapes are doing well too this year, my grapevine (vitis muscat bleu) is still very young, I planted it 2 years ago, last year I had about 5 tiny bunches of grapes, this year there are about 50 large ones I think !!! It grows in the greenhouse but it can grow outside here too and you don’t have to cut away some of the grapes in order to let the other ones grow bigger.

 

 

 

And tomatoes, I have tomatoes too but they still have a long way to g(r)o(w) cos we went to Barcelona at the beginning of May I didn’t want to plant tomatoes before we were back home. But they grow very fast in the greenhouse and you can see the first green baby tomatoes and lots of flowers.

I PLANTED NEW VARIETY’S THIS YEAR SO I WONDER HOW THEY’LL TASTE

Thanks for stopping by and have fun in your garden !

LAST WEEK OF AUGUST

August was a lovely month, lots of sunshine and a good shower or a rainy night once in a while, what more can a gardener want ? Alas August is gone now and September came, the good weather continues, although the days are becoming shorter rapidly, the nights are a lot cooler and breakfast on the terrace is too cold now but the days are just lovely.

I took some pictures last week so you can see what went on in my garden last week.

THE FIRST SEDUMS ARE IN BLOOM, THAT MEANS AUTUMN !!!!THE YELLOW AFRICANS (TAGETES) BLOOM AS IF THERE IS NO TOMORROW

ANEMONE JAPONICA, ANOTHER AUTUMN BLOOMER

MORE ANEMONES IN FRONT OF THE AUCUBA  JAPONICA

THE SUN IS ALWAYS SHINING IN MY GARDEN, YOU CAN SEE ALL THE SPIDERWEBS AND SOME DEAD LEAVES…….

CHELONE OBLIQUA ALSO CALLED TURTLE FLOWER COS THE BLOOMS REMIND YOU OF THE TURTLES HEAD, AN EASY CAREFREE PLANT

ALBIZIA JULIBRISSIN STILL IN BLOOM, I LOVE IT AS IT REMINDS ME OF SPAIN

MY WHITE PASSIONFLOWER IS GROWING LIKE MAD, I ONLY PLANTED IT  ABOUT 3 MONTHS AGO, NO FLOWERS OR BUDS THIS YEAR, HOPE TO GET SOME NEXT YEAR !

THE FIRST OF MY TRICYRTIS IN BLOOM (ALSO CALLED POOR MANS ORCHID)

MY FIGS ARE RIPE ! I STARTED PROTECTING THE ONES WHO ARE ALMOST RIPE AS THE BLACKBIRDS LOVE THEM TOO !

     

I HAVE A  WHITE LANTANA CAMARA ON A STEM AND IT HAD SOME SIDE SHOOTS ON THE STEM SO I REMOVED THEM AND MADE A FEW CUTTINGS, THEY ALL GREW INTO NICE PLANTS AND THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN FLOWERING FOR MANY WEEKS

ONE OF MY FUCHSIAS, THEY WILL GO ON BLOOMING TILL THE FIRST FROSTS, I THINK FUCHSIAS ARE JUST LOVELY AND WORTH ALL THE EXTRA WORK AS THEY HAVE TO OVERWINTER IN THE HOUSE ON A COOL DRY PLACE

 

I hope you’ll all have a great week ! Thanks for stopping by!