The garden is a bit like a class of school children. When the teacher is around they all behave perfectly, but if the teacher is away and a supply teacher comes in, then they mess about…..I know because I was a kid once.

Now I was away on my little holiday for 7 days, yes just 7. Not 2 weeks, not 1 month. Just 7 days. The garden decided to go completely loopy in that time.

Yes apparently the rain was “Biblical” so Mark said so everything got a good watering, but they all seemed to misbehave.

The fairy garden is just a mess as my Palm Cordyline decided to shed all of its brown leaves. I just need to pick them up and reshape the small shrubs and have a little weed. Not sure how many of the plants I’ve lost over the hot summer, but if I have spaces I’ll just have to buy more plants, oh no what a shame.

You may remember we had 2 wild bunnies in our garden, they came from the field at the back. I managed to capture one before I went and released it, but the other one was being quite aloof. Mark did catch it while I was away, but clearly was too loud when he saw it and it got scared and managed to wiggle out of the cage, bending the cage slightly as it struggled. We’ve not seen it since so maybe it found it’s way out our garden.

I gave the greenhouse a good tidy up, harvesting the last remaining tomatoes and peppers.

I’ve now cleared out everything and they’re all tidy and ready for the winter now. Just some flowers in the greenhouses that will keep fine and only need watering occasionally.

While I was on my canal holiday I bought myself a little wooden basket. This is perfect for harvesting veggies for dinner and I put it to good use right away. How long it’ll stay clean is anyones guess….not long knowing me.

The chickens came out in their extra little bit of a run and a couple of them bathed in the afternoon sunshine. I’ve got an empty brassica cage now, so they can use that as their new playpen. They’ll only be allowed in it when I’m out in the garden, they do have a run attached to their house so they have plenty of space to play. But I did give them a quick go in the brassica cage this weekend and they loved scratching around finding bugs. One of my chooks dug herself a huge bathing holes and even rattling corn wouldn’t make her move, so I had to go in and pick her up bless her.

My two grape vines that grow either side of my arch have done amazingly well this year. The grapes are small and have seeds in them so they’re perfect for making grape jelly (jam) with. The bunches are impressive this year so I harvested them all and will wash and freeze them.

When the weather is cold and damp and I can’t get out in the garden I’ll take them out and make jelly with them. I think last year I got about 2 tubs full, this year it was a little more.

“One day when I grow up,” said the little courgette. “I’m going to be a marrow.”

“But if you do that,” said the gardener. “I’m going to slice you in half longways, scoop out your innards and fill you with some mince and onions.”

Which is exactly what the gardener did for Sunday dinner…… And sprinkles some bread crumbs and parmesan onto for good measure.

The End……Did this blog suddenly get a little too dark?

Happy gardening!