October Days and Good News

Here are some photos from the Forest and from our garden, taken on some of the rare fine days of October.

Above, there are still a few bright tormentil flowers in the undergrowth out on the heath.

Below, the chestnut tree in the lane has small, hardly-formed chestnuts in fewer shells. It is giving food just for birds and rodents this year.

The last of the bell heathers still in bloom.

This wilding crab apple tree is usually covered in fruit in early autumn. This year, there is barely a handful of little yellow apples and the leaves have already gone.

Even "Old Jenny`s" tree, which has the reddest and most plentiful fruit that makes wonderful jelly, is struggling. There are so few apples on it that I have abandoned plans to make crab apple jelly. The birds need this meagre harvest more than we do.

Lichen on a wilding tree.

In the greenhouse, we had better luck with the tomatoes this year. Blight has flattened our garden tomatoes in recent years, so we tried this blight resistant variety, Firkin (sp?), which has produced a reasonable crop of medium sized, tangy -sweet tomatoes.

Runner beans have been good too, so some of the last stragglers on the vines are being saved for seed to grow again next spring.

The courgettes have struggled, but we have had a few ( if the mice have not found them first).

Some of the last raspberries.

A few zinnias to cheer the garden at the end of a poor growing season.

Last, but by no means least, is the reason for my blog break over the past few weeks!

Our second granddaughter, K, was born twelve days ago, after false alarms and a fair bit of stress and worry. Thankfully she is thriving after her Caesarian birth and her lovely Mum, Dad and little sister are doing well.

Thank you everyone for your comments and good wishes!