The ultimate veggie garden

Every country cottage needs a veggie garden!

Whether it's a few pots in a courtyard to grow some tomatoes, lettuce and herbs or a full-on market garden taking over half of the back-yard; nothing can dampen the joy of planting, tending and harvesting the fruits of your labours.

I've been lucky to have a small vegetable garden previously,  when we lived in a duplex in the city. Then moving to a city apartment it was a few herbs in pots that struggled in the intense western sun and wind that buffeted the 9th floor! Now at Bird Cottage I have the opportunity to realise a long-held dream and create a vegetable garden that is not only productive, but also decorative.... something that adds to the form and structure of the garden as  a whole!

When deciding to create a veggie patch, no matter how big or small, the most important thing to consider is the site. Vegetables need from 6-8 hours of good sunlight each day to thrive so position is important. At Bird Cottage we had just pulled down and old shed and carport and replaced it with a large double garage and workroom. It's a pretty big structure on our 1020m sq block, but sighted to the eastern side of the block, it was the perfect place to start our design.

First thing was to mark out where a planned deck would go. Then could we could plan the position of the garden beds (yes..I'm going plural!!!). I'd initially planned a 7m long 1.5m wide garden bed that run the length of the lawn. That would leave space for a couple of fruit trees to be planted between the garden bed and the shed. But drawing it up on paper it looked a bit...well...boring! I've always love the French 'parterre'  style of gardening and I wondered if I could create a parterre vegetable garden that would not only be beautiful but productive!!

                               

So I went to work and marked out the design with gardeners spray paint and then it was on to construction!

I'm quite proud actually, that all the timber used in the construction of the vegetable garden beds was reclaimed from the old carport that we pulled down! Timber that had been onsite for who knows how many years was now being repurposed to become our new veggie patch! This timber included great long lengths of some type of hardwood and was amazingly heavy. I certainly broke a few driver bits .......and the drill-bits were smoking during construction!

I have to be honest but I didn't measure up the lineal meters of the timber to see if I would have enough for my design....I just went for it (it's like an architect designing a building and letting and engineer see if it will work....well....sort of!!

    


But amazingly it all fell into place perfectly!


I was even able to use some of the old posts in the corners! They are not only a decorative feature but I have installed low-voltage lighting on the posts to light up the garden at night as a focal point (set on a timer ...of course!!!), and the ball finials have been topped with a galvanised spike that I can use to support netting if I find that birds see the vegetables as irresistible! If required I'll run galvanised support wires around the perimeter of the garden and diagonally from each post to support the netting but I don't want to do a permanent wire cover for the gardens).

So the garden beds are now in place and now they need to be filled with a good mix of garden soil and decomposed compost. Before that could be done it was important to break up the ground soil. Our ground is CLAY...yes...CLAY...and I mean clay so hard that it might actually be bricks!!!! I felt it important to break up this hard layer so that the soil and compost on top didn't just sit on top of this hard, almost impenetrable layer. I'm sure over time nature would have broken down that layer but I got in with the pitchfork and mattock and broke up the ground anyway. 

            

I then had 4 tonnes of garden soil mix delivered and a further 4 cubic meters of good compost (thank you 'Curley's Compost of Penrose NSW)......a back-breaking job to fill the gardens but the effort was well worth it!

Before filling the beds with soil and compost I installed an automatic garden watering system which is essential! Oh yes...I know there is nothing better than standing with a cooling G&T watering the garden but ....trust me....a watering system on a timer is essential!

It's a bit late in the season for the Highlands but then it was on to the planting!  I have tomatoes, zucchini, beetroot, bok choy, rocket, lettuce, eggplant, basil, parsley, kale and peppers planted. And I moved my asparagus from a bed where I had been growing them to their new home! Asparagus can produce for up to 15 years so one of the garden beds will be my 'permanent bed' where I grow asparagus and rhubarb!

The small square planter in the middle of the parterre has been planted with a Ballerina Apple tree. It had beautiful blossoms this spring but unfortunately didn't produce any fruit. This is because this apple needs another apple tree to fertilise it. I was hoping that one of my neighbours might have had an apple tree in their garden and was close enough for fertilisation but no.....so I guess I will be planting a Granny Smith somewhere to ensure that there is an abundance of fruit next year!

The next project is to fill in around the garden beds with pink decomposed granite to create solid pathways. We painted the garden beds a satin black so the pink granite will look amazing and I hope the garden will be not only a practical but beautiful part of he garden as a whole!!!

It's wonderful to finally have a few large garden beds full of vegetable and herbs. But just remember that you can always have a small strip of garden in a courtyard, a few pots, or even your Greenbo planters [www.greenbo.com.au]  on your balcony railings to grown your own produce!

A picture is worth a thousand words......a garden is priceless!

We all know the old saying 'a picture is worth a thousand words' but when that picture is of a garden, and painted by one of the most famous Impressionist painters that lived, then that picture is almost priceless.

This is true of the incredible paintings of Claude Monet (Nov 14, 1840 - Dec 5, 1926). Claude Monet was the founder of the French Impressionist movement. He also happened to be the most prolific painters of the genre. The Impressionist philosophy was of expressing one's perceptions of the natural environment with particular emphasis placed on the depiction of landscapes painted 'en plein air' or outdoors!

Monsieur Monet was born in Paris in 1840 but it is for the paintings created in his garden in Giverny that he is most famous. Initially Monet and his Impressionist contemporaries were met with rejection from the Académie des Beaux-Artes. However in 1873, Monet along with Renoir, Pissarro and Sisley joined forces to exhibit their art independently. At their first exhibition in 1874 Monet exhibited the work that was to give the movement it's name. Impression, soleil levant or 'Impression, sunrise' was painted in1872 and depicted the sunrise over the port of Le Harve, France. The art critic Luis Leroy in his review of the painting coined the term 'impressionist' as a disparaging review of the painting, however, the artists took on the term, appropriating it for themselves and their style and movement were born!

Impression, soleil levant.   Claude Monet: 1872

During my recent visit to France I was lucky enough to take a day trip to Giverny and visit the home and the garden of Monsieur Monet. The small village of Giverny is approximately and hour from Paris' Gare St Lazare. Rather than doing an organised tour I'd highly recommend you buy tickets in advance for the house and  garden online at www.digitick.com. I was able to do this and taking the printed tickets with us got us to the head of a cue of about 100 visitors waiting to buy tickets at the door. You can also buy your train tickets in advice online. You actually catch the train to the village of Vernon and from there you can get a bus or taxi, or the 'kitsch' road-train which we did. It's a small open-air 6 carriage motorised 'train' that winds it's way through the medieval streets of Vernon and on to Giverny. It was very reasonable (about 6 Euro per person return). A great website to check out before your visit is www.giverny.org which has lots of useful information about getting to Giverny and visiting the house of Monet and the famous gardens.

The house of Claude Monet is now a museum and has been restored and painted as it was when Monet lived there. Painted in a 'salmon' pink with bottle-green shutters, the rendered house looks like spring itself!

 It's quite wonderful to be able to wander through the house; up and down the steep steps, through the bedrooms and ante-rooms. Of course it's the studio of the painter that is captivating. It has been recreated with original pieces and some reproductions to be the same as it was while he lived here. Claude Monet lived in the house for 43 years, from 1883 to 1926. The house is over 40m long but only 5m and one room deep. Monet chose the colours of the house and shutters, and designed the fabulous blue tiled kitchen that could cater for the family of 10 that lived there.

The studio must have been an inspirational place to work and contemplate life. The large windows allowing the sun to illuminate the space and inspire the artist.

 The kitchen was kept warm by the huge coal and wood fired cast-iron stove and the warm glow of the polished copper pans reflected the sunlight. The walls were covered in a traditional blue and white patterned 'tile of Rouen'. Next to the kitchen was a dining room that was en explosion of yellow. Monet didn't follow the fashions of the time which called for dark wood and the sombre interiors of the Victorian age, instead infusing his home with the passion for colour that he saw in nature and which translated into his art.

The house was our first stop but then it was on to the garden. Anyone with a passion for gardening will be overwhelmed by the colours, shapes scent and abundance of flowers in this garden. Even if you don't love gardening, you will fall in love with this garden. It's so inspiring that you literally want to take a photo of every plant; every flower, and every bumble bee on every flower!

These are only a few of the hundreds of pictures I took and if you can imagine each of these flowers multiplied by 1000 then you get some idea of the colour and vibrancy of this garden!

For me, however, the most beautiful and inspirational part of the garden is the lily pond. The lily pond was the inspiration of some 250 oil paintings which were painted in the last 30 years of Monet's life; many of the painting created at a time he suffered from cataracts.

Throughout his career Monet made a point of exhibiting a series of paintings related by subject. Painting from the series Watery Lily or 'Les Nymphéas' are exhibited in galleries around the world. The photos below are my interpretation in film of what Monet was able to create with a brush and oil paint.

As you can see below, no camera can capture the beauty and tranquility of the lily ponds in such as was as Monet was able to do on his canvases.

On 24th June 2008, one of Monet's water lily paintings 'Les basins aux nymphéas' sold at Christies in London for £41 million.....almost double the estimate!!!!

That may be a lot of money and someone is now the owner of an incredibly beautiful painting. For me, it's knowing that I have experienced the garden in person and seen the house, the flowers, the lily pond.....it is an experience and a memory that is priceless. 

A English summer

I can't believe that it's been nearly 4 months since my last post. I really don't know where time goes and of course the winter had set in pretty early this year at Bird Cottage. As we were gearing up for our first full winter in the Highlands our neighbours and friends had told us that ANZAC Day was the day the fires go on.....well......I think they went on about 2 weeks before that!!!! Things started to get decidedly chilly quite early in April and we already had 2 loads of timber for the fire delivered by late June.

But we were not too concerned. With the excitement of the new shed going up and that taking up most of our time, we were just counting the days till our holiday and escaping to the UK for a few weeks of an 'English summer'. We arrived in London on the 13th June....to cold weather!!! Now, to be completely fair it wasn't freezing but cool enough to be wearing jeans and pull-overs! Only the week or two before the UK had been experiencing incredible heatwaves with some of the highest temperatures ever recorded!!! And that will all be returning in a weeks time....after we're gone!!!! Ces't la vie.....and I can say that as we are off to a sunny and warm Paris tomorrow!!!!

But I digress.....London in the summer actually quite lovely and one of the loveliest things (forgetting about the dreadful weather) is the profusion of colour offered in garden bed, hanging baskets and even the many flowers popping up in the lawns of parks dotted around the countryside.

I'm staying with the in-laws and they have a lovely English 'cottage' garden. In summer it's always a mass of colour with huge bumble bees buzzing all over the place.

We don't have anything like these 'bumble bees' in Australia and I love how big and clumsy the look, yet how delicately they land on flowers and gather the pollen. I can sit and watch them for ages as they dart in and out of open blooms, jumping from one plant to another. Every now and then they duck into a flower they've already visited and quick smart head off to look for somewhere new.

And they certainly are spoiled for choice in this garden with the agapanthus, buddleja, fuchsias, geraniums, clematis and many other flowering plants.

Buddleja or 'Buddleia' as it's sometime know has masses of flower spikes in purples, white mauve and pink. It's loved by butterflies and bees and there are both deciduous and evergreen species. The genus was names after an English botanist, Adam Buddle (1660-1715) and some species have been used for medicinal purposes or their colour used in dyes! 

In the garden there are two stunning clematis. A hot pink and beautiful purple. Both are in full bloom and colours really complement each other!

                               

Clematis is a part of the buttercup family Ranunculanceae which originated in China and Japan. They have been widely cultivated since the mid 1880's. Clematis are vigorous growing woody climbers or vines that twist and curl around structures or supports as they climb. They grow best on cool temperate climates in full sun and are usually deciduous but in warmer climates are evergreen. Because of their climbing ability and masses of spectacular flowers, clematis are one of the most popular plants in English gardens. You could certainly grow these in the cooler climates of the Blue   Mountains and Southern Highlands and down into Victoria. If your on the coast in Sydney I'd try it on a south-facing wall and see how it goes.

                             


All time favourites in many gardens around the world are the pelargonium, or geranium. And you can't beat a spectacular red-flowering variety such as the one pictured. Pelargonium species are evergreen and originate from South Africa where they thrive in the warm to hot condition, being heat and drought tolerant. I always remember the masses of geraniums in the window boxes and pots in the Greek Islands and it just says 'summer island holiday' to me. In temperate climates they can be grown year round outdoors without trouble but if you get frosts they can get damaged so it's better to bring them inside in the winter, or take cutting and strike them over the winter months for planting out as new plants the following spring. And lovely purple-spiked mini-agapanthus look great mass planted in a blue glazed pot.

The English really do container planting very well. Every spring pots and hanging baskets are planted up and really add an amazing colour to what would be a bit of a bleak landscape (ooppps...did I say that out loud???). The masses of reds, pinks and yellows offset with green and silvery foliage adorn walkways, paths and gardens everywhere.

Hanging baskets are big business in London with many of the major streets and thoroughfares decorated with large baskets of summer colour. They are often used 'en-masse'-' like these below outside the famous London department store 'Liberty' just off Regent Street and around the corner into Carneby Street.

So while the weather may have been a little grey it's been lovely to be surrounded by so much colour. I got to spend a few hours today laying in the sun watching the bumble bees go about their business. And tomorrow it's off to Paris where I plan to go and visit the beautiful gardens in Giverny of the artist Monet. The gardens that inspired is beautiful Impressionist painting. 

Making the most of the English summer and looking for inspiration at every turn!

Great weather for cooking!

What a dreadful week we have had with the storms, hail and flooding that has lashed the east coast of New South Wales. Hopefully it's finally behind us and the sun will stay out for a while allowing people to assess and fix the damage that has not only happened to their homes but also their gardens.

I was excited to arrive home a couple of days ago to a new delivery from The Diggers Club. www.diggers.com.au

The box contained a raspberry called Rubus ideaus or 'Neika Pink', and thornless blackberry 'Waldo' and a marrionberry. The marionberry is a blackberry hybrid developed at Oregon State University in 1945 by crossing a Chehalem blackberry (a berry with native blackberry, Loganberry, and raspberry in its background) with a Olallieberry (itself a blackberry cross) and named after Marion county in Oregon. They were first brought to market in 1956 and it's not a berry I had ever head of let alone seen.  We have had a few handful of berries (the ones the birds didn't get to first) from the canes I planted last spring but I decided that I needed to add to the berry patch and 5-6 plants should provide a decent crop of blackberries and raspberries.  

I also got a cute little blueberry plant called 'Brigitta', no doubt named after that girl from 'The Sound of Music'. We already had one blueberry plant but I decided that I want shrubs that not only look food but will provide us with a crop so hence, another blueberry!

Also in the delivery were two asparagus plants that go by the very attractive name of 'Fat Bastard'! I've always wanted my own asparagus patch as we love to eat them and they are nutritious as well as delicious. In addition to the 'Fat Bastards' are two purple asparagus plants which is an old French variety. As asparagus is a perennial crop they need to be planted in an area where they can be left to develop. Asparagus plants can be productive for up to 20 years!!

To make apace for the asparagus I decided to remove the cherry tomato plants that I had planted last spring under the dining room window. This was just a small space where I had improved the soil for planting in the side courtyard while I'm still waiting to start work on all the larger permanent veggie beds in the back garden. The tomatoes have done really well and we've had plenty for salads throughout the summer and I also made a couple of batches of tomato and chilli jam (thank you for the inspiration Judith and Robyn) which was delicious!!! Unfortunately there were still some red tomatoes but lots of green tomatoes on the plants. I decided to pick them and put them aside before I ripped out the plants.....I was sure there was something I might be able to do with them. A quick google and I came up with a recipe for Green Cherry Tomato Chutney.

So let the preparation begin. Turns out I had nearly 2.5kg of tomatoes!

The recipe was pretty easy but called for a few basic spices which I happed to have in the pantry. It also incorporated a few 'Granny Smith' apples chopped and lots of chopped onions.  www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/cook/recipe/green-tomato-chutney-20111018-29w9q.html     This is the link if you think you'd like to give it a try. It's a recipe by Jeremy and Jane Strode. 

The ingredients called for yellow mustard seeds, fennel seeds and coriander seeds as well as cloves, bay leaves, chilli flakes and a cinnamon stick (I had some cinnamon sticks in a jar but I had a feeling that I'd plucked them from a potpourri at some time in the past but they still smelled nice and fragrant so I popped one in anyway! There was also garlic and fresh grated ginger which added a lovely fresh smell to the pot.

Of course with most chutneys and relishes there is always a bit of vinegar, in this case I used organic apple cider vinegar and a fair whack of brown sugar. Sugar is needed as a preserving agent if you plan to store your chutney for any length of time out of refrigeration. 

Throw it all in the Le Crueset and over a low heat start to simmer. Actually you add only half the vinegar and simmer for about 60mins before adding the sugar and the rest for the vinegar and simmer again for about 90mins. Make sure you stir the mix regularly as it can catch the bottom of the pot (like mine did!!!). Luckily it didn't burn ....charcoal infused green tomato chutney was not what I was aiming for! A lot of moisture will come out of the tomatoes as you start to cook so this will need to be reduced with slow simmering. (some of the recipes I looked at were American and called for the tomatoes to be salted and left overnight then drained to cut the acidity and remove moisture but I like this recipe as it's much less fiddly). 


So then I let it bubble away for a bit and I have to say the colour was not really great....hardly the lovely fresh green that the tomatoes had started out as.

But I guess that's the result of all those spices and herbs infusing together and of course all the ingredients were fresh or dried and there is nothing artificial in it so you get what you get!

After picking out the bay leaves and cloves it was ready for bottling. I'm pretty new to this preserving business and I need to do a lot more research and get the right equipment but a few empty jam jars would work for now. I washed the jars and lids in warm soapy water and rinsed in hot water, then boiled them in a soup pot for 10 minutes. I then put them in a pre-heated 160 degree C oven to dry out completely. Using metal tongs I placed the hot jars on the marble slab and used a spoon to fill up the jars completely, ensuring that there were no air bubbles. I filled the jars right to the top then screwed on the lids and turned the jars upside down to cool. Ces't fini

The chilli gave it a bit of a kick. I was using some dried chilli I bought in Thailand and I used just under the amount stated in the recipe and I'm glad I did. It's hot but just enough. This chutney could be served with a crumbly cheddar cheese and crusty bread or with cold meats for a sandwich or a ploughman's lunch! I think I'd leave it a month before opening for the flavours to develop and then make sure you pop it in the fridge after it's opened.

So this is a bit of groundedGARDENS meets gardenKITCHEN.  Since moving to the Highlands and having the opportunity to start a kitchen garden this has been my goal; to bring my two passions of growing things and cooking together. It will be a long process though. I've got plum and cherry trees waiting to go in the ground. The Genoa Black Fig which is an heirloom variety purchased through The Diggers Club is now about 15cm high; it was decimated a day after I planted it by a hail storm but has really started to shoot up and in a few years there will be figs stuffed with goats cheese, wrapped in proscuitto and grilled...drizzled with a balsamic glaze. The pomegranate has been planted in the front flower garden because it's beautiful foliage turns bright yellow in autumn before falling so it's as much as pleasure to look at as it will be to harvest the fruit. The rhubarb is going great guns...only planted 3 weeks ago and it's already doubled in size!!!

What could be better than jars of preserved peaches and quinces, bowls of figs and pomegranates,  plums and cherries......but that's a few years away yet. For now I can content myself with a chutney simmering on the stove.  And I've gone a bit overboard planting roses in the front garden so there should be plenty of flowers to cut for the house.

If you have a passion for growing whether it be flowers, fruit or vegetables there is always a small place you can use to get yourself started. No matter if it's a small patch in the courtyard or a few pots on the balcony you'll be able to get a crop of cherry tomatoes and some basil growing (imagine those 'insalata caprese' on a warm summer night), fresh mint for 'mojitos' or even a sprig of rosemary for the roast lamb. You might not have the space to grow everything you would like but you will have the satisfaction of eating something you've grown yourself. 

Up the garden path!

Leading on from my last post, work has continued on creating a grander entrance for Bird Cottage. We had already put in the front gate and side pickets but I should go back a step to show you how we created the path.

Since we've moved to Bird Cottage we tend to use the back door as we have a side drive to a carport in the back garden. When friends visit we want them to use the front entrance so it was important to create a proper path to welcome our friends.

Behind a shed in the back garden was a large pile of brick-shaped pavers that were covered in dirt and moss. At first I thought I'd have to pay to dispose of the pavers, not really having any use for them. Then when we started to plan the front garden I thought I might be able to use them to edge the front path. So one sunny afternoon I started throwing the brick out onto the back lawn and got to work with the 'Gurni' high-pressure water blaster. To my surprise the pavers came up looking like new and a lovely reddish-pink when dry.

Now I don't profess to be a brick-layer but as an urban gardener I'll give anything a try! If I muck it up I'll get someone in to fix it but I'd prefer not to pay if I can do something myself. And given that I had the pavers it was just some sand and cement that was needed to finish the job. First job was the excavate the path area and remove some soil. We needed to do this so the path would not be too high; we did't want it sticking up to high above the lawn and it had to be in proportion to the timber steps. After removing about 5cm of soil and levelling the area it was time to bring in some road-base.  

                                                  

  Using a 'whacking' machine I hired from Bunnings the road-base was pounded into an almost a solid, compacted mass.

The road base gives a good sold base to lay the pavers on. Running string lines to get my edges right and also the levels I mixed up my sand and cement to make a mortar base. I did this by hand in a wheel barrow; 1 part cement to 2 parts sand mix, using a white sand as I wanted a white tinted mortar, not a yellow colour. 

I have to say, it was quite therapeutic laying the 'mud' and using a rubber mallet to knock the pavers into place [ I also knocked the hell out of my thumb with the rubber mallet and it's now a lovely shade of black and likely to stay that way for about 8 months till it grows out....OUCH doesn't even come close to the pain.......but I digress...]

As I went along I payed great attention to keep the pavers in a straight line and also using a level to make sure everything stayed square and even. Once I had the pavers bedded into place they needed to be 'pointed' which is filling in between with mortar. I think a professional would have done this as they laid the pavers but I found it easier to do it after they were set in place, using an old sponge to wipe away the excess mortar.  At the same time I went along both the inside and outside edge with extra mortar which helps to stop the pavers moving and keeping everything nice and solid; this is known as 'haunching' which you can see in the picture below.

After 'pointing' and 'haunching' [ it almost sounds painful!!!!] the mortar was left to dry. When your laying pavers in a mortar it's impossible not to get some of the mortar over the pavers no matter how careful you are wiping off the excess. What is needed to clean them up is a wash down with hydrochloric acid. This is mixed one part to ten parts water. I used and old dust-pan brush to wash the acid mix over the pavers. Make sure you use protective coverings such as heavy rubber or chemical specific gloves, long sleeves and face/eye protection to protect against splashes. The acid just bubbles a little then you just rinse it all off with a hose and the pavers come up all clean; almost good as new!  (To work what I needed to clean the pavers and how to do it I just looked online....Google and Youtube are amazing tools...how did we ever cope before them???)

Either side of our path I am planting English Box or Buxus sempervirens. Maybe it's a bit kitsch but I love the formality of a small box hedge. I have planted tube-stock that I bought on Ebay (now how did we ever survive without Ebay???). 42 tubes for $50...bargain!!!! And they arrived well packaged and in very good condition. You might never have though about buying plants on Ebay but it's a great and cost effective way of buying smaller plants. I'm also a member of 'The Diggers Club' [www.diggers.com.au] https://diggers.com.au and they mail out live plants all the time! 

I used timber that I had salvaged from the old garden beds to create an edge then removed the grass, added extra compost to the soil and a bit of chicken manure for good measure and I was ready for planting. The tubes arrived about 2 weeks ago so I was really pleased to start getting them into the ground. 

You can see back towards the gate I have added a second row of 5 bricks. I needed a gap in the hedge to give access for the gas man to bring his trolley through to replace the gas tanks which are on this side of the house [one of the few times I have thought ahead and solved a problem that would have been a real headache in 8 months time when we needed a new gas bottle]. I still have to finish the hedge beyond those 5 bricks.

And this morning the pink decomposed granite has arrived; the finishing touch for the path. This granite is sometimes known as 'deco-granite' and it an excellent choice for paths and other areas where you would like a hard surface but don't want solid paving (or heaven forbid...concrete!!!!). There are generally 3 colours available; a yellow, reddish-brown, and pink. The pink is the most common and I think the softest colour and will really complement the tones in the paver edge. Decomposed granite particles can be from the size of a pea to the size of a grain of sand and all sizes in between. This is great as the particles will settle and compact and form a really solid base. Unlike gravel or pebbles, when the decomposed granite has 'set' it's very easy to use a plastic garden rake to clean up any leaves or twigs rather than having to use one of the power garden vacuum machines. We have already used this material in the side garden (pictured below) and have been really happy with the result.

One important thing to remember though is that decomposed granite is a stone; it's crushed so it has sharp and jagged edges that will soften very slowly over time. So it can be a bit uncomfortable to walk on in bare feet....but more importantly if you have lovely, shiny polished wooden floorboards.....TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF OUT SIDE......or you will have lots of lovely scratches on your shiny wood floors where the granite has imbedded itself into the tread of your shoes!

Dah Dahhhhhh!!!!!  It's complete; well....except for the rest of the hedge which is this afternoons job to install. And I have a very satisfying feeling that in a few years time with some clipping, shaping and nurturing the gardens of Bird Cottage will be looking something like this!!!!

So as the weather starts to cool don't forget there are many jobs to do in the garden to prepare for next year. A last-minute fertilise to get established plants through the winter and in many areas it's still warm enough to do your last minute planting and get the roots of new plants established. 

The wood-burning fire went on last night for the first time this year....a couple of week earlier than our neighbours had suggested with ANZAC Day being the turning point in the Highlands. But there was smoke coming from a few other chimneys in the street so we were no alone in feeling the cold. 

Time to rug up and finish planting that Buxus and before another storm descends on us!