Gorgeous autumn - the vibrant colours of this copper beech aren't really captured in their entirety in this photo. That's a shame because the tree is such a joy at this time of year. The photo was taken a few days ago, and it has already has lost many more leaves whilst I've been waiting for a perfect deep blue sky backdrop. This tree sits quite close to the tulip tree, but here's hoping it won't be overcome by it one day. We haven't had any more frosty mornings since the April spell, though we have had quite a bit of welcome rain.
The grape vines have put on a spectacular performance. They fruited well this year, as the birds will attest to. The newest vines - Thompsons Seedless - were too young to fruit, but hopefully will redress that next year. Maybe we'll apply a bit more of the grey matter when we net them too. Peter's pruned them all and now they're looking sparse, though tidy. Their leaves have been swept up and added as organic matter to the vege beds and the compost pile.
Another huge batch of carrots has been dug up, cleaned, chopped, blanched and finally frozen. There's still another large zone in the garden, and a smaller area of leeks, that may have to be given away. I'm a bit over processing carrots and leeks, though it's very handy to have meal-sized portions ready in the freezer.
There were 5 persimmons after all - each one perfect and perfectly delicious. Let's hope for a much bigger crop next year. The feijoas have been and are nearly gone, and some have been consumed in morning smoothies. The rest have been used to make feijoa wine (double batch) and feijoa vodka. The feijoa flesh was made into wine, and the skins are steeping in vodka. What a lovely way to make use of feijoas. I ran out of suitable containers, hence the yoghurt pot. 
The damson gins and vodkas have been strained and the alcohol-soaked damsons have been added to the 2nd ongoing batch of cider (made from Granny Smith's apples). When you do this with sloes, the resulting drink is called 'slider'. I'm not aware of an official name for the damson version of the concoction. Maybe damcider? As someone prone to not labelling things very well (surely they'll declare themselves?), it was a bit of a challenge to identify what was damson gin and what was damson vodka. Suffice to say it took several samplings to reach a consensus. On balance, the damson gin was superior, but balance probably wasn't too prevalent at the time.
The vegetable gardens have been receiving their customary weeding / horse poo / hedge trimmings / leaf litter / compost attention, and I'm proud to report that this monumental task is nearly done. One main bed remaining, and a few bits of titivation required to settle everything down for winter. The keyhole bed in the photo is a 'before' shot. Today it's been totally cleared and is slumbering under a thick layer of pea straw. Several previously obscured garlic plants revealed themselves during the weeding process - they've been left in position and I may add a few more garlic bulbs in the next few weeks. I'd pretty much decided not to grow any vege crops over winter this year, but I'm already changing my mind. If there's garlic anyway, perhaps I could also add some spinach and brassicas? Maybe some beetroot. The horse arena beds are the next major task in hand. Weeding them will be a similarly major task. Then it'll be the flower beds and the herb garden. Then sorting out Lazy Mazy. And then it'll be spring again. I'm thinking that maybe I'll look into growing more edible flowers this year...
There are lavender hedges around 2 of the keyhole beds. They haven't worked well as a low hedge - mainly because they really don't want to be low hedge plants. Also, one was planted next to the main beehive, as a potential source of nutrition for the honey bees. Instead, they provide an excellent habitat for the wool carder bees that terrorise the honey bees. Last year I bought 3 silver box plants and have just taken 120 cuttings in the hope that these can eventually replace the lavender hedges. The rosemary hedge has worked ok, assuming that it responds to a decent haircut (perhaps I'll get Karyn onto that). Some of its sturdy stems would make great skewers.
I'm intrigued by the mushrooms that are growing around the base of the gingko tree. If I remember correctly, they've always been there on that patch of ground. Must try and find out a bit more about them. Happily, they don't seem to be affecting the health and growth of the tree, which is showing off its buttery autumn leaves.
The bees have been wintered down. The split I took a couple of months ago is still looking healthy, though the only brood is drone. There are a couple of empty supersedure queen cells, so hopefully, the bees are sorting out a new queen. They've been gathering plenty of pollen and honey supplies, so I'll leave them to get on with it. The queen bitch hive is as objectionable as ever but has limited brood. Perhaps they'll evict the old queen sometime soon and replace her with a good-natured version. Failing that, I'll have to attempt to do the deed myself if I'm brave enough. I had to garden with my mesh head cover for a couple of days after disturbing that hive. These kamikaze bees don't just give you a friendly warning. I recently received notification that AFB has been found within 3 kms so I'll have to disease-check more frequently. It's a worry, but I usually do check for disease whenever I open the hives.
My remaining trips to the West Coast are over and done with. I did take the opportunity to visit awesome Granity beach again and collect rocks to take home. Karyn has already requisitioned several to boost up the internal edging of her keyhole bed. I'd planned to add them to the base of the grape vines, but I think I'll use the rest as plant labels. It'll take a bit of paint and some creativity but should make enduring IDs to help those who don't know their carrots from their cucumbers. I've been asked to show the garden as part of the Wairau Valley garden tour in spring. As there'll be relatively little on display in mid-October, I'm trying to think out of the box to find ways of making the garden more endearing.
We've had no May guests in the sleep out and no bookings. It's to be expected and quite a relief to be spared the extra housework. We plan to add a better window to Sam's old bedroom - a compartmentalised zone in the garage that connects to the bathroom. Then we'll be able to accommodate up to 5 guests at a time. In the meantime, we're seriously enjoying a mortgage-free and child-free life. So much easier than any alternative.
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