Monday, September 3, 2007

September Bliss

It's September again and the days are getting noticeably shorter. In July it got dark round half past 10 in the evening but now around a quarter to 9. In the garden there is still a lot to do; such as a spot of weeding and pruning, but there is also a lot to enjoy.
This is what I harvested shortly after I returned from my wonderful holiday in Denmark: some leeks, the first red cabbage, my very first apples ever, tomatoes, corn, red hot peppers and strawberries. The outer leaves of the red cabbage are slightly slug damaged but the rest is fine, I'm glad to say. Slugs have been a real pest this year; there were so many of them after the mild winter we'd had, and the rainy weather this summer really helped those pesky crawlies too. Grrrrrrrrr!
But regardless of enormous quantities of slugs, there's a lot to harvest and enjoy at Bliss this month so I mustn't grumble too much.
There are still some ears of corn to be harvested. We have enjoyed eating them since the end of July. They are great for BBQ-ing, very tasty. But we like them cooked, with a bit of butter and salt, fine too. Cooking them literally 5 minutes after you have harvested the corn, does wonders for their flavour; they are extremely sweet, tender and juicy then. Mmmmmmm, bliss!
The grapes are ripening on the vine, both in my Victorian greenhouse and outside on the new pergola. This year will be the first time for me to harvest my own grapes, so this is something that I'm very much looking forward to!

If you are a regular guest here on Bliss, then you know what happened to my pear tree last year in August, if not read all about it here. So I think you will understand how happy I am that this year my pear is bearing an abundance of fruit.
In a few weeks' time, the first pears will be ready for picking. They are Conference pears and are very good as desert pears but I like making pear pies with them too. Scrumptious!

And the Bliss garden holds more promises of wonderful harvests for the coming weeks.
Looking great aren't they? I do so like pumpkin soup and pumpkin pie and this year there will be a good pumpkin harvest so that I'll have pumpkin soup and pie this autumn and winter until it's coming out of my ears.

My french purple potatoes are ready for harvesting too, more about them in a later post.

Strawberries I have been picking almost non-stop since the end of April this year. They are so sweet and we enjoy them very much, as do the birds and slugs!!! Luckily my frog friends have been helping me in the strawberry patch by munching a lot of slugs and by doing so they kept the slug pest there under control. The froggies did startle me from time to time though. There I was, peacefully picking my strawberries (as you do) when suddenly a frog would leap up from the strawberry patch, almost giving me a heart-attack (not really of course, but they did startle poor, unsuspecting widdle me with their antics).

But we are not thinking only of our bellies here on Bliss in regards to the harvesting aspect of gardening.
What do you think of this harvest then? Lovely, isn't it? It makes me so happy to pick a nice bunch of flowers in my garden, putting them in a vase or other container and then come into a room and see and smell those colourful displays of cut flowers.

This year I've been cutting flowers non-stop from the Bliss garden since early May. I enjoy making bouquets, both for my own home and for giving them away to good friends, family members and neighbours. It's such fun to see how happy people are to receive a bunch of garden flowers; their eyes lit up and then the nose dive into the flowers soon follows. And it's safe for them to inhale the flowers' wonderful scent deeply, as I do NOT use any chemicals at all.


Because of the unusual warm and sunny weather we had this year from the first of April until half May, we have been enjoying our roses in flower since the end of April, which is very unusual. And they are still going strong now, six months later. This is one of my favorites: Guirlande d'Amour, a white rose that flowers prolifically and has a wonderful scent. This is the rose that you have been asking about, Jodi, in an earlier post.

I love my roses to bits and they have given me so much enjoyment this year. What other plants can flower that long and have such lovely scent too? From early May to the end of June the roses in my front garden looked spectacular. Many a passerby-er stopped for a good look and to smell the roses too, I'm happy to say. Right now my front garden is smothered in white roses once again, the third time this year that they flower in such a profusion.

My front garden is a pastel dream in Spring, then during Summer it is completely white, but when Autumn is almost there ......................
more and more colour is added. I do so like to end the gardening year with a bit of a bang! And hot and vibrant colours really say Bang! to me.

In my back garden the Japanese Anemones are taking pride of place at the moment. They are one of my favorite plants as they flower when very little else does. I like the shape of the flower too, very unpretentious and daisy like.
Also in my back garden, I noticed that my Camellia, that I bought earlier this year in March, looks very promising already as it has many flower buds and I wonder when it is going to flower. At the moment my Camellia is in a big pot outside so, if necessary, I can always bring the pot into either my Victorian greenhouse or conservatory to protect the flowers if the weather turns beastly all of a sudden, something which has been known to happen during September/October in this neck of the woods.
But for the time being we at Bliss are enjoying the garden and all the wonderful gifts it brings us. Happy gardening, fellow garden bloggers!

In the garden, the decadent seeks to create a moment of beauty, which should then be allowed to fall into decay and ruin.
Medlar Lucan & Durian Gray, The Decadent Gardener, 2006

37 comments:

Carol Michel said...

Welcome back, Yolanda Elizabeth. Your garden is yielding up some wonderful bliss for you. Everything looks delicious, especially those pears and grapes. Yum!

Carol at May Dreams Gardens

Libbys Blog said...

Hope you had a great break. Its always nice to come home though and see whats been going on!!! As usual lots in your garden!

Matron said...

What a wonderful harvest! I love to look in other people's trugs! Do those hot chillis (they look like Scotch Bonnet?) grow well in your climate? I was thinking of growing some next year but wondered if they were just a Carribean plant?

Anonymous said...

Ook weer terug van weggeweest....:-) Ben jij ook altijd zo nieuwsgierig naar de tuin?(na de dieren..)
Je hebt een overdadige oogst dit jaar en zo te zien gaat het nog wel even door...
De kan met bloemen ziet er ook prachtig uit!

Laurie and Chris said...

Wow It looks like you are going to have a very busy september with your garden. Your flowers look great. Your arrangment is very pretty :)

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, YE. Your garden looks luscious as always.

Anonymous said...

What a nice crop! Und much more coming :)) . I'm still waiting for my corn to ripe and will remember your way to cook it. Haven't had it before. Your flowers look great! I love pink in all varieties. :))

SchneiderHein said...

Hallo Yolanda,
auch wenn Du nur ein paar Tage weg warst, so war es doch ungewohnt hier tagelang nur den Post vom August zu sehen!
Aber dafür gibt es nun ja reichlich Bilder & Lesestoff: Deine Guirlande d'Amour ist traumhaft. Wie lange steht sie schon in Deinem Vorgarten? Ich glaube, so groß wird unsere an ihrem Standort noch nicht einmal in 10 Jahren sein können. Aber Du hast ja dort auch eine herrlich freie Fläche für Rosen & Stauden! Überhaupt scheint es in Deinem Garten vieles zu gedeihen und noch sehr üppig zu blühen - trotz der Schnecken. Hoffentlich lässt der Frost wirklich noch lange auf sich warten!
Liebe Grüße Silke

Green thumb said...

Welcome back, Yolanda. It must be a pleasant feeling to be back,and to be greeted by such lovely Pears, Grapes, Strawberries...I am jealous!
Days are getting noticeably shorter, but darkness at quarter to nine? You really have some Day. Here it gets dark by seven nowadays and near the winter solistice it is dark by quarter past five!

Unknown said...

Welcome back, YE! I don't think that I have ever tasted a pear pie, but it sounds scrumptious. Like you, I'm enjoying the strawberry harvest right now--but I only wish I had some frogs to startle me while picking! Too dry here for those cute little guys, unfortunately.

Garden Cats + Crafts said...

Liebe Yolanda, schön dass Du zurück bist. Ich glaube, es haben Dich hier viele vermisst.
Es ist schön, dass es bei Dir so viel zu ernten gibt. Mmh, die Birnen als Dessert liebe ich auch sehr. Am liebsten die Birne Helene. Überhaupt sieht es noch wirklich schön und sommerlich aus in Deinem schönen Garten.
Ein besonderer Hingucker ist Dein schöner Blumenstrauß. Mir geht es genauso, ich habe gern Blumen aus dem Garten im Haus, erst recht, wenn die Tage kürzer werden. Hoffen wir auf einen schönen Herbst.
Liebe Grüße, Birgit

Unknown said...

So glad you had a good vacation--and so glad you're back, too. Your garden is looking wonderfully bountiful, and thanks for the rose's name. I don't think we've got that here anywhere, but I'll check with my rose-collecting friends.
Your flowers are looking as wonderful as the produce, too. But pear pie...that sounds truly blissful! If we lived closer, I'd swap pear pie for peach/blackberry jam (on the agenda for tonight's labours....)

Anonymous said...

Hi Yolanda,

It's good to be back again. There are still many flowering plants in your garden. And your produce still looks good. Ready to cook and enjoy. Like to taste your pear-cake.

See you,

Bert

Hannele på Hisingen said...

Wonderful.

A wildlife gardener said...

I'm so glad you had a wonderful holiday, yolanda elizabet. You deserved a good break.

You have certainly produced a veritable conucopia of delights at Bliss this year.

Everything from the fragrance of the roses, to the colourful display of the fruit and vegetables creates a complete sensory experience for us all...by proxy of course :)

Andrea's Garden said...

Hello Yolanda, Everything is so nice! I really envy you for your kitchen garden. Just great.. and the pears ... mhh! I gave away a few bouquets this year to my good friend who had to give up her garden this year which she enjoyed very much. There is still a lot going on in my garden, too, in all colors. Take care, Andrea

Connie said...

Everything in your garden looks great! How wonderful you can grow your own fruit, like pears, apples, grapes, and strawberries...they look delectable!
A very lovely floral bouquet, as well. :-)

Yolanda said...

Such lovely gardening photos from one yolanda to another.

Rusty in Miami said...

Great harvest, this is what gardening is all about. I will be getting my garden ready for planting next month. Welcome back

Robin's Nesting Place said...

Welcome back! I'm so glad that you've been able to enjoy an extended time with your roses and other plants. Hopefully next year the weather will be more cooperative for us here as well.

Annie in Austin said...

The harvest looks wonderful, Yolanda - especially those pears.

I really like the idea of the white garden staying so restrained and pure through the first two seasons, then cutting loose with abandon, awash in purples and hot pinks as autumn approaches. Perhaps this reflects your philosophy of life, too ;-]

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

SchneiderHein said...

Hallo Yolanda,
gestern war ich fast erschlagen von Deinem langen Post...
Auf jeden Fall habe ich erst jetzt Deine neuen Fotos vom Dream Team entdeckt und stelle fest, dass es ganz schön unübersichtlich wird wann welche Katze / Russe bei Dir lebte, wieviel Katzenkinder es bei Dir gab und welche davon bei Dir blieben.
Ich bin immer wieder erstaunt, dass es wirklich viele verschiedene Russen gibt - von extrem zierlich bis richtig stämmig und auch die Variationen von Grau (Blau) sind viel extremer als wir das ganz im Anfang mal erwartet hätten. Aber andererseits wäre es ja auch dramatisch, wenn der Mensch so viel Einfluss auf die Natur hätte, dass alle Russen fast gleich aussähen...
Liebe Grüße Silke

LadyLuz said...

Such a marvellous harvest and a wonderful reward for all your hard work. We all enjoy the fruits of your labour, thank you Yolanda.

Shirley said...

Hi again, Yolanda

Nice to see you back :-)

What a delight to see your home produce – a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach! Your kitchen garden is simply inspiring :-)

Your roses and other flowers have looked great all year – you are indeed a plantswoman! My white japanesse anemones are out now too – I also love these flowers in the very same way :-)

Anonymous said...

We all missed you YE! So happy you are back to a bountiful harvest! You will be busy with all that cooking. What time is dinner?

Ki said...

Very lovely bouquet of flowers. Your beautiful anemones and camellia are way ahead of ours.

stadtgarten said...

Your september seems to be different from ours: here it is only cold and rainy! But your photos are so lovely and I am still hoping for a "golden October" coming to us!
I hope you have also had good and relaxing holidays!
Groetjes, Monika

Naturegirl said...

Delicious and exciting the harvest from your own garden!! The fruits of your labour!! The flowers lovely and made the first entry on Garden Voices!! Hugs NG

Anonymous said...

Welcome back from holidays! I've missed your posts here. :) How did you like Denmark? I just love it!

Beautiful pictures! It's real joy harvesting from your own garden and all your fruits (esp. the pears)and vegetables really look tasty. Have a nice week!

Bev said...

I have noticed the shortened days also Yolanda. It seems like you go outside and all of a sudden, it is darker. Even late afternoon is feeling different. We love fresh corn but I've never had it just harvested for five minutes!! That must really be a treat. As usual, everything looks beautiful at Bliss.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back..
noticed your visit to my blog Guildwood Gardens, thank you very much for your visit.
The garden survived without you, as can see but your cat's must be happy to have you home again.
cheers from Canada Gisela

manus-schafe-gartenwelt said...

HI! Your garden is beautiful, but my english is so bad, i hope you understand my message..smile...your blog is really nice and i´m looking forward to your next story.
Nice greetings from me (Manu) and my sheep "Schmusibu".

Tira said...

Luscious fruits and great pics, again. Love the orange flowers in the first pic(dahlias?)
That camellia looks like its going to be a beauty!

lisa said...

Mmmm....your fruit loks great! Veggies too...sure hope I have more summer left, too!

kate said...

The Japanese Anemones are my favourite! They look wonderful - I would so love some.

Your grapes will be delicious and I am so pleased to see the pear tree has survived and produced fruit. Wonderful and heartening for all of us!!

TYRA Hallsénius Lindhe said...

September bliss indeed.

KC MO Garden Guy said...

What a wonderful garden you have to have so many different plants and flowers. Thanks for shaing!!