Busy

After a cool and rainy weekend, obviously today was hot and sunny. Mr B headed off early to London, so missing the glorious day. The butterflies and bees, however, were taking full advantage of the weather and the garden was alive with them. There are not many flowers left, so they tussled over the last remaining lavender, the ornamental sage and these ficoide - which have been flowering since early spring, save for a two week break in August. They are looking a little tired now, but there are still lots of buds waiting to burst forth.

Also growing well are the green beans I sowed a few weeks ago. The warm autumn soil seems to suit them better than it did in spring, and they already have a few pairs of leaves and are big enough for me to stop worrying about the cat scratching them up. Katherine sowed a patch of spinach and radishes on Sunday though - so they are being protected against use as a toilet...

This year is really one of playing at being a gardener: just trying different things and seeing what works. None of my neighbours think sowing beans now is mad, though they haven't done so which makes me suspicious about the likelihood of them (the beans, not my neighbours) being killed off by frosts before too long. If I can ever decide where it will be, next year we will have a 'proper' veg garden, rather than just a flower bed full of veg in front of my living room!