OUTDOORS 6

Here you can see how angled the fall of the rose arch is - it doesn't perhaps look this bad from indoors. The aim is to clear the bindweed, remove the broken arch, and tie the pruned roses to the house/tree.

In the poly tunnel, you can see that late October offers the last few tomatoes of the season along with a little parsley still. On the other side, you can see my cauliflower seedlings are doing well - both potted and unpotted. I plan to take 4 down the plot to grow direct in the ground under 'plastic bottle' green housing, and around a dozen in the poly tunnel in pots once the tomatoes are completely finished. You can also see one of my 4 chili plants and some chives.

On the back table you will find 2 potted onions, the last of the basil, a few more tomatoes, 2 turnips...

Outdoors, and autumn is beginning to need my attention. The former bird feeding table cum hedgehog hut is ready to cover in small branches and twines and other garden debris in the hope to attract a hedgehog resident for hibernation - while under the smaller eating apple tree most foliage is dying for the year. The plan in this area, adjacent to the hedgehog habitat, is to saw down the apple tree to a stump and plant a cherry tree in front...

In spring, the bulbs and other plants should brighten the area up once more until our next fall arrives. The decision to remove the smaller tree is based on the fact I have sufficient bramleys to cook with and the eating apples are too small to eat mostly so need to be cooked anyway. Also, I do not havea  cherry tree and prefer cherries. Whether or not this transfer will occur in this year or next, I don't know though...

INDOORS 5

This is the reason my old Henry blew a fuse. My son had allowed about a foot of this gunk to build up, clogging up the tubing and brush attachment. The new Henry was ordered Sunday afternoon, Asda promptly sent it, and it arrived at Yodel sort center before midnight ready for next day delivery, Monday - but, as I write this blog on the following Friday afternoon, it still sits at the yodel SC.

I have however moved forward in other areas. I had an enjoyable 6 hour trip out with a group of friends Thursday, and purchased two cans paint ready to redecorate my bedroom. Here is a color illustration of the shade selected.

I got so cross at the non-delivery, I cancelled and requested a refund. Now, let us recall that it sat in the sorting office from Sunday night thru Friday night - without the company managing to deliver it to its intended destination - me. By Saturday morning, less than 12 hours after I requested a refund, the parcel managed to have been returned to the sender...

Getting on with my bedroom redecorating, the next task - and only one left before getting a new vac - was to transfer a dusty bookshelf full of books from the bedroom downstairs into the spare room. I had originally decided to leave it in the room with the cupboard Liz gave me for Christmas - but then I figured - I live in a whole HOUSE, not just one room now - why should I have my bookshelf in my bedroom when I could have it with my computer down in the spare room!

I managed to wipe it over, managed to get the books out, and just about managed to get it down the stairs - though I got stuck a few times and scraped paint 3 times trying, so should probably have waited til Liz helped me shift big furniture - and refill it. I had to ruin one book (One I shall never read again anyway) to prop the shelf up, though - as it tilted forward and seemed unsafe otherwise.

Finally - good news! Liz phoned to ask if I would like a lift to a nearby Currys store to buy a new vacuum and I said YES! So I finally have my new Henry and my son has my old Henry - and we can BOTH keep our rooms clean! In one way this is good, that he broke it and I repaired one - as now HE has his very own vacuum - to use and to take with him when he gets a mortgage and moves out - which could happen in as little as 3 months!

Meanwhile - Asda sent me an email asking me to rate the Henry I never rec'd from them and yodel twice left messages on my phone telling me to inform Asda that they had lost my parcel and needed to report it as missing...

OUTDOORS 5

Here is a shot of my recently renovated fruit quarter. I have moved some of the rhubarb crown/leaves to one corner and transferred blackcurrant/gooseberry/raspberry. I have just 2 gooseberry bushes to shift and a few raspberry canes to move, and then can dig out any remaining plants to offer fellow plotsters and dig the former fruit quadrant over ready for vegetable crops next year.

I will keep the rhubarb as is for one year too though, so I do not need to eat from the new plant for the first year. You can also probably see that I have moved the Myplex across. Next, a shot of the old fruit area at the back of the plot - a bit of a mess.

Front weed-bin side quarter in the final plot photo taken mid-October. A clump of oops-weeds, then my leeks with 2 carrots and 2 cabbages, and my giant artichokes. These are now offering pretty yellow flowers and beginning to fade/fall a little. Soon, it will be time to dig them all out and pop back just 1-2 roots, as this amount is far too many for just myself. I will be able to pass on some of the roots to fellow plotsters later this year.

The area around the artichokes also needs a good weed - it housed my onions. most were cropped, a few didn't grow and have been replanted to grow overwinter/next season.

October passed its midst and I popped down to re-dig spare soil areas, water, crop, transfer the gooseberry bushes, and check the progress on crops. The mooli are almost ready and I have sampled the first for 2016. The leeks will mostly be ready to start harvesting soon although looking shabby due to lack of rain and with a few smaller ones needing to catch up. The rocket, autumn raspberries and nasturtiums are in their last week or two of use. The artichokes will be harvested in a few weeks, as will my 3 cabbages and single Brussels sprouts plant.

Back home and the rose arch is now leaning at even more of an angle. It will not be long before I put some time and effort into the back yard once more and rip it out.

INDOORS 4

I set to work gloomily Tuesday afternoon, wiping over bedroom furniture ready to be moved down to the spare room. The 'next day' delivery vacuum that did not arrive Monday (which was the next day) as promised, had not arrived Tuesday either, but I had no choice but to start cleaning things ready. I cannot move them downstairs until the carpet is vacced though, and would have preferred to have vacced under the furniture as well as wiped it over.

I decided to investigate the old vacuum. It might have been a motor blow out, or a fuse in the plug, or one of any number of possibles - the only one of which I could actually check/fix without an electrician to aid me was the plug fuse. I managed to use logic and figure out how to open a modern plug - not with a screwdriver as in the olden days, but lifting a plastic flap!

A 13amp fuse appeared - not surprisingly. I searched about the house to see if I could find something with a 13 amp fuse in to test out - just to see if a repair would be cheap and easy - or impossible. The laptop computer didn't have a 13 amp, the drill didn't, but the kettle did!

I tried and yes - the old vac did now work again! I was still not happy, as the kettle needed it more. I replaced the kettle fuse and emailed my son - suggesting he buy a new 13 amp fuse, and that he could then have the old vacuum as his very own after the new one arrived. (That would also have the added benefit of my not having to loan him a brand new vacuum and risk having his blow another fuse - or worse.)

In the meantime, the carpet is yukky... so instead of progressing with the room, I cooked a lemon/macademia cake!

INDOORS 3

I left the vac out on the middle Sunday of the month for my son to clean under his bed as mentioned in my last post - and dusted around in the spare room - but...

...the next time I saw the vac I was horrified. The brush head was clogged with clumps of filth and dust - the entire tube was packed solid with muck. I realized there was likely to be a bag FULL of muck, but had had no idea my son would just shove the nozzle under the bed and not look where it was going or check to see that all was well.

I managed to wipe off the excess muck, clean out the tubing, and with a rather grim face proceeded to use the vac in order to clean up 1-2 small clumps left on the upper hallway carpet after replacing the bag. The vacuum did not work. My son had killed the vac outright - not just clogged it up.

Some distressed frowning on my part, excusing himself on his, lessons in how to use a vac and how to clean under a bed issued, and complaining on both sides later, my son said the supermarket where he works sometimes sell Henry vacuums and he supposed he would have to pay for one with the rent payment next week.

Finally, I ordered a replacement online and have billed my son. Although ordered on next day delivery, it put my plans to clean up my bedroom furniture ready to move out again. It seems my plans to redecorate my bedroom are cursed!

And things get worse. I ordered online Sunday and was emailed twice - order accepted and order sent to courier. Alas, when checking the tracker the parcel apparently 'arrived' late Sunday night - but has not moved since.

It is now Tuesday afternoon and the exact same result appears on the parcel tracker. I telephoned last night after work and the supermarket said they would ring the courier in the morning and phone me around 8am - I did not hear back from them either.

I look at my lovely new carpet - just 2 months old - and sigh... I can't get that flick and muck off it til my new vac arrives!

INDOORS 2

This is a caterpillar. He came with the organic broccoli I purchased and I set him free by popping him in a scraps bag with some green stuff. He decided to stay with me rather than wait til I went outside and climbed out of the bag and up the wall - across the ceiling - down the wall - and stopped HERE - above the fridge.

I did try to take him off the wall to take outside, but he was stubbornly clinging on and determined to pupate right THERE. The next day he began to pupate - so I guess I shall eventually have a butterfly in my kitchen!

Here you can see the chili plants progressing - each plant has 4 'hot lemon' chilies dangling from it. Once the chilies are harvested, I will attempt to over winter the plants.

I have now brought in my chocolate habanero plant - again. It began on the kitchen windowsill, got planted in the yard, put in a pot in the poly tunnel, and is now back in the kitchen.

I was ready - yet again - to progress with my bedroom decorating in the middle weekend of October. My plan was to thoroughly clean over the spare room and then the bedroom furniture that was to be moved. I hoped to move it sometime soon, when my friend is over her cold - and at least to buy bedroom paint on one of my two nights off from work.

Alas, my plans were ruined yet again. The last time I was raring to go - I got bitten by a large dog. This time, the vacuum failed. I was not happy to spot some small black living insects in the recycling box my son put out a couple of weeks ago, and have since nagged him to clean his room weekly. His response was 'ok - but I can't clean under the bed'. My response was to loan him my vacuum - which has a very long tube and small brush and can easily fit under the biggest of bed, let alone my son's wooden single bed. This was a mistake.

OUTDOORS 4

It is the end of the first week of October and here are my leeks - as well as 2-3 onions, one carrot and 2 cabbages. They look shabby and need some rain! Everybody's leeks are the same. I was not impressed to find someone/thing had removed an entire leek when arriving this monring though - but have not had much trouble previously with theft.

This shot shows I have dug over and edged 1/3 the plot. At the shed end I shall plant borad beans, garlic and onions, while at the camera end I shall transfer fruit.

The second week is now done with and I have progressed by planting a few garlic/broad beans, transferring most of my fruit (2 gooseberry bushes and some raspberry canes to go), and digging over the soil.

At home, the rose arch that was begining to tip over in the wind has gone down to a further angle. It is maybe soon time to remove it altogether, trim the rose bushes, and tie them to something more suited - the house and the palm-thing, perhaps.

Back at the plot in the middle of the month, here is a shot of the over-winter season bed at the front of the plot, just behind the shed. The melon/squash things will probably be too late unless we have an exceedingly mild winter, but can be pulled and popped in the compost once we have a frost. They were free and they came up from the compost, after all.

You can see a row of small green seedlings next to them - that is either kale or spinach. I planted a row of both and one set came up - but it is too small to tell which as yet. A few garlic, broad beans, and onions add to the area, and you can see where my shoes/boots have begun to create a mud pathway.

I have decided not to have grass or stones as path - too messy and not as manouverable. Mud pathways are better - cost-free and can be dug out and moved to new locations whenever I fancy.