World of Banished

I have restarted this thread as it appears that due to the recent site upheaval the old thread seems to have been banished never to be found again.

As I sat eating breakfast enjoying the rawhide clip Abandoned posted, I watched in shock, horror, and amazement as a blackbird flew off with one of my strawberries in its beak.  :o

I have been creating a small potted garden under my covered courtyard in the centre of which there is a table filled with strawberry plants.  :)

The pots are covered with bird netting, and I must admit that it's only a temporary job waiting for me to get around to making a better cover.

At first I watched with interest as the bird flew in, landed, then looked up at the table -  my strawberries were safe, or so I thought -  I should have known better as that was why the netting was there in the first place.

..... A slight distraction as the culprit of my story has returned and an outside intervention of the strawberry saving type has been necessary !!!     :-X

Now where was I - having set it's sights on my table of culinary delights the bird came around to the front of the table, looked up again then hopped up onto one of my new potted Clivias.  ???

What, I thought, watching in surprise as it sprung with great dexterity from the pot, up and under the netting onto the table and proceed to gather and eat my long waited for berries.  :o :( ::)

So thinking cap on, off to the garden/hardware centre and reinvent the cover before its too late.  :)

PS -  It would nice if the cry emoji could be fixed as well.
PPS - The scene of the crime -  the upload worked, and so did the camera - I charged it the other day and noticed I haven't used it for twelve years,  and the battery still works  ;D

Quote from: Glenn on October 25, 2023, 03:05:03 PM
I have restarted this thread as it appears that due to the recent site upheaval the old thread seems to have been banished never to be found again.

The site was recovered using a six month old backup, so anything posted between April and the 2nd week of October is gone forever   :(

Quote
PS -  It would nice if the cry emoji could be fixed as well.

:)  ;)  :D  ;D  >:(  :(  :o  8)  ???  ::)  :P  :-[  :-X  :-\  :-*  :'(

How strange. I'll look into it.

Thank you

 :'(  ;D blackbirds and crows are very clever.  :)  Your plants look nice and healthy.  I thought of missing thread as I was rolling my big pots into the garage for winter storage.  Record high temperature for October here yesterday, now cold and rainy. Leaves are falling. Still have some work to do outside. Enjoy your spring and strawberries  :)

Having to move your plants into the garage to keep them alive - what a bother -  :-X

Although we do what we do to make our gardens nice - keeping your plants alive is a small price to pay for the joy a nice garden brings.   :)

At least where I live all we get are a few light frosts in the winter which is a bit of a blessing, although the coming summer will be very hot with 38C days - 100 F will double my water bill if I want to keep my lawn and garden alive.

Now the days are near perfect -  cool mornings, warm afternoons, and clear sunny skies.  :)

Summer will be different -  then I have to keep a cup outside next to the garden tap, otherwise I have to constantly come inside to have a drink of water, and then, finally, it will be back inside to avoid the worst of the heat.

PS    I have been making my own liquid fertiliser and I feed the plants once a month which seems to be working, and when they don't like a particular spot in the garden I move them until I get it right  --  too much sun, not enough sun etc.

 :) Pots rolled into the garage were empty, plants are now compost, seeds have been collected.  ;D  After months of planting, pruning, weeding, watering, watering, watering,  ;D I am glad to see the season end.  Soon we will have snow  :)

Took a week off work last week to try and get the garden ready for summer (NZ time), ran out of holiday .... I also promised kid I would take some pictures which is still on my to-do-list   :)

Finally moved my herbs inside for the winter. Not too soon because it got below freezing last night! My pepper plant was looking decidedly sad last night, but is much improved by this morning.

My tomatoes and peppers are dying off, but I usually wait until spring to compost the rest (mostly because I'm lazy about it lol). We'll see if the strawberries and mint will survive; fingers crossed!

I also took a few days off to help get stuff ready, but there's always so much to do, and not enough time! I'll have to try again on the weekend.

Am on phone, so just seeing if I can add a picture of the tomato plant I added to its summer pot in the weekend  ... here goes

Your tomatoes are coming along nicely Catty -  what type are they?

I wonder how any other people move their pots inside to keep their plants alive during winter?

I'm lucky in not having to do so as I have have so many pot plants now that I would have empty my garage to fit them all in.  ;D

Quote from: Glenn on November 02, 2023, 02:53:26 PM
Your tomatoes are coming along nicely Catty -  what type are they?

The one in the picture is a ponchi, the other three are a campari, Heartbreakers and a sweet 100.

I've also got a raised bed with strawberries and blueberries,  old compost bin has herbs, blackberry and a raspberry in it.

Apples, lemons and more herbs, plus my roses have started to flower

oh, your garden looks good.  :)  I'm not familiar with the first 2 tomatoes you mention but I usually grow one sweet 100 plant, one is enough  ;D  The name suits them.

Yes, very nice indeed.

My tomatoes are still a ways off yet - 'Grosse Lisse' and  'Black Russian' with 'Rouge De Marmande' going in next so it will be a 4-6 weeks behind the others in fruiting

Quote from: Abandoned on November 03, 2023, 02:28:50 PM
oh, your garden looks good.  :)  I'm not familiar with the first 2 tomatoes you mention but I usually grow one sweet 100 plant, one is enough  ;D  The name suits them.

The ponchi tomato produces a beautiful intense flavoured, round red and yellow fruit on a compact plant, and the campari is a type of hybrid tomato and are deep red and larger than a pear or cherry tomato, but smaller and rounder than common plum tomatoes

I have a feeling campari might be called something else in America   :)

Quote from: catty-cb on November 04, 2023, 11:38:54 AM
I have a feeling campari might be called something else in America   :)

That's possible I suppose.  We have a large variety to choose from, all shapes of tomatoes and sizes of plants.  Our growing season for tomatoes is 4 months at best so early varieties are best unless a bigger plant is bought.  Sun ripened homegrown are the best.  :)

Spent some time out in the garden today, and tomato plants now all in their summer pots

Normally on a nice warm evening would have all the doors and windows open, but its Guy Fawkes night tonight so very shortly once it gets dark enough all the neighbors are going to start letting off fireworks, it's going to terrify the cats so they are safely inside and I have the TV on, but they are still going to spend most of the evening hiding ... it wouldn't be so bad if there was a cut off time but they will be going off all night .... all the fire departments are standing by to deal with the fires

If there was ever a vote on this I would ban fireworks unless it was a public display   ???

Sorry forgot to include picture of tomatoes

Now, those are nice looking pots an trellises - I haven't seen those styles before.  :)

Oh wow your garden looks great! Those rosebushes are really pretty.

We've had our first frost here, but my cherry tomatoes didn't die. I probably won't get to see the rest of the green ones ripen though haha. I don't remember the variety though, something Tom maybe? Yours look like they're coming along well.

The tomato pots are called Tui Tomato Grow Towers

https://tuigarden.co.nz/product/tui-tomato-grow-tower/

Have them sitting on upside down plant bases which have wheels underneath so I can move them about the porch.

Quote from: angainor88 on November 05, 2023, 01:23:23 PM
Oh wow your garden looks great! Those rosebushes are really pretty.

The white rose is Alberic Barbier and the reddish one is Mrs F W Flight, I had this one in my previous garden and couldn't take it it with me so found a rose farm that was selling it

@angainor88 was going to post a comment over on the mod, to say thanks for the american  housing cos @brads3 has-been using them over here

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/762603-meet-the-bannies/?page=3

And they look great, anyway re comment on mod it was acting a bit weird possibly cos I was trying to do it on my phone so I gave up and posted here  :)

ah thank you @catty-cb !

I still need to add my stuff to the simtropolis site and update WoB on the american housing one. Some day I will find the time to do things...

But this week I need to do all my (USA) thanksgiving planning, especially as I am hosting this year. Someone else will bring the chicken, but I have to figure out sides and desserts etc. Not hard to do, really, but I have been putting it off. And I have to bake some bread this weekend too.

Quote from: angainor88 on November 09, 2023, 11:30:49 AM
...Some day I will find the time to do things......

Yes that's the tricky bit finding the time, I've got a list that never quite seems to get smaller   :)

We don't have thanksgiving in New Zealand, instead we have something called Matariki which takes place mid winter here (July), traditionally it was an occasion to mourn the deceased, celebrate the present, and prepare the ground for the coming year, today its probably a bit like thanksgiving but its more a community event rather than just families last year our town closed the main street off in the early evening and had an outdoor party for everyone who wanted to attend.

Well it's Sunday afternoon, it's hot outside 34C 94 F, and a day to keep out of the sun and catch up on other things, and a break from the garden.

So I thought I would share with you a few photos of a project I've been working on

The first photograph is my garden shed surrounded with kangaroo paws and the paving I've laid

The second is my garden shed and vegi garden

The third is that of Clivias alternating down the side of the house -  peach, yellow, Belgium Hybrid, and cream/yellow when in flower.
Out of sight in the courtyard are, green, apricot, bronze, yellow/cream, bi-colour, orange and others.

I battled for the last few years to get the lawn to grow in the area, but as it's shade covered in winter it was a loosing job and a constant annoyance, so I gave up trying and laid pavers instead -  and having finished it turned out quite well and was something I should have done much earlier.

PS   As an added bonus I lost 5 kilos doing the job ( which took several months ) and I'm now back to my more normal weight.

Looks really good   :)

Am tempted to turn some of my lawn into paving be a lot easier to manage, but my last attempt at paving around the three raised veggie beds put me off ever doing it again

Thank you,

And I agree, laying paving isn't easy at times.

The old grass had to be dug out, and the ground levelled, slopped and curved

And of course, when I came of square from the shed and square from the house the two didn't line up,  and it took forever to work out a pattern and angle that brought the two together as best as possible.

It's not perfect, but it was the best I could do.

Next will be two small areas where you come out the back door, and a place for a few agapanthus -  a compact deep mauve variety called "Bingo Blue"  :)

oh, it does look very nice, I like the shaded area with all the little pots.  :)

Thank you,  :)

I'm happy with how it turned out and are still trying different types of shade/semi shade plants as not all like the location.

The Clivias in the large black pots seem to be doing well, but I have to be careful not to over water them as it will rot the roots and you can easily kill them with kindness.

But best of all it stops the blackbirds from making a mess every day all over the path -  before the pots I had to sweep the path every day or two -  there was leaf litter everywhere.

How do you water or those pots?  With a garden hose or watering can?

When I'm watering the small pots in this section I use a watering can as it only takes a few goes to get the job done -  five minutes or so

However, when the Clivias need to be done as well I use a hose with one of the attachments that have a big round head that you can dial into a variety of sprays.

When the whole garden needs to be done (all in pots) -  vegi garden, fruit trees,  etc  which is about about once a week, I use the hose and it takes about 30 minutes which is fine as I find it relaxing.

It will take some time to get everything how I like it and work out the best locations for my new plants - what they are suppose to like and how they fit into my garden is another thing altogether.  ::)

The Clivias in particular will take years before I know how the spread of colours fall into place, and how they meet the eye. ;D

Attached is a photo of a few of the flower colours you can buy, and as time goes by I'm trying to add to what colours I already have -  I'm even growing some from seed but it takes five years from seed to flowering plant.

 :) very pretty.

they are lovely, unfortunately they are poisonous to cats so can't have them in my garden

Lucky I don't have a cat or dog -  I've had them in the past, but not now, they're long gone, indeed as the years have passed by so have the chickens, goats and pheasants,

I watched Abandon's Thanksgiving clip and wondered if next year it will take on an extra meaning, not only for the United States but for the whole world.

Trump was convicted and sent to prison.
American democracy was saved.
The rise of fascism in the US was stopped.
The world was saved from another wanna-be tyrant
And millions of people who he planned to round up and imprison in concentration camps were saved.

The prospect of a new terror and the prospect of salvation.

I watched a news clip the other day from MSNBC and it included an interview from a man/monster called Mike Davis who aspires to be attorney general in a new Trump administration - he said they were going to round up critics in the media and put them in gulags - gulags, its hard to believe he even used the word. Worse still, he said they planed to use the Nazi practise of going back to a person grandparents to determine who would be rounded up and who would not.

I try to be observant, and try to listen to my intuition -  stopping Trump would be like stopping Hitler at Munich.

And while such comments would have once been called alarmist, today mine is simply another voice among so many others sounding the alarm -  a firestorm is coming and it needs to be stopped.

You should watch the whole clip - with the point I raised starting about two minutes in.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_NFj3RWOHM

PS    Please forgive my un-Banished comments, but some things need to be said and heads need to be pulled out of the sand.

First Rain. Then snow. Then storm and snow. Then again rain. Then a very cold wind. Then ice droplets and some snow again. Then snow, wind, rain, storm and icy hail all together.


Then all of a sudden no storm anymore. Only rain.


Then finally I was home.

(I used the bycicle today to go to the city).

Sitting here on a warm Spring morning where it's 22C inside the house and the temperature is forecast to reach a high of 33C, my thoughts revolve around getting outside to work on laying a small section of paving before it gets to hot -  then back inside to avoid the worst of the heat.

Images of the type of winter you are describing are, for me, only seen on the news.

And while I can understand what life is like during such weather, the closest I have ever come to living in such cold was years ago when I spent two months in Sweden during what was at the time a mild winter.

Stay warm, stay dry, stay safe.

Spring is in the air

- the fruit trees are blooming, leaves are coming back, the gladioli have broken through the ground, the rhubarb is sprouting, the silverbeet is growing again, and my black Russian tomatoes have been planted.

Life is returning to my garden and the blow flies to my house!!

Such is the never ending cycle of life.
https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=69400fafeec60409&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBAU762AU762&tbm=vid&sxsrf=ADLYWIJAmA2SdftymTSxqxHg7n88Xxk1lw:1725144493914&q=spring+is+in+the+air&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjzzvuFqKCIAxWdyDgGHbf0EeQQ8ccDegQIOBAD&biw=1920&bih=919&dpr=1#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:97abc1da,vid:lLtKhGwQRDs,st:0

Ah it's always fun to hear from your side of the globe!

It's late summer here, still very humid, and the season for stone fruits is winding down :(

I didn't get to eat many of my tomatoes this year; most of them got stolen before they even ripened. But I did get a lot of husk tomatoes and peppers. I guess the local wildlife is not as fond of those as I am. My rhubarb is doing its autumn resurgence, so I might actually get to eat some this year (in the spring it put all its energy into flowering).

I hope everyone here is having a lovely time, no matter what season it is!

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes, I'm still eating last seasons tomatoes!!   ;D

I had so many that I ended up dicing and freezing containers filled with them, and last night I even had some for dinner - again  --  scrambled eggs with tomato and cheese, with salt and pepper to taste.

Half my freezer was filled with frozen tomatoes, silverbeet and rhubarb.

It's not so bad now, the silverbeet and rhubarb has been eaten and in a month or two the tomatoes will be gone

Last year I had three tomato plants which was way too many - this year only two.
The same goes for my silverbeet -  two punnets of seedlings - this year only one.

At least in a few months I will have tastee fresh tomatoes "yum yum" not the tasteless shiny red balls you get in the supermarkets.  ;D

And with luck, a breath of fresh air with

https://www.google.com/search?q=richard+harris+singing+camelot&sca_esv=058254844a293636&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBAU762AU762&sxsrf=ADLYWIK_Ts-9ec6ZBg6Jd6s4o7ttud9KkQ%3A1725231870586&ei=_vLUZvvDI5zF4-EPh5aDkAo&oq=richard+harris+singing+camelot&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiHnJpY2hhcmQgaGFycmlzIHNpbmdpbmcgY2FtZWxvdCoCCAAyBRAAGIAEMgQQABgeMgYQABgIGB4yCBAAGIAEGKIESKU6UPMJWKErcAF4AJABAJgBtAGgAeAQqgEEMC4xM7gBAcgBAPgBAZgCC6ACjA3CAgoQABiwAxjWBBhHwgIHECMYsAIYJ8ICBhAAGAcYHsICCxAAGIAEGIYDGIoFwgIIEAAYBxgIGB6YAwCIBgGQBgiSBwQxLjEwoAf8OA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:1b9fe317,vid:N0Bp5odIZjQ,st:0

To help brake the silence in our World of Banished I thought I would upload a 2016 remix of the 1964 masterpiece by Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk7RVw3I8eg&ab_channel=TeamCoco

Enjoy  :)

 :) Good song  :)  Thanks

Mighty! Good voice.

Thank you for sharing. :)

Yes indeed - a powerful voice and a wonderful gift  :)

A worthy remix of an old classic - what my mother would have called a golden oldie, even though hers were from several decades earlier  :)

Ya, can't beat the golden oldies  :)

Sorry Abandoned this clip shows as not available in Australia  :(
- you will need to tell us who it is so I can find another clip that is available

oh gosh, sorry about that.  The clip is the original "The Sounds of Silence"  by Simon & Garfunkel, written by Paul Simon and recorded in 1965.  It made the top 10 in Australia  :)

Thank you, I watched the clip last night, a sixty year old black and white that never looses its magic given the number of singers who have recorded their version of it  :)

Autumn is here for me, and it's starting to dip below 50F/10C degrees at night. I'm going to have to move some of my more delicate plants inside this weekend, namely the Thai chili bush and rosemary. I still have some green tomatoes on the plant that I hope will ripen enough to pick before the first frost.

I have friends coming to visit me this weekend, which is fun. I haven't seen them in person for a half a year. (I also need to make more plans to visit friends a bit further afield. So many people live far away from me now).

It is autumn here too and we've had some nighttime temps down in the 40Fs already with frost predicted for next week.  I have a lot of outside work to do before then.  Most of my pots are on wheels so I can just roll them into the garage at night to prolong the blooms.  The one little tomato that is left on the plant will not make it. Our fall color is spectacular this year.  :)

Such is the cycle of life

-  here where the weather is starting to warm up I have already had to start watering the plants, daylight savings has started and the first thunderstorm of the season was a few days ago.

Even winter is mild with the coldest only being a light frost which is lucky as there is no way I could fit them all my pot plants in the garage  :)

 ;D  oh that is too bad, no garage plant storage.  :(  Then you miss the joy of rolling them back out in spring and reclaiming your garage space.  ;D

I will enjoy the winter break from watering all the pots even though I do not have nearly as many as you have, Glenn.  Enjoy your spring  :)

As yes, the joy of spring  ::)

- airing quilts on the line and putting them away
- washing extra blankets and putting them away
- washing jumpers and putting them away
- stripping the bed to wash and put the flannelette sheets away
- best of all, six months of constant weeding, mowing, and watering has started

Not that that matters very much, it only takes an hour or two each day for a few days and I love my garden   ;D  ;D

I even picked my first strawberries yesterday after I finished watering.

After a few frosty fall mornings with plants in the garage, we now have warm sunny days for at least another week.  Some of the pots are now back outside next to the garage door for easy move back in if necessary.  There are 3 more pots like these on the other side of garage door.

(https://i.imgur.com/rXceTmc.jpeg)

Plants include corn, tomato, morning glories, mums, marigolds, lavender, and aster.  There are some artificial fall leaves in some of the pots.  The witch is also fake.  ;D

Enjoy the season  :) 

A beautiful fall display! I don't have any decorative gourds yet, but I need to acquire some soon. I am making a pumpkin challah today to use up the last of the previous year's winter squash harvest, before I start dealing with this year's.

I have moved my chili bushes inside for the winter, but I will wait for less sunny days to move the hardier herbs back inside. They don't get enough sun inside.

 :) Thanks @angainor88 .  I have reached the conclusion that my 2 favorite seasons, spring and fall, are too much work.  ;D

I have a plant stand in the garage with a plant light on the top shelf and empty pots stored below.  It is only good for starting seeds in spring, not keeping plants in bigger pots alive over winter. Last winter small aster did survive under the light.  I have tried keeping mums alive without the light and without luck.

I have parsley, thyme, and catnip in the sunny kitchen window year-round. I look forward to months of having only those to water.  ;D

What a colourful assortment of flowers and pots - it makes me feel like your witch - green with envy.  :)

Ahh, chillies - there's nothing like sweet chilli sauce on oven baked calamari - love it  :thumbsup

PS -  try using LED light grow lights for your indoor plants over the winter -  it will work wonders as the natural light from your windows isn't always enough.  O:-)

Today is a day for weeding  ::)  -  it rained yesterday - the ground will be soft for a few days -  I tried to weed the other day but the ground was already to hard to get them out.

 :) Oh weeding, ???  there are a few spots I'd like to get weeded yet, then there will be no more weeding till spring gets here too.  :)

I thought I would share with you a six months update on how my fish ponds are looking.

And while the plants are coming along nicely and the pond water is well seasoned, the fish, however, didn't do so well over the winter even though they should have, and instead chose to reincarnate rather than wait for the weather to warm up.

Very nice, the plants certainly have done well.  :)

Fall has come to an end.  The potted plants have all been rolled into the garage; the morning glories, marigolds, and mums are all blooming beautifully in there.  Even the scarecrow from the back yard is now in the garage.

(https://i.imgur.com/GP9Ttrb.jpeg)

A week ago, the scarecrow in the yard was replaced with a snowman.

(https://i.imgur.com/aXV0V6w.jpeg)

Today it is snowing.  :)

(https://i.imgur.com/u41yuPJ.jpeg)

Let it Snow  :)  Have a good day.

Ah, I'm jealous of the snow! I haven't had more than a little for the past couple years.

All my potted plants are inside for the winter too; taking up the one window that gets a decent amount of sun. Nothing outside has actually wilted yet, except for the basil, but I won't be waiting on the last green tomato to ripen lol.

This coming week is gonna be all about (American) thanksgiving for me. I'm hosting, so I gotta clean this weekend!

Hi angainor88  :)  I do love to see the snow and we need the precipitation, we were behind in rainfall, either nothing or downpours that didn't last long enough to help much.

Not enough light in the garage here, plants won't bloom for long but nice to have them a little while longer.  One tomato plant has a few very small tomatoes on it, not much hope here for ripe one either.  :))  I did put a few of the nice ones in the freezer for a winter treat.  :)

Have a nice Thanksgiving  :)

Snow and deer in the backyard what an amazing sight it must be  :)

Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, one of the less favourite facts of life  ;D

The forecast for today is 36C / 97F and at 9am in the morning it's already 26C / 79F and it shows every sign of being a long, hot, dry summer

Enjoy the cool weather while you can  :)

 :)  Hi, Glenn, we have our own little wildlife zoo in our back yard.  That feeding spot and snowman are about 12 feet from the patio.  The snowy zoomed picture was taken from the kitchen window overlooking the patio.

Our temperature now at sunset is 41F so 3-4 inches of snow is almost melted.  It will be many months till we have your summer temperatures here again.  :)

I only just realized marigolds bloom again because I was super lazy and didn't remove them from the pots on my deck. We had an extremely rainy spring which led to my putting my annuals outside later than usual. It went from rainy to hot and dry super fast here in Maryland USA. The marigolds I put in pots that hang off the deck. We went away for a couple of days to Hershey, PA and everything died. It was just that hot, and I had watered everything deeply before I left. :(. Flash forward to October and I was shocked to see them rise again from all the pots!

On another note, yesterday I gave my first presentation ever outside of my work to a group of strangers. Weirdly? I wasn't nervous at all. Usually I'm shaking and scared when I do these for work but I just eased right in to it. To top it off, I haven't given a talk since 2022 when my former boss (and now best friend and biz partner) left my work for greener pastures. It was a talk on teaching kids cybersecurity at age appropriate levels/ways that they can understand. They even asked questions at the end! Not too shabby!

Now I'm off until Dec 2nd (YAY!) from my regular job and am gonna just game, chill, bake, binge some long overdue stuff (like new Lincoln Lawyer season), and work on our side biz. Need this break badly. Yes of course Banished is in the mix. :) Nothing more relaxing than watching Bannies chop down trees.

Hi @katbarf

You have a good schedule planned, good work that you do.  :)

We had the same type of spring here in Wisconsin.  First cold and wet, then hot and dry.  I struggle all summer keeping plants alive in pots and sometimes water twice a day.  The ones on wheels I can easy move into the shade on hottest days or stormy ones. 

The marigolds easily sprout from the seeds that drop off of the faded flowers.  My pots all have new little marigold plants coming up.  Too bad they will not survive until spring but I do save the faded flower seeds to plant next year.

Enjoy your break.

Happy New Year!

I hope you all are having a good winter/summer! It is back to freezing temps here, though the last three days of rain have melted all the snow away (for now). I hope it comes back!

I've also been having some raccoon problems. They've been breaking into my compost bucket and eating half of it while scattering the rest all over, leaving a giant mess. I've had to move it inside, but they keep coming back to where it was. I saw their footprints in the snow all over the garden.

And a happy New Year to you and all Angainor  :)

I can only imagine how annoying a raccoon problem must be as all I have to deal with are birds that love scratching my garden to bits.
I did however, watch a YouTube clip by a fellow who bred medaka fish in his backyard only to have the racoons find them and eat the lot, which must have been heart breaking as he had spent years breeding and improving his line.  :(  :o  :'(

Happy spring to the northern hemisphere! And happy fall to the southern one!

I am starting mine out with a cold :(

I need to fix up the roof drainpipes so I can fill the rainbarrel again. My chives, rhubarb, and strawberries have made it through the winter; my mint has somehow not... The blueberry bush hopefully has, but I need to get it a new container too. My neighbor accidentally ran into it and broke it.

Hope you are all doing well!

Thank you, autumn is in full swing, the days are getting cooler, the mornings are cold but the days are still warm, and thankfully the worst of the summer heat is long gone.
I repotted my raspberries which weren't doing very well in the hot afternoon summer sun and moved them to where they will now get more afternoon shade and can be covered in shade cloth during the the summer heat - they already look much happier and healthier.
I repotted and split my agapanthus and now have twice as many, and are half way through doing the same with my clivias.
Such is the life of a retired gardener.  :)