Putting the garden to bed, and a surprise!

When I came back from my recent trip to France, it was to find a surprise: my fences had all been replaced! Ok so it wasn't a total surprise as I knew that it was on the cards. It was all part of the package when I had the decking done, but the man was going to fit it in at another time. Well, he came and did it without saying a word! It was quite necessary as every now and again I would be in the garden and hear a dull thump as another piece of the old rotten one would fall off. In a way I am sad because they old one had such character  (and the new one has none) but I suppose some new climbers, trellis and age will sort that out. Yes, I could have easily done this job myself but the man who did it as part of my decking costs, almost came out labour free, (and he got the fence panels cheaper than I could have done) he is a good sort and one of those people you trust straight away.

It has confused the neighbours cat dreadfully. He used to cut through my garden and disappear through a hole in the fence. Yesterday he sat there for ages looking at where the hole used to be quite as if waiting for someone to open it for him.

So my yesterdays lethargy is over. I am staring at the sky (rather like the cat) trying to decide if it will throw any rain down on me today. I want to oil the deck but won't if the rain is coming. It is very much colder today. If it warms a bit in the afternoon I will get on with it. besides that I have been getting the garden ready for winter. I did some weeding yesterday and put manure down on all the beds. There won't be much more planting this year although my mum did tell me that she picked me up a vine of some sort, a clematis and a yellow climbing rose at a garden centre near her which is closing down and had 50% off everything. They will be good for going up the new fence.

My rhubarb is finally nearly rotted away, it was quite a difficult task to leave all of it on there unused, but I know it was the right thing to do as next year it will give me a better crop. That is a passion flower in the background, it has been sitting in its pot all summer waiting for the fence to be done before putting in. Not sure how it will do in a cold Lancashire winter, but I'll give it a go.

Can't say that my cabbages look like they are thriving exactly.

My Tess of the d'Urbevilles rose has done brilliantly this year and is having a second flowering at the moment. It needs supporting because it has grown so much, will need to give it a good prune after christmas.

last month I put some alpine plants into the crevices of the dry stone wall, they look very cute, these hardly little things, clinging on for dear life.

My mildewed azalea has improved slightly, though  you may not tell so much from this photo. The rosemary is not looking so good though. Not expecting much else to happen here this year, although I did put some bulbs in. A friend sent me some Jersey Lily bulbs, which was a nice gift.

So today I will give the lawns their possibly last mowing of the year and do some general tidying up. It is a day to put on my aran sweater and some gloves and my hat I think. Still looking up deciding if it will rain.......