Sunday 20 September 2009

Tom Woods


This is one of my favourite Fuchsia's at the moment. It's Tom Woods and I bought it last year at the Harrogate Flower Show. I love it's strong colours, purple corolla and white tinged with pink sepals. I have quite a few Fuchsia's in my garden, and can never resist buying another if I see one I like. I usually overwinter most of my Fuchsia's in my greenhouse as many are not hardy, but I usually also take cuttings just in case any don't quite make it through winter.


Good news on the pepper front this week. It seems that my patience is paying off for they are finally starting to turn orange. They still have a way to go, but it certainly seems as though I won't have to pick them whilst still green.


It has been a very good year for tomatoes. I'm still picking them daily and can't quite believe how many tomatoes I've got off four plants. I have chosen two of the four varieties I will be growing next year, Whippersnapper and Tangella. They are heirloom varieties and I've obtained the seeds from some very kind people on the Allotments 4 All forum. I still need to choose another two, so I'm reading up on different varieties at the moment.


A couple of posts back, I mentioned that I rarely get any other birds than Sparrows, Starlings and Blackbirds in my garden. Last week, my son came down from his bedroom and told me that there were loads of birds in the garden fighting over the goodies on the feeding station. I looked out of the window, but couldn't understand what he was talking about as there wasn't a bird in sight. Imagine my surprise when I looked a little closer and saw a Kestrel sat on my fence. He had obviously scared all the other birds off. I live quite close to open countryside and we often see Kestrels around and about, but I've never seen one in the garden before. I'm going to have to keep a close eye on my kid's pet rabbit's when they're out for their daily run. Mind you, it would have a problem with my daughter's rabbit, Sammy, he's the size of a small dog and getting bigger by the day, fat thing!

6 comments:

  1. I'm not a fan of fuchsias but that looks lovely, great photo.

    Your post struck a note of terror in my heart, you've picked out what toms you're growing next year? Goodness, I really should be more organised. Haven't even thought about it. Will completely steal this idea and have a think.

    And wow! to the kestrel! We only ever seem to get pigeons....

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  2. Your fuchsia looks really nice in that container - it sets off the colour beautifully. We too are still picking tomatoes off the vine - mostly Gardener's Delight which I swear by - but your varieties sound intriguing! We see quite a few kestrels too but never near houses or gardens - it must have been quite a sight seeing him sitting on your fence!

    Jeanne x

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  3. great pick of the fuchsia,,,Deb don't worry about being organised...it can be highly over-rated..lol

    I love your Kestrel story...I was out walking the dog a couple of summers aga and kicking a ball about when a kestrel dive-bombed my ball from the sky and pierced it with it's talons..luckily i manged to flag down the owner a couple of fields over as the bird was well and truly stuck and I really didn't want to go close to it's beak..they are beautiful animals!!

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  4. It isn't that I'm organised, Deb. It's just that I have to have a fix of seed buying, so if I choose my varieties now, I can go ahead and buy them.

    I love Fuchsias, Jeanne, and this one has such a lovely colour. I've grown Gardener's Delight this year too. They never fail to give a good crop.

    I've seen Kestrels up close at falconry displays, Tanya, but never been so close to a wild one. I hope the owner managed to untangle it from your ball!

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  5. We also usually only get the usual blackbirds, starlings and pigeons but a few weeks back I witnessed a sparrow hawk catching a starling just outside my door. It had it pinned to the ground and was just about to rip it to pieces... I know I shouldn't have interfered but I couldn't help but open the door and give the starling a chance - it got away.
    My peppers are also ripening up now and I can see a glut coming...

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  6. I would have done the same, Rachael. I'm one of those people who can't watch nature programmes because of, well,....nature!

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