....autumn...

over the fence the gardeners said- there might be a frost tonight. and so the whole city held their breath in anticipation. i fretted for my courgettes, not yet ready to hand them over to the autumn.
but it's a bit of a relief really, autumn. theoretically it means that i won't be watering my garden any more; that maybe, one day soon, my grass will stop growing for an instant.
do you know the other thing i like about autumn?
big jerseys.
after months of shoefree and lightcardis i donned, yesterday. for the first time since november, my boots. i wrapped up in a rollnecked jersey. oh so toasty.

and then spent the whole day sweating.

it was minus2 out at the airport this morning. but here in the republic, between the river and the deep blue sea, it was a bit nippy outdoors this morning. but no frosticles for us!

but just in case i was busying myself this arvo in the garden, bringing in the last of the tomatoes and salads. tut-tutting over the how poor a tomato season it was. the gardeners say- it wasn't a particularly warm february. i didn't notice. the gardeners say- it was a bad year for caterpillars. that i did notice!

so i sorted out the good from the bad, the green from the red while calix, my apprentice gardener sorted the rest- he took individual bites out of individual tomatoes that the caterpillars had spared, he thinned the carrots that weren't quite ready to be thinned, that were thin enough already, he picked up pots and transported them to other parts of the garden and overwatered them and himself while he was at it....

readying ourselves for the wintery wonders, i sewed some silverbeet with the hope of keeping our soups and stews all topped up with iron for the winter.

it's still sunny out, the doors and windows are all open and really, being as i've still got to bring in the corn and the chillies i better pull my finger out.

xx
gardener b