With a freezing weather forecast for the latter part of the week, we decided that we had better lift the dahlias and put them into winter storage. With this in mind, we headed to the allotment on Tuesday afternoon.
The tops of the dahlias had already been frosted so I cut back what was left of the foliage whilst, Martyn lifted the tubers. They were then taken to the greenhouse where they were covered with some old hessian potato sacks and a pile of enviromesh. We filmed the process and the video is posted here
Before we set off for home to warm up, we harvested a few more leeks and a couple more savoys.
We’ve been ripening the green tomatoes in the garden, under cover, on our patio table. This has provided a steady supply of homegrown tomatoes. Not bad having our own tomatoes into December. It must be a first and was helped by the fact that we weren’t plagued by blight this year – one advantage of the drought conditions. The box of tomatoes has now been brought into the porch but we don’t expect to have many more ‘fresh’ tomatoes now that the temperatures have dropped.
As the freezing cold conditions arrived mid-week an order of raspberry canes arrived. These have been planted in large pots of compost and popped in the garden greenhouse where they will stay until early spring when the conditions are right for planting them on the allotment. This method has always worked in the past so hopefully it will again.
We wrapped up well and braved the freezing temperatures to take Ruby for our regular trip to Nostell. Ruby doesn’t mind the cold as she dashes backwards and forwards covering at least twice as much ground as we do.
The main lake was partially frozen. There was still moving water around one edge of the lake where the ducks were congregating.
We spotted a pair of new visitors which we identified as Goosanders. They were moving quite quickly and the images were grabbed from a video so apologies for the quality but at least the images were good enough to identify the birds. Our phone is great for landscapes etc. but not too hot at taking photos of moving objects at a distance. I maybe will have to take my camera along in case we have any more winter visitors.
One thing about the frosty weather was that it produced some wonderful photo opportunities.
The lighting also produced some lovely effects. Sorry if you are fed up with seeing the view below but it’s one of my favourite spots for photographing.
The swans were hidden behind the reeds so I couldn’t get a clear shot of them.
The contrast between the areas that were still heavily frosted and the parts where the sun reached was quite dramatic.
At least this week we didn’t have to avoid the mud so could stray away from the paths giving Ruby the chance of a good game of chase the ball.
As we headed back to the car, the sun was beginning to go down which produced some even better photo ops.
The views were worth braving the cold for.
It was noticeable that there were not as many visitors as usual and most of the people we encountered were walking their dogs. One advantage of having a dog is it gets you out when you may be tempted to stay curled up in the warmth. A video of our walk is posted here.
Just one meal that I am featuring this week. I made a Turkey and leek pasta bake. Into this went some of our leeks, carrot and parsley. I also popped a leftover mushroom in.
As the cold weather bites, thoughts turn to anyone struggling to keep warm. I can’t believe that in a, supposedly, wealthy country people are leaving their homes and heading for warm ‘banks’ as they can’t afford the cost of heating their homes. Something needs to change!
That’s all for this week. As always keep, safe and well and also I hope you are managing to keep warm.
Beautiful wintry photos Sue. I imagine that it must be handy to be a dog in this sort of weather – not only can you move more quickly but you also have your own fur coat. I certainly agree with you that something needs to change in this country – the sooner the better too!
Thanks, Anna. Ruby definitely keeps warm dashing around but I don’t envy her being bare footed
Goodness, fancy having tomatoes at this time of the year! Those photos are beautiful they would make excellent prints.xxx
We have been surprised with the tomatoes, Dina.
Nostell looks like such a lovely place to visit from your trip photos. We have Audubon park nearby, but it’s mostly wooded trails for hiking with a few open areas. We’ve had a warm spell here for a few days but winter is returning today.
It is a great place for a walk Dave – we are lucky to have a National Trust property so close by . We are members and have recouped our membership fees easily.
Good idea lifting your dahlia, I probably should have done the same. Whoops. The pasta bake looks yummy. You always take such beautiful photos on your walks.
Thanks. I don’t think we would have managed to dig anything up this week.
Stunning winter views, you have some really beautiful photos there. We even had a sprinkling of snow the other day. My little pond has defrosted now though which is good. The garden is full of birds eating from the feeder and bird tables which is lovely. Well done on all of those tomatoes, it was a good year for them wasn’t it.
Our bord bath kept freezing over, CJ so the birds just drank from and bathed in the pond instead. The ice and frost does provide good photo ops if nothing else