*sigh* more of the garden at its peak

Please excuse my absence as I have been basking in the post NGS garden and putting my feet up! The only problem I find with the NGS opening is that a lot of your year is focused on this one day, it happens and it’s like the best party ever, then there is this crash as you first eat all the cake that wasn’t sold and then have a bit of a funk.... So I have been keeping very busy with an escape to Stockholm to be spoiled by friends and to marvel at Swedish community garden projects, and I am counting down until we go to Bali for a couple of weeks which is so so exciting. A miracle also happened as I have managed to get 4.5 jars of honey from the bees...our honey is of course the nicest I have ever tasted

Garden wise it is looking more and more jungly by the week as the Ricinus get into its stride, and the last of the Cannas start to flower. I am ignoring the impending signs of autumn as nights get colder and increasingly thoughts turn to how I will do things differently, plant shake ups and lessons learned.  Currently I’m thinking I need to move a lot of stuff (is anyone ever happy) but it is this jigging and poking that makes it a great adventure.

So to continue the lazy theme I have more pictures from the open weekend taken by other people as it is interesting how other people see the garden and what they take pictures. Pictures shamelessly stolen from my friend Sunil, and the international paparazzi Ian and Irene

The hired help were very obliging.....

What was life like without bunting?

 Ooh at times the cake queue was a little manic as the routines of kettle boiling and not putting too much cold water into the canteen were established. Mum was ordered not to talk to people so much and friends just wanting tea and cake were kidnapped and made to do the washing up. All too stressful for me as I hid in the garden and used the toilet upstairs.

Mmmmmm Hannahs brownie.....The bakewell cake was also one of the favourites...

 These are some of the 20? forks and spades we have broken when digging the land....one day I will create a more artistic piece

 I *love* Tetrapanax....Im also trying to spread the Polypody ferm at the bottom of the picture as I think it makes for fabulous groundcover...

 This year I may eat a squirrel pie by October as they are learning to climb/collapse the sunflowers to eat the heads....

I love this picture (perhaps I read too many Borrowers books as a child). Some people talk about lying down in a garden to appreciate it properly and I can understand this.

 Now the visitors have gone the fish are actually more visible!

whats that giant plant at the back........

And at the end of the day, the garden back to being all mine again!