Pickles / Apples / Flower beds - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Monday 29 September, 2025

by Rosemary at 8:55am in Smallholding No comments Add your own

W/e 28^th  September 2025

Monday was the autumn equinox, the Festival of Mabon. Cold at 6.30am – I thought we had a light frost, but not quite. Then the sun came out.

Mabon.

Six yellow bums on Monday morning; one to go. Then the long wait to see if they all hold. And seven by teatime. And Pickles was all done in. Honestly, I thought he was dead.

Is Pickles dead?

Tuesday, another lovely day. Good walk with Lorna along the front; never seen the tide so far out. Baked two batches of muffins – Raspberry & dark chocolate, and Apple and cinnamon. It’s only the second time I’ve made the latter and they are much better than the first lot.

Tide out at Arbroath.

Dan dug out two of the four perennial sweet peas that covered two of the arches this year. We’ve bought four roses, Goldfinch, from David Austin, to replace them. I wanted different colours, but Dan insisted that they had to be the same.

Good meeting at the hub, talking about Scotland’s Energy Future.

Wednesday, Murdo here and manuring lots of beds in the vegetable garden. He and Dan made a start on the polytunnel.

Preparation for next year.

Putting the garden to bed.

I finished my seed orders. And tidied out the old seeds, some of which I’d left in the greenhouse and wasps took the paper for nests. Lesson learned to keep them in the box in future.

Rescued a wren from Cooper.

Thursday, sunny and very still. Dan was off to Edinburgh on the 6.18am train, for a conference event on software. Yawn. It was, too.

I weeded another two beds; one is going to be a second heather bed but is currently heavily populated with silver birch saplings.

Silver Birch saplings.

The heather bed we planted this spring (or last autumn?) is looking lovely. There are a couple of varieties just coming into flower that are the most amazing red.

Heather bed.

Heathers.

Heathers.

Vet was here this afternoon to give Mickey his tetanus booster; Smokey is due his in February, so I’ll see if I can get both done at the same time, along with their teeth. Since they were in, I fed them and shut the gate, to save me a job when I come back from Gaelic.

Friday, the good weather is holding. Lorna and I went walking. Lindsay delivered six bales of hay, which should do us over the winter, pretty much.

Winter forage.

The apple harvest is in full swing. I only eat apples at this time of year. We’ve cooked and frozen loads and juiced a lot too. Today I ate St Edmund’s Russet.

St Edmund's Russet.

And Lord Lambourne. Katy is also on the go just now.

Lord Lambourne.

There is something digging in the field.

Who's digging?

Saturday, we were off to Edinburgh on the Ember bus, which is fab and MUCH cheaper than the train. I can’t read on the bus though, or I feel sick.

The purpose was to see the retrospective exhibition for Jim Dunbar and the Scottish Arts Club, in Rutland Square. It was wonderful. What a talent he was! Then off to the Scottish National Gallery, where we had lunch (disappointing) and viewed the Scottish galleries there. Or at least I did. Dan sat in the foyer and read his book.

Ponies wouldn’t come in so left them out. Wee devils.

Sunday, glorious day. Blue skies, sunshine, still and warm. Perfect autumn day.

Dan, Kate, Astrid and Mike were pressing apples. And pears. I cleaned out the hens, mucked out the ponies and brushed them. Poor neglected boys. They came in at 6pm, so they stayed in.

Of all our cats, Diesel sleeps in the oddest places. He was asleep in this pile of compost, in the greenhouse but was too shy to have his photo taken.

Diesel's bed.

Dan weeded Far Ditch, in the formal garden. What a difference. Not minded to cut stuff back yet – leaving it for the beasties. We’ve had such a population of ladybirds this year.

I gave the hen house extension a first coat of preservative. I’ll get a second on tomorrow, before the weather breaks.

And a couple of random garden photos.

Flower bed.

Flower bed.