Dark at 5 pm- so little time to garden

Here we are on the first day after the clocks have gone back, and I'm realising that the joy of evening gardening is a pleasure that will now have to wait until March.

The garden has been tidied up pretty well, apart from my own private terrace, which needs a lots of TLC.The cold night a few days ago killed off the begonias, and the phlox are drooping. A serious afternoon with the secateurs and trowel is needed to clear out the debris.

The White Moss herb garden is actually looking pretty good. We've cleared all the tired herbs and weeded around, but we now have a few fresh sprouts of fennel, and some lovely fresh baby sorrel, great for making sorrel soup or using in a salad. The sage is still looking great, but probably needs to be picked and dried if it's going to be ready for Christmas stuffings.

Here's a baby sorrel leaf, still growing in our Grasmere herb garden at the end of October.

The bay tree is blooming after it's drastic pruning on the order of Monty Don this spring. Will it survive another cold winter? We'll have to wait and see.

I'm glad I sowed my nasturtiums late this year.

I left sowing nasturtiums late this year, but that means they are at their best now, when everything else is getting a bit tired.
Here's a very pretty one.

Nasturtium at White Mos House, Grasmere, Lake District

These came from a packet of Thompson and Morgan mixed climbers. They've done really well. Obviously, I've got lots of caterpillars, but that's fine by me. They'll turn into something beautiful at a later date, they only eat the leaves which are far too big anyway, and I do rather like the furry little critters.

I pull the leaves with the caterpillars on them off, and make a little pile of leaves - a sort of caterpillar feeding trough. Keeps everyone happy.

Here's one I picked off earlier

Caterpillar White Moss nasturtiums, Grasmere

BTW, just to remind you, we are offering special rates this week. For details, see the Grasmere special offers page on White Moss House website