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NEW VISITORS AND A GIVEAWAY

There's been new visitors to the patch recently, including this fluffed-up blackbird fledgling and a young fox - one of two, who seems quite content to lie on top of empty flowerpots!



There's been new visitors and followers to my blog too, so thank you.

To mark this I'm having a giveaway!



As all you gardeners will know, Autumn is an ideal time to be adding plants to your garden, and to plan ahead for next season.

With this in mind my prize is a copy of 200 Great Perennials, a neat little book, full of expert tips, practical advice and inspiration.

No garden should be without a perennial or two, so what I'd like you to do is to name one you would recommend every garden should have.

I'm leaving the giveaway open to all who visit my blog, from the UK and overseas, and also those who haven't ever left a comment before.

I'll pick out a winner on 7th August, so please get your suggestions in as soon as you can.

HARDY PERENNIALS AND OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN FLOWERS

Describing the most desirable plants for borders, rockeries and shrubberies, including foliage as well as flowering plants by John Wood 1884 Illustrated.

I discovered this old book, now to be found as an e-book on the web.

All modes of culture are given from specimens successfully grown in the author's own garden.

Just like me, and my blog!

Click on the illustration above, showing A Corner of the Author's Garden at Kirkstall, to read and gather information from this charming old book.

o

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FEEDING THE BIRDS

Over this weekend the RSPB are holding events all over the country to celebrate the wonderful birds around us, and all nature as a whole - Feed The Birds Day. Unfortunately I won't have the time to attend an event, but tomorrow I shall make sure to fill up the bird feeders around my garden and to replenish them regularly over the cold and wet winter months ahead.

Not all birds will feed from a feeder, so don't forget to leave some food on the ground too. Blackbirds love to come down for sultanas etc and robins love to feed on cake crumbs or if they are very lucky, enjoy a mealworm or two! Just watch out for the starlings, they have a habit of appearing from nowhere and eating everything in sight, and then leaving their deposits everywhere!

I would love to hear what you feed your birds, and which birds visit you in your garden or on your allotment?

A month or so back, Michelle at Veg Plotting opened up her virtual garden for charity to raise money for Water Aid. I left a donation and was lucky enough to be picked out at random to win the lovely birdbook, which I have photographed above. Thanks Michelle. There is still time to visit, the garden's opening times have been extended, quite unusual considering the clocks are going back this weekend! The fundraising target of £1,000 has been reached, but has been reset to £1,300, which could pay for a hand-dug well and handpump to serve 150-200 people in Ghana. If you haven't already done so, you may like to spend some time in VP's Open Garden.

DOORS

Jo from Higglety Pigglety reminded me that today was the day when bloggers from all over the world posted pictures of a door. Well the door above is my dream door, this is my fantasy hideaway, right by the sea. This door belongs to Prospect Cottage, which sits along a stretch of shingle beach in Dungeness, Kent. It is famous as being the garden of Derek Jarman, a painter, theatre designer and film-maker.

One of my ambitions in life is to have a seaside garden, I hope this becomes a reality?

'Charmed by the landscape, we decided to visit the old lighthouse. There's a beautiful fisherman's cottage there, and if ever it was for sale, I think I'd buy it. As we neared the cottage, black varnished with bright yellow window frames, we saw the green and white 'for sale' sign, the improbability of it made the purchase inescapable' - Derek Jarman.



This has to be one of my favourite books. Derek Jarman's Garden is the last book he ever wrote. It is his own record of how the garden evolved and life in Dungeness. Against all odds, Jarman made a breathtakingly beautiful garden in the most inhospitable of places.

I really love the photography in this book taken by Howard Sooley, he captures every season of the year from all angles.

Jo has asked if I have visited. Yes I have seen Prospect Cottage, J drove me down a year or so back and we drove past in the car. Properties down there are few and far between and I must say some look in disrepair. Some may say the area is pretty bleak, maybe so, but I definitely feel I have some connection to the place.