January skies and the first flowers.

January 22, 2025January 22, 2025 ~ My virtually free-from kitchen ~ Leave a comment

Fiery_Scottish_sunrise_January_2025 — Fiery sunrise over icy hills. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

A very belated happy new year to you. This month has flown by. All the festivities of a few weeks ago seem like a long time away already.

It’s a quiet time out of doors in terms of gardening. The weather has been quite kind so far. Little snow and rain, some stormy winds, and some very cold nights, but nothing extraordinary. The days are slowly drawing out again and there have been some beautiful sunrises.

Early_morning_sunrise_January_2025 — End of the night, beginning of the day. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

Scottish_sunrise_January_2025 — Sun up on a chilly day. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

Whilst there have been lots of lovely starts to the day, I haven’t seen much happening in the skies at the other end of the day, apart from this sunset which is punctuated with puffs of white cloud which look like plumes of steam.

New_year_Scottish_sunset — Early new year sunset. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

There have been many postings on social media of the Northern Lights here in central Scotland. It usually means getting up in the middle of the night to look, and to be honest, when it’s so cold, I am not motivated enough to do it. However, earlier in the month, there was an alert that the lights were visible at a much more sociable time. So I ventured outside in the back garden on a wonderfully clear, crisp night and saw…….absolutely nothing! However, pointing my camera at various points in the sky, the lens picked up this faint purple glow in the north-east sky. To the eye, the sky was almost black except for the stars.

Pink_purple_glowing_night_sky_January_2025 — Purple night sky. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

To finish this short post, there are a few flowery delights in the garden at the moment. I just hope the Periwinkle, Rhododendrons and snowdrop survive any cold weather that’s heading out way in the next few weeks.

Scottish_garden_flowers_January_2025 — Early bloomers. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

Have a good rest of the month and I’ll be back posting some time in February. Thanks for stopping by 🙂

A September garden tale

September 29, 2024September 29, 2024 ~ My virtually free-from kitchen ~ Leave a comment

Concorde_pear_tree_Scotland_September_2024 — End of September and the pears are almost ready for harvest. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

Hello there. It’s nearly the beginning of a new month, and Autumn will soon be in full swing. September has been a pretty dry month here in central Scotland, unlike other parts of the UK. So dry in fact that the water butt is almost empty which is almost unheard of at this time of year. But no doubt Mother Nature will make up for it next month and you’ll be reading about it in my next garden post!

The day and night temperatures have lowered as the month has gone on. A few days ago, it was gloriously sunny and warm, and the sunflowers and rose opened up in response.

Sunflower_and_pink_roses — Sunshiny flowers. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

In the greenhouse, the Cobra French beans are still producing flowers and juicy green beans. Such a tasty treat.

Cobra_French_beans_growing_in_late_September — A very beany harvest. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

And so to my tale. I was late planting runner beans this year and ended up leaving them in the greenhouse in large pots for quite some time. In mid August, the beans were failing to pollinate behind glass, I carefully moved them outside. After a few days of warm sunshine, regular watering and some feed, the beans started to form and began to develop very quickly. So pleased was I, I had a whole post planned on how to successfully grown runner beans late into the season.

Early and mid-September_runner_beans_developing — Late starting runner beans. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

Then, early one morning in the middle of this month………

Deer_damage_to_homegrown_Scottish_runner_beans — Deer oh deer! Images: Kathryn Hawkins

……this is what I woke up to! And here’s the culprit. Now a frequent visitor, he/she has also taken a liking to Salal berries (amongst many other plants!). I’m not too bothered about the berries as they are very hardy, but, the beans, I could have cried!

Young_deer_in_Scottish_garden — Bean and berry eating Bambi. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

September_runner_beans_fleeced_for_protection — Bambi-proof, fleeced beans. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

After some hasty fleece wrapping, a few days on, the beans seem to be thriving again. The foliage and beans further up the stems were undamaged, and this is how they look this weekend; I may get to taste homegrown runner beans after all this year 🙂

End of September_Runner_beans — Beans in recovery. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

Another garden visitor who does no damage, is this delightful Robin who has started singing his heart out most days in the holly tree. Not the greatest of photos, but his song is an absolute delight to hear, and it is so loud!

Singing_garden_robin_September_2024 — Singing his heart out. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

I’m ending my post this week with an image of a radiant September sunset I captured this week. No sooner had I taken this picture, than the colours faded and it became dark very quickly. It was a glorious sight for a few short minutes at the end of a busy day. Until next month, thanks for reading my post. Best wishes 🙂

End_of_September_sunset_2024 — Scottish September sunset. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

Late winter/early spring

February 25, 2023February 25, 2023 ~ My virtually free-from kitchen ~ Leave a comment

Snowdrops_Tay_riverbank_Perth_Scotland_February_2023_ — Snowdrops in the wild. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

Hello again. Thank you for stopping by. So, here we are at the end of another month. A chance for me to take a look back on what’s been happening out of doors since my last post.

Scottish_garden_snowdrops_February_2023 — Garden snowdrops, February 2023. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

It’s been a bumper year for snowdrops here in central Scotland. Along the roadside verges, riverbanks and country walkways, the tiny white bulbs are flowering prolifically. And, in my own garden, there are green and white clumps of the delicate little flowers in the beds, borders and paths all over the place.

Pink_and_white_Scottish_garden_Hellebores_February_2023 — New season Scottish garden Hellebores. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

Yellow_and_white_crocus_and_primroses_in_flower_February_2023 — February crocus and primroses. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

Other spring classics are opening up in the garden as well. In the shady borders, the Hellebores are unfurling, as are the primroses. In the sunshine, the crocus are flowering and giving bold, bright, blasts of colour all over the garden.

Early_pink_Scottish_garden_rhododendrons_February_2023 — Pale pink Rhododendrons, February 2023. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

The delicate pink Rhododendrons are blossoming in the back and front garden. Fingers crossed that the frost keeps at bay.

Late_winter_early_spring_Scottish_pink_and_white_heather_February_2023 — Early spring heather, February 2023. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

More hardy are the spring heathers. I haven’t seen many bees yet, but there are some tempting blooms out there in wait for our important little pollen collectors.

New_rhubarb_shoots_February_2023 — Garden rhubarb and rabbits. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

Very happy to see the first of the garden produce beginning to grow. Looking forward to my first harvest of fresh pink stems in a few weeks time.

My final image this week is of a glorious winter sunset I captured at the beginning of the month, and it was a real beauty.

February_2023_Scottish_sunset — Early February sunset. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

That’s me for this month. I will be back with a recipe post very soon. Until then, have a good few days and enjoy the unfurling of spring.

Golden November

November 27, 2021November 27, 2021 ~ My virtually free-from kitchen ~ Leave a comment

Golden_yellow_Japanese_maple_tree_under_blue_sky — Japanese maple tree lit up in November sunshine. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

It’s been a late Autumn here in central Scotland. The leaves stayed on the trees longer than I anticipated and the weather has been fine. Most of the month has been mild with glorious blue-sky days which highlighted the golden tones in the garden a few days ago. Fortunately I got to the Japanese Maple tree before the rain fell and captured the rich yellow leaves before they were washed off the branches. The next day, the paths and lawns were covered in a leafy carpet.

Golden_leaved_Japanese_maple_before_and_after_the_rain — Japanese Maple before and after the rain. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

Fallen_yellow_Acer_leaves — Golden leafy carpet. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

Accompanying the fair-weather days have been glowing sunrises and blazing sunsets. Both come and go with speed but are truly spectacular if you are in the right place at the right time. The front of the house faces the sun rising over the Ochil Hills, then in the back garden, a few hours later, you are able to see the sun setting.

2_Scottish_sunrises_over_Ochil_Hills_Perthshire — Sun-up in mid November. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

2_spectacular_November_sunsets_from_a_Scottish_garden — Blazing November sunsets. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

In the garden, here and there, signs of life continue. Some of the plants and shrubs have been confused by the warm weather this month and there are unseasonal second and third flowerings taking place.

Unseasonal_flowering_of_a_Welsh_poppy_and_Sharon_rose — A November Welsh poppy and Sharon Rose. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

3_lavender_plants_in_flower_in_November — November lavender, Images: Kathryn Hawkins

I cleared out the greenhouse a couple of weeks ago and picked off the last few tomatoes. They are now ripening indoors. I also harvested my first basket of greens; they haven’t done that well and got badly attacked by caterpillars, but there is enough for a few meals. A few more baby purple carrots as well.

End_of_season_tomatoes_and_homegrown_cabbages — Last of the tomatoes, some baby carrots and the first of the greens. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

It’s been a wonderful autumn for fungus of all kinds. I have seen so many images on social media, I never realised that there were so many different mushrooms and toadstools out there. Each year, to varying degrees, this bracket fungus grows on a old tree stump in the garden. I think this year it has surpassed itself. I love the arch of colours on each piece.

Rainbow_bracket_fungs_growing_on_an_old_tree_stump — Rainbow bracket fungus. Images: Kathryn Hawkins

I’m going to finish my post with something a little bit festive. Most of the fruiting trees around and about the garden are covered in berries this year, and the holly is no exception. The red berries seem to get picked off first leaving the yellow variety behind. Perhaps they taste different? No matter, I am happy for them to remain on the tree to give a great splash of colour to the garden and look magnificent against a blue sky. Until next time, take care and keep safe 🙂