Flying squirrel

I just looked out of the window as a squirrel came flying past! I just saw the fluffy tail as it jumped from the fence onto one of the hanging basket brackets, then up onto the kitchen roof.

Why is it visiting us? WALNUTS! We have a walnut tree that we planted 25 years ago and it GREW. It must be 60 to 80 feet high. For years now we know when autumn is getting here when the squirrels arrive. Then they go on the a rampage and bury the walnuts. So sooner or later we have baby walnut saplings springing up all over the place. I don’t begrudge the squirrels, we have said we want a wildlife garden, and it is.

Home grown

Basically windfalls, five rough pears, two apples, three green walnuts and a single green tomato. The wind must have been blowing.

For the first time we have a good crop of apples on the main tree, the pear tree is bent over with pears that are growing slowly larger. The walnuts are being stolen by squirrels who bury them and the tomatoes are growing in a hanging basket and in a grow bag surrounded by other plants. They are all having to take their chances while there is less rain, but they are well established plants and I think the fruit trees have deep roots. We plan to do some pruning of the garden. The blueberries are gradually ripening, the gooseberries have all been eaten as have the raspberries. I saw no strawberries this year, but I think they have been shaded out by other plants. We even have redcurrants although I misidentified them as woody nightshade (not a good idea). Earlier in the year we had a small crop of cherries and we might get a few elderberries. So all in all not a bad year of fruit and veg.