Rustic Guest Eve – Autumn in the Greenhouse

I’m welcoming my lovely sister, Eve, to the farmhouse kitchen this week. She’s the one who got all the green-fingered genes. It has been said that farmers don’t make good gardeners, and I’m no gardener (good or otherwise) so consider myself well blessed to have a sister who not only keeps me fed with the sweetest of fresh produce from her allotment but also scents the farmhouse with the pick of blooms from her garden. Lucky me!

This post was originally shared on Eve’s Lots of Pots blog. Do pop over and visit her there.

As you can see from the pic, we both got our share of the tea-drinker genes so I’d better get that kettle on.

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I love my greenhouse.

And recently I had a slightly sad/slightly cathartic day clearing out the bleached cucumber stems, the almost naked tomatoes..

Rescuing the drought ridden scented geraniums… (I took my eye off the ball on the watering front –  forgetting, in my autumnal self -pity, that there were still a few plants in there which needed me!)

…..picking smelly (in a nice way!) leaves to dry – lemon verbena, rose geranium, mint…

…finding small, hidden late summer gems among the drying foliage… still glowing with summer colours.

Eventually it was swept – and clean(ish)  – and looking rather bare.

I am trying to think of winter as a time for rest, a gentle slowing down for the plants and for me… so convinced myself to plan ahead, create my winter haven.

So a kettle – of course! …and a spare kettle just in case…

A fire – bliss – and a good store of logs…

A bit of rug (not too muddy yet).

and a favourite armchair – hoping that it won’t get too damp as I love it so.

Which reminds me – make a plan to stop the roof leaking!

A few late blooming summer plants…

They will need to be re-homed somewhere warmer before long. I very often lose my scented geraniums – house is too hot, greenhouse is too cold… so I hope to find a better place for them this year.

And last but not least – a pair of woolly socks and a bottle of wine. 🙂

So here I sit, writing this, in my – at least for now – comforting greenhouse.

Ah….cosy.