Yacon harvest

I dug up one patch of yacon today.  The tubers vary in sizes.  The tiny ones are left to be planted but I am not sure if they will grow any bigger as the leaves have died.

These tubers will be good cooked or eaten raw, perhaps in a salad.  There is a huge tuber which has been too long in the ground and is half rotten.

The pink offshoots will grow into new yacon plants.  Put them immediately into the ground after collecting the tubers and nature will look after the plants.  I will stagger the harvesting of the yacon as they are better preserved underground.

Another picture of the yacon stem, tubers and shoots.

Jack Frost

This morning Jack Frost did a bit of damage in the garden.  The burnt leaves in the picture are from a thriving borage plant.  The borage blue flowers attract bees so I have them growing all over the place.  I watered the ice away and it looks as if the plant may survive.

These lettuces could not be saved so they will be dug into the soil.  Fortunately I have a few other lettuces in more protected areas so all is not lost.  I have to start thinking about coverings for frost tender plants to avoid this kind of loss.

What's blooming?

It is cold and wet in the garden but I can still walk through to pick a few flowers for a posy.  Some flowers though are best left to be admired, such as this early flowering hyacinth.

Pelargoniums flower all year round and here my pink and red ones are looking cheerful.

A red lily brightens up a gloomy day.

Lavenders bring the bees.

Still a few roses braving the weather.

Rhus in autumn

The rhus is a highly toxic and allergy-causing tree.  When I first moved into this property I was careful with the rhus but so far I have not been affected even after pruning the soft branches and sawing the thicker harder wood.  It is a beautiful specimen in autumn and I hope the leaves will remain for another week or so.  I cut off the seeds and binned them but I have been finding so many baby rhus in the garden bed I have to make sure they are pulled out.