GETTING MY LONDON GARDEN READY FOR AUTUMN / MY SMALL LONDON GARDEN DIARIES

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Good morning everyone. And welcome back to my Sunday diaries in my London garden here. It is Friday morning and it is so quiet because it is quite early. So I popped out this morning, got myself some breakfast. Don't definitely don't do this every morning, but got myself a takeaway chai latte. Then I went into M&S and I got chocolate twist. How amazing does that look? And because I felt a bit guilty about getting that for breakfast, also got some mango and berries. Um, it is food shop day, so we have like hardly any food in the house, and that's why I feel like it's okay to go out and buy some breakfast. My goodness, that is so needed. I have been down to the a lotment plot quite a few times this week. Um, I'm trying to catch up on the vlogs for when I go on holiday, so the vlogs will continue. Um, so there's not going to be like a gap, like a break in them because I know so many people really enjoy watching my little a lotment diaries. And I'm going to do my best to see if I can just sort of seamlessly continue the vlogs and then go away somewhere. It may be that there's only one or two vlogs that week. We'll see. We'll just have to see how I go. I am a little bit burnt out from it at the moment, though. So, I'm sort of taking a bit of a break from the plot today. There's so many ladybirds in my garden. So many. Yeah. Every time I like turn my head, I see something out the corner of my eye. And nine times out of 10, it's a ladybird. How cool is that? Anyway, in a few weeks time, I am going away with my husband and we're actually going to stay in Bath and then we're going to explore the Cotsworlds because it is sort of somewhere that I've always wanted to visit. I actually want to live there. Like it would be my dream to live in the Cotsworlds. Um so we're centering ourselves in Bath and then we're sort of going to drive to different villages and have a look around and explore. And I'm so excited. But if you've got any recommendations for the Cotswwells, I would really really appreciate hearing them in the comments because I have a bit of an itinerary in mind. And I think we're going to sort of be leaving early on most days to to sort of beat the rush because it's going to be it's going to be busy basically. But yeah, do let me know if you've got any recommendations. I'd love to hear them. But yeah, on to this week. Haven't got too many plans. Obviously jobs around the garden and bits and bobs. things are sort of um coming back to life cuz we've had quite a lot of rain which is excellent news and then I've got lots of baking ideas to do. I've got one dessert which is going to be hopefully delicious and then I've got two like dinners to cook this week that I plan to cook with produce from the a lotment plot. So hopefully that'll be uh inspiring. I know so many of you like to see my recipes. I don't think of myself as much of a cook but a lot of you do seem to like watching me cook and getting inspiration I suppose and ideas. A lot of you also improve the recipes in the comments. So, if you think I haven't put something in, feel free just to write a comment and let me know what I should have put into my dish as well to make it better. But right now, I'm going to sit here in the sunshine and just enjoy my breakfast. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Right, just been doing a bit of weeding and some dead heading and stuff. There is an insane amount of ladybirds in my garden. I don't know if there's like a ladybird nest or if they just love my garden or if everyone's having this experience, but there are hundreds of ladybirds like everywhere I look. And I was going to mow the lawn today and I've actually decided against it because there's so many in the lawn. There's so many just like crawling through the grass. So, I'm just going to have to leave all that. Look, they all seem to be up along this fence. They just love it. They're just loving my garden. There's a couple hiding in there as well. Just everywhere I look in the garden, you will see ladybirds. I have never seen so many. Had a little bit of a rejig of this area cuz the sweet peas were finished. So, I took down that pink trellis and I put this one up instead, which I really like. I think the pink trellis is going to go by the front of the house, but I'm not sure yet. This is the bamboo stuff I used on the other side of the fence, but this bit here just looks a bit messy. And also, I think it only really looks good if you do it in a larger section like that because then it looks like it's supposed to be there, if that makes sense. Also, there seems to be quite a lot of self-seeded um violas. I think these are violas. There's a lot of them popping up in my pots, which I'm really really happy about. They really are just the cutest little flower. Anyway, I'm going to pot her out here for a bit longer in the lovely sunshine and then I'm going to go inside and start dinner. [Music] So recently for dinners, I have been loving making tray bakes, which is basically when you put all the ingredients into a tray, whack it in the oven, and set a timer, and then when you bring it out, it's all done and just ready to serve. It just makes dinner time so much easier. And I really am just loving experimenting with the different tray bakes. This one tonight is just a veggie one. So, you can see I've cut up some sweet potato and some cauliflower. And then into this bowl is going some two cloves of garlic. So, crushed. Um, some grated ginger. And then a teaspoon of cumin and a teaspoon of paprika, I think it is. Yeah, smoked paprika. And then just a dash of olive oil. And I mixed it all up and put it over the cauliflower and sweet potato and then whacked that into the oven covered for about 25 to 30 minutes or basically just until the sweet potato has cooked through properly. [Music] So dinner tonight is a little vegetable like tray bake which I'm going to put with some rice. It's Friday night so I don't want to cook too much. But while that is in the oven, I bought something from Amazon. Some little cute curtains my kitchen window. So I'm going to see if I can pop this up at the window now. I don't know how hard it's going to be. I don't know if I need a drill or something. I've got these little screws. I think it might just go into the wood. Let's try. So I just feel like this window needs something up at it. just always looks a little bit bare to me. But I'm not really a fan of the roll roller blinds, which is what we've got sort of the structure in for, but I don't really like them. I sort of wanted little like curtains like that. So then I have this wire, which I'm going to have to cut, but that's fine. These little circles I just pop into the end. Okay. Watch my kitchen go to pitch black. Oh, they're actually so cute. So cute. But it's just made the kitchen go so dark. That is such a shame. Maybe I could cut them in the middle so I could open them. Oh, I think they are cute. I just Maybe I need to cut the material in the middle so you can kind of open them like two little curtains. Yeah, I think I'll do that. Oh, but look how cute. [Music] Right. How good does that look? It smells incredible with the paprika and the cumin in it. Absolutely lovely. So, I'm going to have this with some rice, I think. Look how dark it's gone in here. My goodness. I've got some coconut rice. Not cooking it on the st on the stove. I'm literally just microwaving rice. It's Friday. Did I mention it's Friday? [Music] What would be even better on that right now is some like coconut yogurt or something, but I actually don't have any. So, that is the meal for tonight. Veggies, veggies, and more veggies. [Music] I'm really trying to eat outside as much as possible at the moment, especially with the weather being so nice because we're in August and you never quite know when the weather's going to change. Will this be August when this goes up? I think it's August when this one goes up. Can either go one of two ways, can it? At the end of August, it we can either have like a second kind of heat wave, a second summer, or it can get very cold and rainy very quickly. So, taking advantage of being able to eat outside. Also, I'm still reading this book. I'm very slow. I've just been so busy recently. I'm still reading The Garden by Nick Newman. Um, I absolutely love it. It is actually a postapocalyptic like thriller basically. I didn't realize that. I mean, it's a very gentle thriller. It's sort of actually is it a thriller? I wouldn't say it's a thriller, but it's post-apocalyptic and it's very atmospheric and eerie. And it's just about these two ladies who have this garden and are kind of like keeping the garden going season by season and living daytoday and I'm just loving it. So let me know if you've read this book because I'd love to know your opinions of it. I am loving it. [Music] Right. So, we're about to pop down to the garden center. I just want to see what they've got there. Um, and I thought I would take you with me. So, let's go. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Okay, so I picked up a few things that were actually in clearance, which is amazing at this time of year. Actually, quite a lot of the ders were in clearance, which was a little bit um surprising to me, to be honest. They were reduced from like 20 down to 10, some of them down to £5. So, I did pick up a few of them. And what I'm going to do is replace some of the stuff in this pot, in these pots here that have got a little bit sad. This was looking so beautiful, like a really nice summer display, but now it's just looking a little bit finished and sad. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to take out some of the things that are not looking their best, like these pansies here. Not looking too good, are they? I'm going to replace I'm going to put them somewhere else. I'm probably going to take out the mint cuz it looks like it's really struggled and it's just dying. And I'm probably going to take out the sweet peas as well. And then I'll plant in some of the new things that we've got. [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Just start. [Music] Lots of uninvited guests in these pots. Uninvited snail gang. Snail gang. Right. These are three plants that um are going to replace those three. So, we've got this lovely daily. I think it's a pom pom. Maxi peach delina. Delina. Beautiful. And then we've got this one here. Another dia. And this is gardenetta orange 3 L. So very much the autumn vibe. Very pink, pale, sort of peachy pink orangey. And then I also picked up this which would be very good in a pot. And this is a Biden. Don't know. Not even going to say that. Don't even know what that means, but thought that would be very nice. And also the autumn theme. So really changing to the next season in the pots now. [Music] I'm just breaking up the roots a little bit cuz they are a little bit pot bound and that should help them to spread out a bit. But I'm hoping these ders will last I'm hoping these ders will last a few months really. I think they'll flower into about November time actually. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Right, it is the same day, guys. Don't be fooled by the hair. I just had a shower and curled my hair. Um, also my washing machine and tumble dryer is on, so excuse the noise. I'm going to stick dinner on. I'm going to make a tray bake. I'm really into tray bakes at the moment. They are so easy to just like whip up really quickly. I've got this book all about tray bakes and the one we're going to make today is the salmon and broccoli one. I'm going to have to sort of modify some of the ingredients cuz I don't have all of them. But you know what? That's just good fun, isn't it? Right. Broccoli, salmon, ginger, chili, all the good stuff. Before I get started, I'm going to pour myself a little drink. I'm going to show you what I've been drinking. So obsessed with this stuff. Um I think it's Belvoir Belvoir Farm. And they do like a range of lots of different like um like alcohol-free drink. This is raspberry lemonade. They do like elderflower, sparkling elder flour and sort of lemonade and all sorts of really nice delicious um drinks. I'm going to have it in a wine glass because I haven't really mentioned this that I gave up alcohol at the beginning of the year, but I still like to drink out of a wine glass. Also, I can fill it up to as high as I want cuz it's just lemonade. But yeah, I do like drinking out of a wine glass. It just feels a little bit more special. And it's definitely helped with giving up alcohol if I'm honest. I lie that straight on top over. Oh, grated garlic. Grated garlic. Right. Okay. Right. I'm going to grate some garlic over over the top. I know a lot of you will tell me to wear gloves. I actually love it when my hands smell of garlic. There's something so nice about the smell of garlic. I'm definitely not a vampire. I love it. I can't get enough of garlic. Scrape the rest of that off. And then olive oil. Is it olive oil? Okay. Olive oil over the top. Let's just get stuck in with hands. Let's mix it all up. Sometimes so much easier just to get stuck in with your hands and do this sort of thing. I did wash them, I promise. Beautiful. And then we wash our hands. Salmon goes over the top. So, we just lay that over the top. [Music] A shame I don't have any kitchen foil, but this will have to do. All right, let's cover you over. Stick it in the oven. [Music] Okay, so for the sauce over the top, we've got spring onion and red chili. This is a mild red chili cuz I do not like it too spicy. Also, I think the spiciness comes from the seeds. So, if you can get rid of the seeds, I think it's less spicy. Then we've got some ginger, which I will grate in. [Music] Little bit of lime juice. Fresh is probably best, but this one does last me a long time. Some vegetable oil. Right, here we go. Oh, lovely. Right, let's get some of this sauce over. Doesn't that look gorgeous? So easy. All in one tray. Yummy yum. [Music] Just thought I would introduce you all to Percy the pigeon. This is my home bird that has been coming back time and time again for this bird food. And I have created a stronger bond with him than I've ever had with Einstein the robin. Pigeons are so easy to train and to like to make them like you. They're so trusting as a bird. They are literally the most trusting bird. He's a bit unsure now cuz I whipped the camera out, but I tell you what, he's very tame for a pigeon. Do you remember if you saw last week's vlog on Sunday, I filled up that bird feeder and I was like, my goodness, how quickly are the birds eating all that food? It's been Percy the whole time. It's one pigeon. It's one pigeon. He's eaten the entire feeder um in about 2 three days and I'm having to top it up. I'm literally feeding one bird. This is what he does. He shimies up the branches. It's a well practiced routine. [Laughter] Struting around like he owns it. Look. Look at this [Music] place in the garden. [Music] [Music] woken up to a bit of a rainy day today. Um, which is not too bad. I'm not I'm not that sad about it cuz the garden's getting a really good water and the grass is definitely happy. In my last vlog, a lot of you said that I spelled thyme wrong on my herbs. So, I'm just going to quickly correct that. This is how I spelled it. Right. Okay. Let's uh let's spell it correctly. Time. Thank you for joining me again this Sunday in my home garden here in London. uh took you out and about to garden centers, some park trips. Let me know if there's anything you want to see in these Sunday vlogs that I'm not maybe showing or something you want to see more of and I will hopefully be able to do that. I am still really enjoying making these Sunday vlogs. They are so enjoyable. I love filming little snippets of my life and it just sort of feels easier in a way because I'm just picking up the camera when I'm doing things that I think might interest you. So yeah, they're going good so far. I think I think you guys are enjoying them. Let me know in the comments if you are and I'll keep going. I've got some really fun trips planned in August and early September which I will show you on these vlogs and hopefully you'll enjoy those too. Until next Sunday, um have a lovely rest of your week. I'll be back again in my home garden Sunday 9:00 a.m. or you can join me in the week at the a lotment plot. Either way, I'll see you next time, guys. Thanks for watching. Bye.