Autumn

We have had some lovely, properly autumnal weather recently. Cold-ish in the mornings, warming to low to mid 20s in the afternoons. Cloudy and misty in the mornings, sunny in the afternoons.

But not a lot of rain.

I have started the early autumn garden tasks. I've pulled the runner bean plants on the porch side of the veg beds. I had eaten all the beans and there were no more flowers. I've left the ones on the other side. The plants in there still have beans and flowers. I've eaten almost all the corn. I have done really well for ripe tomatoes this year and am starting to bring in the (plentiful) green tomatoes to ripen inside. The cucumber and zucchini plants are still producing, so I'll leave them for a while. I am going to plant pea and broad bean seeds in the beds when they're empty.

I'm pottering around in the backyard, slowly, slowly tidying it up. I've started tackling the leaves along the back walkway and I finally got around to cutting the grass in the side garden. I'm not sure why I'm so reluctant to get out and tidy the garden up. It's not really hard work and once I get started it doesn't take long. I just seem to completely lack any motivation. It's not even that I don't like tidying the garden. I do. I just don't want to get started!

I have had to buy a new vacuum cleaner. The previous one, which I hadn't had all that long, simply stopped sucking. This seems to defeat the purpose of being a vacuum cleaner. I couldn't fix it so cut my losses and bought a new one. But this time, instead of buying another stick vacuum, I bought a barrel one. And it is MUCH better. It also has a fitting that scrapes the carpet and pulls up all the cat hair. I already had a manual carpet scraper, which I use once or twice a month -  but it is very convenient having one that attaches to the vacuum cleaner.

I took some boxes of donations to the Buninyong Lions' Op Shop on Saturday morning. They were very busy, which might have had something to do with the half price tables outside and the sunny weather.

I have more boxes ready to go. I also have boxes of bottles and jars to go to the bottle bank. (There is no kerbside bottle collection in Ballarat!) And I have ordered another skip to come on Thursday. Although - I ordered it online and I am not confident in his technological prowess. I might go retro and give him a call and check that he got the form. This time the skip is largely for the garden. I have lots of wooden boxes that are starting to fall apart that we used for vegetables when we first moved in.  I don't use them any more and they need emptying of soil and breaking down. 

Sunday pickings to go with dinner

Sunday sunset