This is a very large stack of roof tiles for the porch. 4 sample tiles were bought home to choose from and we decided on the "Heather sandfaced"
All that needs to happen now is to nail them to the roof!
This year I grew 18 runner bean plants in my back garden. I chose a variety called "St George" as they were supposed to give a high yield. A month before planting I dug two trenches and filled with worm compost from the wormery. I grew the seeds indoors indoors in the boxes that fruit juice comes in and planted them out in midmay, the morning before the last major frost of the year. Saw the weather on the news and rushed out and covered them with fleece, all but 2 plants survived, lucky for me that I had a couple of spare ones in the greenhouse.
And so I decided to save the seeds, I left some pods on the plants for as long as possible until they were big and then picked them and dried them on the window sill. I now have a little bowl full of runner bean seeds - I wonder if they will grow as well as this years ones?
On Saturday morning I drove to Dedham to a farmers market, the market was not very good, more craft than farmers, only bought some pears, apples and a grape vine. I shall plant it on the allotment and see if we get any grapes! But the hedgerows along the side of the road made up for the poor market, full of orange, yellow and brown leaves and berries, I was inspired to pick some, so back home and out for a walk with my secateurs, I came home with a big bunch of twigs. I also found some seed heads in the garden and created these four arrangements.
My kitchen window sill with a beautiful view of next doors garage!
This one on the fire place in a big brown vase that my sister bought me a while ago, with lots of seed heads in it.
This one on top of the telly is in an old tin can, with some red and yellow berries. 
A couple of years ago I decided to try and cut the chemicals that I use to clean the house with. I used to be very fond of different products and had a cupboard full of different cleaners, sprays and polishes. Then I found this book in the library, I borrowed it so much that I had to send it back and bought my own copy - second hand of course from Amazon.
To clean my kitchen I make up recipe no 684, I put it into my old Ecover "squirtyco" spray bottle and use it to clean all the kitchen surfaces. I buy the white vinegar in this gallon bottle for just £3 from the wholefood store in Manningtree ( http://www.the-wholefoodstore.co.uk/index.htm) I think that this is just as good as anything you can buy, and has just a few basic ingredients. It does need a bit of lavender oil to cover up the vinegar or you end up smelling like a chip shop!!
On Friday the building inspector called and proclaimed the roof to have passed the inspection and we could "carry on"!! and so this weekend began the job of bricking up the triangle at the front, this is quite tricky as the blocks have to be cut to the angles of the roof and fill in the gap- almost there!
On Sunday morning we popped up the allotment for a bit and I could wait no longer, I had to dig up a parsnip, I know you are supposed to wait until after a frost, but I couldn't and here it is- my first ever home grown parsnip, I could not believe how big it was- lots more to come, this one was roasted for dinner. I also hope to make some parsnip sherry and wine, but will wait until there has been a good frost for that.
The tomatoes and peppers have all finished now, the plants have gone black and the remaining tomatoes are soft and rotting. I have begun to clear them up, but it takes ages. I am saving the compost, I am going to try and use it again next year, I need to find out what to mix in it to make it good again.
I have been doing a bit of knitting! This is a felted handbag with bobbles on it.
These are fingerless mittens. There are flowers and beads sewn on, I have done another pair in the opposite colour way
"AUTUMN" mobile phone cover, this is a very thick and chunky phone cover designed to fit an iphone, with three acorns and an oak leaf attached. I hope to pop them onto folksy tomorrow, when I get a minute.
I planted my onions in February on the allotment, most of them grew, not massive but definitely onions. In July the tops bent over, and I was told it was time to harvest them. They were laid on some wire netting under the overhang of the shed for a few weeks. I looked up how to string them together and this is them!
I was so sure that I made 3 strings of onions and 2 of shallots, but today I looked in the shed at home and the one up the plot but can only find two strings, then I checked out this photo and it only shows 2 strings, I am sure there were more onions than this!
