Mid-autumn has arrived. The beech trees along our road will soon be bare and the wild birds will have a harvest of nuts, as the tree branches are bending, the nuts fall and are squashed by cars and farm machinery.

I have a hazel hedge and when the nuts fall I go out to pick them as the fresh nut kernel has a lovely flavour. They can be crushed and added to fruit cake to increase the flavours.

Does anyone ever pick nuts from trees anymore? When we were young, we would look forward to when they were ripe enough and we would collect them to store for winter. They are quite expensive to buy and usually imported, so not as nice as our native ones.

The hedges are also laden with big, juicy blackberries, so nice in jam, with a few apples.

Another wild fruit is the elder, a widely distributed deciduous shrub, which has massive clusters of white flowers that yield berries for making elder/elderberry wine or cordial. We make the latter to use over fresh fruit salad or as a refreshing drink to keep in the fridge all winter. This shrub is also known as the bourtree in other countries.

As I write this in early October, like the hedges, the garden is starting to look a bit bare. Because of the great weather during September, there is still some growth. Lettuce that I planted out is growing fast and looks so springlike. Spring cabbage plants are thriving as well, after a bunny devoured the first lot.

Isn’t there always something? If it’s not a slug, it’s a bug, a pigeon or mildew – which appeared on the late peas, however, I was able to overcome that and have some lovely late peas coming on.

I will shortly sow a drill of broad beans. If they survive the winter, they will get a head start in the spring. There is still plenty of winter veggies in the garden, eg brussels sprouts, leeks, savoy cabbage, beet-root, parsnip, turnip, carrot and shallots, while the main crop of potatoes is saved for winter use.

With the garden work slacking off, Jenny (my daughter) and I went for a week to the west of Ireland on a tour bus. We visited several flower gardens and dahlias were in full bloom everywhere.

The very interesting trip took us to the top of a mountain where stone age farmers settled at the old Ceide Fields.

A big thank you to Pamela, our guide, for an interesting talk and tour. To Patsy, our driver, for keeping us on the go all day and not forgetting Betty, for putting up with 52 of us on the bus.

I must say we had three very enjoyable days at the Ploughing. Jenny did some welcome stand-ins for me on the ICA and Irish Country Magazine stands, as we were both very busy every day, meeting so many readers of my articles. It’s lovely to meet you all and we are only happy to be able to help with your gardening problems.

Sam (my son-in-law) spent time in the IVETA area with his vintage tractor. Graeme (my grandson) also got a look in on Thursday, with a free-day trip from WIT.

All the family enjoyed their time there. Well done to all of the organisers for a wonderful show.

Email lilysgarden1@gmail.com