Ego building tomatoes and A mystery tree...

It is an Autumn that feels like winter and I am still picking tomatoes, I don't know if this is normal, but it makes me happy. I've picked six in the past few days, finally a decent amount. 

They seem to be dying off, I think it's time to pick what's left and let them ripen on their own, most of what's left is a decent size. I've heard that they won't be as sweet as the sunripened ones though, we'll see, I think home grown will still be better than supermarket bought. And in the green house, those cherry tomato plants are already growing tiny little buds. 

I think I am slowly getting the hang of this food growing business, either that or, tomatoes are just extremely forgiving for the fumbling amateur home gardener. I am going to pretend its the former, while knowing it's far more likely to be the later, I do know the tomatoes are doing wonders for my gardening ego right now. 

The two garden beds look kind of sparse, even though they are full of potential seedlings and seeds. 

Garden bed 1 - cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, spring onions, leeks, parsley, swede, sage, dill.

Garden bed 2 - spinach, rocket, iceberg lettuce, celery, tomatoes, and a strawberry experiment. As soon as I rip those tomatoes out there will be some salad mix planted in. 

I did get ridiculously excited yesterday when I saw what I thought was an elderflower tree in my backyard, unfortunately I have since discovered the flowers though similar, are wrong. Elderflower has five stamens, this flower has many more. 

Here are some pictures, if you know or even have a suspicion about what this tree is, I would love for you to tell me. 

The tree is huge, much higher than my home, and the only similar flower I've seen in my research is cotoneaster, but I have never noticed, in the six years I've lived here, any red berries. Not that that cements anything, as I didn't notice it could have been elderflower either. Any help is appreciated.

15 yo spawn is in bed today, sick with an awful cold. I am off to try and move her to the couch where it's warmer. Whilst the heater is on, sourdough seems like an excellent idea, plus I seem unable to waste Seymour when I feed him, and his container is getting full. 

A non manic Monday for a change,

Bek.