Late October In the Milngavie garden
It has been a wet and at times windy second half to October and although reasonably mild Autumn has clearly arrived in Milngavie. Bees, wasps, flies and even the odd butterfly are still around but in less numbers. Its almost November and a red admiral settles on next door's ivy along with countless wasps and flies. Ivy is definitely the main source of nectar and pollen at the moment, at least in my neighourhood, along with the tail-end of various daisies, geraniums, nasturtiums and sweet pea, and a trip out into the garden - the buzzing in the air as one approaches the ivy - so easily highlights the importance of this plant to a host of animals. In the vegetable garden runner beans still provide a weekly crop and chard and kale supply greens for our table. The green manure I planted back in september is coming along well, and the winter mix of Crimson Clover. Mustard, Red Clover and Italian Ryegrass has produced a solid ground cover as shown below (along with a wasp on the ivy). I also planted field beans and these have so far formed a less dense coverage and are currently around 6 to 8 inches in height.
