IS IT REALLY NOVEMBER!

What an unseasonably warm morning it's been. Gave us the chance to get outside and get a good dose of fresh air. I was disgusted to see the rubbish that someone had dumped on the path. It was dustbin collection day today and everyone knows that the dustmen will only take what is in the bins. Not only is it an eyesore and health hazard when people do this; it also makes it damned hard to manoeuvre a wheel chair round it!

The aconitums in the front garden were starting to look past their best so cut them back, along with the phlox and the Lesly Joseph rose. Have had a lot of trouble with blackspot on this particular rose and wanted to prune it back before all the spotted leaves dropped and spread their spores.

The front garden's looking a lot tidier now.

As the chilli plant had caught the cold and there were only a few chillis left on it I decided to pick and string them and dump the plant.

The poor busy lizzie trough in the back garden was definitely over; so that too was sent to the great compost heap in the sky.

I noticed when I was pushing Mick up the back garden that the water lettuce in the pond was starting to die off. It's not hardy and I need to fish it out before it dies and fouls the water. We have a small children's fishing net that I do this with. The only problem is the net is at the back of the shed and I've put so many plants in there to protect from the cold that I can't reach it! I think that the job will either have to wait for another day or maybe I shall use my kitchen sieve as a net . I really can't face lifting all those pots out and then back in again. I must make a mental note NOT to do the same thing next year.

Spot the fishing net?