A golden harvest

How did we get to October already? The golden light of disappearing rays of sunshine is has brought an unmistakable warm glow to sedums, grasses, Japanese anemones, and even the intense blue of aconitum looks somehow a little less icy cool. And that final burst of heat, or late arrival of summer, was most welcome, but the weather looks like it's reverting to type now.
It's been a long while since the last post. I've been a little out of action: in hospital for nearly two weeks, and now on bedrest. But never mind the cancelled holiday plans, it's playing havoc with my autumn bulb planting schedule. If this strict regime of horizontal life continues, I'll be lucky if I get any tulips in at all this year, never mind the daffs and crocuses. I haven't even ordered them yet.
But I recently wrote a piece about the wonderful work they do at Thrive for the October issue of Which?Gardening and it's time to call on that knowledge. 'Focus on what you can do, not what you can't', is the guiding principal at Thrive. Bearing this in mind, I am definitely able to lie here and order lovely plants online; and direct my husband where to plant them.
On the upside, the garden has been amazingly fruitful, despite my midsummer concerns. A healthy crop of tasty pears, some truly outstanding figs (as tasty as if they'd been plucked off a tree in southern Italy), and really good tomatoes - a mix of sungold and felicia, grafted varieties I was trialling; the sungold win for flavour. Good potatoes too. And I'm particularly proud of my Spanish Pimientos de Padron, grown from seed this year. These have graced a couple of home-cooked tapas meals so far and have been wonderfully spicy - dry pan fried with a little salt; a delicious starter.
Hopefully all this this bounty is a good omen for another much anticipated harvest: I am expecting twins, and they still have a way to go before they are fully ripe.