It doesn't always pay to be a tidy gardener.

I remember being told this time last year (by Two_Sheds on The Vine), that you shouldn't pull up your sweetcorn plants once you've harvested all the cobs. This is the reason why...just look at these little darlings all tucked up for the winter.

Seeing a sight like that just makes me smile all over. I love Ladybirds!!

Very pleased with the results

Well, I'm back from the Garden Society Garden Show, and I've been surprisingly successful:

Four 1sts
Three 2nds
One 3rd
and a trophy for aggregate points in the cookery class - I'm really chuffed

Here's some photos of the highlights:

Apparently the judge was very complimentary of my Yule Log and my method for tying off my onions and shallots (thanks for that go to Vegmandan from the Vine)

The Holly on top of the Yule Log is made out of Royal Icing sugar. I mixed it with cocoa powder. Piped the outlines in a soft-peak mix, then flooded the centre with a runny mix, then made a soft-peak white mix and piped on the veins while the rest was still soft, so it sort of flowed into the runny mix. They were then stuck on with more royal icing after the cake had firmed up in the fridge over night.

Oh yeah, I put a nip of whisky in the butter icing...no wonder the judge was raving about it!!!!

My first post...I'm very nervous.

It's two days before the Garden Society Autumn Show, and my garden is looking a bit disasterous.

• My huge pink Dahlias have been munched by earwigs (must remember to put straw-filled flowerpots out next year to catch the little blighters).
• My tomatoes are looking great...but they are all green - not a red one in sight!!
• I have one pathetic french bean
• My carrots are tiny

However, I might be able to scrape together a fair set of shallots, my grapes are looking super, I've got quite a few pumpkins and squashes, some lovely tiny purple chillies called 'Pretty in Purple', and I've managed to grow celery (thanks to my friend Zazen's advice), its quite slender, but its worth a go.

I've entered 21 classes for this show, but I don't think I'll  have enough produce to actually exhibit in that many classes on the day. I haven't looked at the lottie for a couple of weeks, so I'll either get some nice surprises, or some nasty shocks! Eeek!

I'll post an update with some piccies after the show on Saturday.