Oak

The cool of the autumn still hasn't gotten all of the trees to drop their leaves. Like this oak here, mostly green still.

Then again, most of the maples have dropped all of their leaves already.

Frosty morning

This morning was the first one with a frost bite. Yesterday was already cold, but today the temperature was below zero and the ground was white with frost. The sun is shining brightly, making the air clear and crispy.

Bright red cherry trees

I have never before noticed how beautifully red cherry trees become in the autumn. 

Cucumbers and red currants

October has set in. Leaves are falling faster than anyone can rake them. Mushrooms are popping up in funny clusters. I was out in the yard doing a Littlest Pet Shop photoshoot and noticed that our unlucky plants have actually produced two sorry looking cucumbers. There are also some red currants, uneaten by birds, still in one of the already leafless bushes.

Flowers, mushrooms and colorful leaves

During this past week, the birches have turned all yellow. Yesterday was a very beautiful, very warm autumn day, today was a bit cooler, though mostly sunny. Yesterday we went hiking through some forests for a few hours, today our dogs were tired, so we only went walking around here a few times. Despite the autumn pushing, there's still flowers blooming here and there - yesterday we walked past a meadow full of flowers - with bees and other insects buzzing around. Mushrooms are popping up and climbing ivy on the balcony railing of our neighbor looks fantastic in its magentas and purples.

¨

Colors of Autumn

Our autumn this year has been a rather warm one so far. Still, the dropping night temperatures have slowly but surely started to turn nature into autumny colors. On Sunday we went outing in Nuuksio National Park, where there were still some blueberries (bilberries, really) in the bushes. Streets and trails are covered in fallen leaves - even though the trees still look pretty green. Aronia (chokeberry) is of the most beautiful autumn sights, with its leaves turning bright red and mauve, in contrast with the near black berries.

Sunflower, bees and butterflies

One, yes one, of the sunflowers I planted has grown to be a beautiful tall one. At least now I know where to plant them next year. This one is growing right next to our overgrown garden, which is really loved by bees and butterflies. They talk about mass deaths of bees, but there's plenty in our yard! As for the butterflies, I saw the first ones this year in August.

Wild raspberries

I thought we had a couple raspberry bushes in the little forest patch behind the house. I was so wrong! There are huge bushes full of wild raspberries, way more berries than I could ever manage to pick even if I had all the patience in the world. Which I don't have, so 1,5l (770g) was all I managed to bring home and freeze.

Potatoes, onions and berries

Starting to be harvest time. Yesterday I dug some new potatoes and onions from our garden. I did try to get a few radishes too, but they don't seem to like that clay soil much. Berry bushes are heavy with berries. I never had th patience to pick more of those red currants myself, so we had a neighbor pick them for herself. I am determined to go and do some gooseberry and raspberry picking today though. We'll see how that goes ;) 

Unfortunately there's not much else to be harvested from our garden this year. The poor summer, poor dirt, all the other projects etc. sort of took over and ate the motivation. Apples we will have, though a whole lot of them are already rotting into the tree and falling off - not because of being over ripe yet, but because the locusts destroyed the tree a lot in the early summer. The other tree does not bear too much fruit this summer, but those few apples there are looking quite delicious already, though not ripe yet.

Busy lizzies are finally blooming, in two colors: fuchsia and orange.