#SixOnSaturday – Six things happening in my garden this week

Six on Saturday is a weekly meme originally hosted by The Propagator but now in the tender care of Jim at Garden Ruminations.

No sooner had we been celebrating the arrival of rain than it’s disappeared again, at least here in the south of England. It would do wouldn’t it just as we’ve installed two additional water butts to collect water from the guttering on the new potting shed. Any sign of rain, I’ll be rushing out to check how much they’ve harvested.

One – I don’t think I’ll need to be sowing borage again next year as there are already loads of seedlings.

Two – ‘Bishop of Dover’, the final of the three dahlia varieties I grew this year, has finally made an appearance. All the dahlias are growing in raised beds in our south facing front garden so I haven’t yet decided whether to risk leaving them where they are or lifting and storing them.

Three – I thought the squash had given up when it produced two fruits that have already ripened nicely, but it had other ideas. This fruit is growing rapidly and if we get enough sun just might ripen too. It’s another plant growing in our sunny front garden in a raised bed. I’m planning to turn over one of the four raised beds completely to vegetables next year. Courgettes and squash are the front runners.

Four – A bee enjoying the flowers of Sedum spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’ as much as I am.

Five – Suddenly the rosemary is blooming again.

SixCyclamen hederifolium are popping up everywhere at the moment.

Do check out the posts of other participants by following the links in the comments section of Jim’s post. If you fancy taking part yourself but don’t know where to start, here’s the participant’s guide.

#WWWWednesday – 16th September 2026

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!


The Housekeeper by Rose Tremain (ARC, Vintage via NetGalley)

Mrs Danowski – known as Danni – is the housekeeper of a grand mansion on the wild coast of Cornwall. When glamorous young writer Daphne du Maurier visits Manderville Hall to research her new novel, she and Danni are drawn into a clandestine and intoxicating affair.

For Danni, it is an all-consuming love; for Daphne a submission to long-suppressed desires. But their fragile secret is vulnerable to prying eyes and destined for heartbreak. When Daphne’s novel launches to triumphant success, Danni is distraught to find herself transformed into a malign and jealous character on the page. She seeks respite from the hurt by telling her own story: The Housekeeper.

V is for Venom: Agatha Christie’s Chemicals of Death by Kathryn Harkup (ARC, Bloomsbury Sigma)

Fourteen stories. Fourteen more poisons. Just because it’s fiction doesn’t mean it’s all made-up …

Agatha Christie is renowned for her captivating plots and creative ways of killing off ill-fated victims. And what better way to add intrigue to a story than poison? The surreptitious ways they can be administered and the characteristic symptoms they produce make these killer chemicals the ideal method of murder in a ‘whodunit’.

Christie perfected the use of poisons in her plots; her deft and varied use of toxic substances is one of her great strengths as a writer. But how is it that some compounds prove so fatal, and in such tiny amounts?

Switzy by Emma Cline (Vintage)

May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry (Granta)

She is a curator, who spends her time dressing the rooms of historic buildings to bring them to life. But in the lush private quarters of a medieval palace, she finds herself so transfixed by the reign of an almost-forgotten King that the edges of her life begin to blur.

He is a reluctant ruler with no hunger for power, rushed to the throne after the untimely deaths of his older brothers. But it isn’t long before whispers begin to fly around the court. And with the growing belief that the King is not fit for the throne comes the idea that another might rule in his stead.