Month: October 2008

It was another fine day to enjoy the garden. I picked a pretty bunch of flowers to bring indoors. Its said you should keep cutting Dahlias to encourage more flowers. I did give mine an extra late feed and they are producing more buds.

This Hydrangea has been changing colours all year. It started off bluey-purple. I think this colour is so vibrant.

I cleared out the tunnel at the weekend. The harvest was 4 small sugar pumkins, zero butternut squash, some more tomatoes, the last sweetcorn (of only 6), plenty of french beans, 20 beetroots, – lots of weeds, violas and a frog (in the tunnel?  gotta get a garmin).  Plenty of horse manure was then loaded onto the bare beds and winter salads were sown.

I will plant veronica, wallflowers and stipa tennuissima (all proudly grown from seed) tomorrow. Sweet peas, lupins and other hardy annuals will also be sown.

The successes this year were the raspberries, definitely number 1, lettuces, tomatoes, courgettes, artichokes, garlic and onions (close second). Oh! and alpine strawberries – delicious in the bottom of creme brulee.

The disasters were melons, basil, cauliflower and cabbage.

The dahlias are still blooming and the kaffir lily has just stepped into the limelight.  Hot pink!

Lots of plans for the winter months.  Bare-root season – my favourite!

I have five mature ash trees on the boundary of my garden, only one of which is actually on my property. The ash is not my favourite tree! It is actually rather elegant at the moment, with a lovely shape and gauntliness against the autumn sky – a harbinger of bleak days to come – like a skeleton, with its bunches of fruits and enclosed seeds hanging like keys from the bare branches, waiting to be dispersed by winter winds. Unfortunately, my garden lies straight in the path of those winds! In the spring the seeds germinate in clusters on paths and borders and grow vigorously into sturdy seedlings that are difficult to get rid of.Those same winds have for the last three weeks been covering my grass and paths with the falling leaves of the same trees. My leaf blower cum vacuum has been busy trying to clear them and does a pretty good job but its hard work! 

I potted up the six tiny buxus I recently bought. They’re very small but they will grow. I just need to pay attention to watering.

My existing buxus-in-pots suffered badly this summer and are now yellowish. I hope they will revive through careful watering next year and a replenishment of compost in spring!

Planted the last of my alliums. This is my first year buying alliums and I did get some of the extra large ones, despite the cost. I am really looking forward to seeing how they do in late spring.

Finally got my three arches assembled and erected in the garden. They had lain beside the house, in kit form, for over a year I am ashamed to say.

The idea is for them to act like windows across the garden. They do this quite well, although the views are not so flowery at the moment!

They do immediately add height and interest even at this drab time of year.

Very cold and wet today. But to cheer me up I had a look at the Nerines still in flower. The very healthy leaves beside them are my non-flowering Agapanthus!