The season is most definitely changing, and I’m invigorated once again. Whereas many people love a particular season, I love the change, that feeling in the air that something is afoot. Cool mornings and sunny days spell the onset of autumn, and it’s easy to tell from the flora and fauna around us that the next season is almost here. Miniscule garden spiders (Araneus diadematus) have grown to gargantuan sizes, hanging fresh webs out everyday to catch the flies and droplets of morning dew. Rubeckia and echinacea flower heads are turning to seed strewn pin cushions. Fruits and berries on cotoneasters, pyracantha and callicarpa (left) begin to ripen, to let their deep hues shine brightly to attract those eager beaks required to spread their seed.
I have to admit, my garden has gone rather wayward this year. A dismal year of droughts and downpours, a onslaught of slugs and snails to biblical proportions and my disabled cat hauling himself around the garden has left my plants in a sorry state. Hosta’s are now mere stumps, montbretia has become a cat cushion, dahlias that I didn’t plant out for fear of molluscs remain stunted in their pots. However, the changing of the season has once again invigorated me to get out into my own patch and start gardening with renewed passion.
It’s at this time of year, when things start to be cut back, that I was start considering design changes and garden additions. Now is the ideal time to invest in a little bit of storage, and there are a wide variety of garden sheds at Argos which are ideal. Not only am I a plant hoarder, but I’m also a plant pot hoarder. At this time of year, when the garden begins to be cleared ahead of the winter and pots need scrubbing, cleaning and stacking, taking the time to sort out those multitude of containers will stand you in good stead for next year. And, with my garage crammed already, the additional of small potting shed is most definitely on my wish list.
I’m also preparing to bring some of the large pots out of storage and plant them up with winter violas and pansies to bring a little life to the winter garden. Meanwhile, with the dogwood (cornus, right) having grown to epic proportions, I’m going to cut it down to size and use the trimmed branches to create some vibrant red wigwams for the winter. I’ve done this before, and with any luck some of them will even root and give me new plants next year. You can simply use some of the stems as struts in your winter baskets, or create little tipi’s that will catch the frost and snow.
This year may have been a little dismal in my gardening, with the weather having had a huge impact on how things have, and haven’t, grown. But, with the change of the season I’m inspired to see what autumn brings, and am already looking forward with hope that 2013 will bring weather than gardeners will be able to revel in.
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Geoff runs http://www.theguidetogaygardening.com/
It certainly has been a weird weather year – I’m in Brittany, France. In spite of the weather, I think I have been lucky with all my veggies and flowering plants with two exceptions. I couldn’t germinate carrots or beetroot successfully. I’ve never had a problem before, but this year germination was sporadic and I ended up sowing carrots four times with a very late showing now – I don’t know whether they will mature as the weather is already Autumnal.
Blight arrived ten days ago in my polytunnel. I have already had kilos and kilos of various tomatoes this year. The ones still green were plucked from the mildewed plants and the plants put aside for burning. Green is fast turning to red so I shan’t have trouble ripening these fast picked tailenders.
One disaster was the polytunnel cover which split on the hoops. It is six years old this year and is expected to last for five years – how do they know?! I am ordering another for the Spring. I shan’t have anything overwintering except salad leaves and, of course,the herbs which are permanent plantings in the tunnel.
Runner beans, courgettes, butternut squash, onions, leeks, shallots, parsnips, rhubarb, aubergines, cucumbers, peppers, strawberries, various herbs, spinach, red cabbage, salad leaves, broad beans, etc.etc. have all been prolific and I’ve been well fed again.