PAST THE EQUINOX

Where to begin - underground?

We have toadstools in the wildflower area, I think small wax caps. We have moles everywhere and I may have to get the catcher in again if it gets out of hand. The mowing machines do not like the sudden soft soil and turf. I walk along and suddenly my foot sinks into a run and I mutter.

The garden has its plethora of disease and troubles - slugs, snails, leaves falling off the grey poplar and one or two other trees, brittle and ailing.

The azaleas have decided to be infected with mildew, turning the leaves powdery grey.

There are always dead twigs and branches on the ash trees and the thought of dieback comes to mind. Were have several large mature ash and I would hate to lose them - but it could happen.

However the white birches are looking good the older they get.

Our gardener has strimmed the top bankings and the area above the back retaining wall, also levelled the soil by the old compost heaps and heaped it there ready for toppings up beds. One day my soil depth will near that of M. Don.

Shapes and contrasts are important whether in colours, here greys and yellows, or in leaves and flowering heads elsewhere.

We have just spent three days in southern Scotland and had dry weather - home and get up this morning (Friday) and it is raining, not downpours but soft soaking mizzle. This helps the grass grow and stops me cutting it. What is it about lawns - they become an obsession even if they are 70% clover like our lawns.

So it is deadhead - especially the cosmos and dahlias - be prepared for an early frost and to get in the tender plants for the winter.

I must go out and buy some grass seed for the bare area. I must this and that - have bought some white alliums on an offer but where to put them? I have not yet potted up the old tulips and the wildflower meadow could look a little more encouraging. We have the beginnings of the turning of the leaves, especially the Virginia creeper on the shed going red.

And there are berries - the rowan are splendid at the moment and our wild barberry glorious.

I have pruned the apple tree and sown the cleared area with lawn seed and covered it with netting to keep off the birds.

We do have a few Bramleys but a poor do this year unlike the damsons that are dropping off the trees. The dark bed at the back of the house is lit up by the golden helianthus.

FOG, FAUNA AND FLOWERS

R shouts and she has seen the stoat running along the top of the back wall with something in its mouth - a baby rabbit or a squirrel?

Talking animals we now have both roe doe and hart in the small wood eating the hazel.

It its definitely autumn - Friday and we wake to a thick mist.

The cardoon was falling into the canna lily so out with the stakes. The flower heads get very heavy.

I have dug out a crososmia riddled with couch grass and transplanted white honesty and forgetmenots to fill the gap using a mixture of well rotted manure and compost to enrich the soil.

We have damsons. not a lot but some, a load of pears and eating the last of the plums off the tree on a hot day is a treat.

I have trimmed the cotoneaster and dead headed the astrantia scattering the seed.

We have two hot days ahead then the rain marches east again.

The nest above the back door has been taken down and is full of feathers from the tree sparrows. House martins have been whizzing past the kitchen door and exploring nest sites - for next year we hope.

So some flowers -

 

The old potatoes I bunged in, as they were sprouting in the cupboard, have given us a crop but they are only good for mashing - disintegrate in boiling water. We have a plethora of courgettes but have now eaten all the plums off the tree. Damsons still to pick plus a few apples. No greengages again - too far north?

The Virginia Creeper is turning red, some ash leaves yellow, autumn is coming and early.

And more flowers - the mighty cardoon and roses.

Monday and it is raining, soft refreshing rain, enough to wet the grass but not penetrate the soil, warm Aga kitchen weather not the sun room.

SEPTEMBER

 

There are still flowers - the rose Grouse, a vicious ground cover plant, and the canna lily we were given is coming out. Small cyclamen by the old log pile, crocosmia and the hydrangeas.

Elsewhere we are into a world of seedheads be they wild or not. The broad-leaved willowherb, a persistent frequent weed, though easy to pull out sows itself everywhere but, en masse, its tangled seedheads catch the light and have a fascination of their own. The alliums leave an explosion on a stem and even the small brown cups of seed on the red campion are not unattractive.

I am concerned that couple of trees have dry crisp leaves that are falling prematurely especially the grey poplar.

The paper-like leaves crunch underfoot.

The gardener has been strimming again and begun the task of levelling the area by the old compost heaps. R is dead heading and her new crinodendrum has arrived and been out. I have been trimming various bushes to more of a topiary like shape - but not so neat. One of the buddleias has the dreaded honey fungus.

Trees are a dominant feature of the garden, framing and creating views.

The raspberries are tidied and happy, we are eating the plums straight from the tree and the damsons are coming ready. We have lots of pears but the apples are a bit few and far between after zealous pruning last year.

The hypericum sows itself everywhere - too much everywhere but has good colour now in fruit.

I have to cook some chicken thighs as searching for last year's damsons for R to make some jam I left them out of the freezer. Have done a chinese dish with hoisin sauce etc. 

So, the nights draw in and the temperatures fall, yet another summer passing and soon the garden will need bedding down for colder days - but not quite yet.