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.