Mist & Mellow Fruitfulness

What a beautiful autumn so far....and yet still no rain for longer than I can remember!

There is not much we can do in the garden except weed, water and deadhead. We can't move or plant anything out until there is rain forecast, so that there is a lovely sense of leisure in the garden. The birds, bees and butterflies are in abundance in every part of the garden - I have never seen such flutterings!

In the polytunnel, the recently sown hardy annuals are growing strongly, as are the hardy perennials such as lupins, achilleas, nepeta and physostegia. There's lots of "potting on" to be done and beds to be cleared of hardy annuals that have finished flowering.

The good weather has lulled me into thinking that summer is still with us - I haven't even thought about buying bulbs yet and also have a list of bare root plants to be ordered.

There's nothing like writing a blog to make you realise just how much needs done!! Must get my skates on - will keep you posted!

In the meantime, make the most of this beautiful Indian summer!

A Beautiful Day!

What a beautiful day - it seems all the more precious now that we are into September.

We were cutting the meadow areas around our newly planted trees - these areas will only be cut once a year, rather like a traditional hay meadow, to prevent pernicious weeds such as dockens, thistles, brambles from taking over. But it was like making hay on a beautiful summer's day - so feel good! The area beside the prairie border slopes to the sun and is quite dry so that I want to introduce some narcissus and also dianthus carthusianorum which I've grown from seed - it needs clean country air and a poor dry soil - our soil is not poor but I will give it a go. I have some ox eye daisies from a kind gardening friend and will these as they flower all summer....must get out my Christopher Lloyd Meadows book for some inspiration - our soil is similar to theirs although we wouldn't get the same amount of sun or heat but it's a wonderful book for anyone wanting to start a meadow. 

I was also sowing some seeds, hardy annuals - cornflowers, annual gypsophila, and ammi visnaga. And hardy perennials - delphiniums, verbascums, veronica and thalictrum. 

Tomorrow I want to clear out the polytunnel and have a tidy....I also need to have a sort through this year's stock of plants - throw out those not worth keeping and pot on or feed the rest. 

Long may the good weather continue! (With a wee drop of rain overnight please!!!)

Happy Gardening!

Euonymus planipes with their beautiful fruits.

Rosa rugosa hips - great for vitamin C....dry and store for tea or make a rosehip syrup.

The prairie border still looking good!