Not quite October for this month’s gardening piece. A long holiday of five weeks away and much has changed in the garden. Leaving your plants for any length of time in the growing season can be nerve wracking. How many weeds have grown? What flowers have I missed? Thankfully with no lawn to mow, it is relatively easy to leave mine for a few weeks. Just before I left, I snipped off the flowers buds from the dahlias, and deadheaded Mexican sunflowers and salvias. All now are in bloom, and continue to bring welcome energy for bees. Equally welcome is the added glow of berries and hips now exposed with the loss of leaves from our hedges and roses. The biggest surprise on my return is the multitude of echium seedlings that have sprouted all over the garden.
I had dispersed seed from one flower head two years ago, and thought after this long time none would have germinated. Three quarters of these seedlings decided to sprout up in the most awkward spaces: across paths, blocking steps, in the middle of the pond. So next month will be trying to put some of them into pots for greenhouse winter protection.
Our few days home have been filled with a mad rush to clear the greenhouse of tomato plants, scrub down the frame, clean windows, and then move back in shelving and tender plants. News of yet more storms and rain forced quick action. But I also love the feeling of “putting the garden to bed” for the year. As I bring in plant pots, I am cutting out dead leaves and flowers; trimming back plants like geraniums and checking for slugs and snails.
It’s bulb season, and Monty Don has been planting camassia this week on his gardening programme. The vibrant blue of this spring flower was gorgeous for three years amongst our silver birches, but suddenly they became thugs and blocked light and space for everything else. I yanked them out. My garden is too small. With no chance to plant bulbs until November, options were limited to tulips for this year’s planting. Our pots of tulips were decimated in the spring by a band of mice. I am going to try to coat each bulb in cayenne pepper before planting to see if this can fend off any rodents.
Whilst away, our stored tomatoes and pears ripened and are now ready to eat. I made tomato sauce, and stewed the pears to store in jars. The allotment continues to provide root vegetables, as well as leaves from kale. For us, the wet days of summer have meant we have been pulling up huge celeriac to make into soup and mash. We also tried to grow salsify for the first time this year. The roots have proved delicious. A bit fiddly to prepare- cleaning off the soil, then peeling under water so that they don’t go brown. But after pan frying with the celeriac we loved the result. A definite vegetable to try again.
Image Credits: Abigail Cooper-Hansen .