Clearing up

Back home after a trip away, to a lawn covered with fallen leaves.  The weather during our absence was mild and intermittently windy, and all the ash leaves are down (apple and hazel leaves still to fall).  Since our return it has been mostly wet and windy (very windy recently), so there hasn't been much opportunity for clearing up.  The lawn is now clear, and two leafmould bins filled; the veg patch and drive are still to be raked, although the wind is sweeping the leaves into convenient piles for me. 

The wind is also blowing down the cooking apples; quite a few are already safely in store, leaving plenty for the blackbirds, the green woodpecker and the fieldfares (who have arrived while we were away).  The eaters were picked and stored before we left; quite a good crop of decent-sized fruit.  The birds still have plenty of fruit and berries and are showing little more than polite interest in the bread and seeds put out for them; that may change at the end of this week when the temperatures are set to fall.  We have a robin coming regularly to the patio, and a wren has been coming to bathe; there have also been plenty of tits (blue, great and coal) as well as the family of long-tailed tits dropping in from time to time.  The sparrowhawk flew over the other day; it has obviously been here while we were away, as evidenced by some partridge feathers on the lawn.

Besides the leaves, there is a lot of other clearing up to do in the garden.  The remains of the annuals have been composted (the courgettes and aubergines having gone that way before we left).  Nearly all the bulbs are still to be planted, too, including a batch of Alliums intended for the bottom border.  I did manage to partially overhaul that border before our departure, splitting the Francoa, moving some of the drought-haters such as the Astrantia and potting up some others, and planting out some new arrivals in the hope that they might do better in that situation.  I hope I can remember where everything is so that I don't disturb them while putting in the bulbs.


There are few flowers about: still some Nerines, a nice display by the dwarf red Chrysanthemum and a rather less impressive one by the big yellow Chrysanth, a few rather tatty Argyranthemum flowers in the pots, some belated pinks and late marigolds.  Otherwise it's the winter shrubs: Viburnum 'Dawn', the winter honeysuckle and the winter jasmine.  Some primrose flowers by the gate as well.  In the summer pots, there are still a few flowers of Nasturtium 'Milkmaid' which I sowed in situ to provide some late colour.  The flowers were supposed to be white but in fact are pale yellow, which worked very nicely though actually they came too late to have much effect; they really came into their own as foliage plants, however, providing good filling and contrast with the other contents of the pots.  I'd never really thought of Nasturtiums as foliage plants before.

In the greenhouse, the tomatoes are fruiting madly (but not very flavourfully).  The contents of the grow-bag vacated by the aubergines have been supplemented with some of my home-made compost, and some small lettuce plants that were in the cold-frame have been planted in there, for winter salads; I'm sure you're not supposed to re-use grow-bags in that way, but I'm giving it a go.  I want to try to make better use of the greenhouse this winter, not just for keeping tender plants ticking over.  Most of the cuttings taken in late summer (Argyranthemums, Osteospermums, Penstemons mostly) have been potted on and are tucked under the greenhouse staging, except for the Southernwood (Artemisia abrotana) which is prone to damping off and which has gone into the draughtier conditions of the coldframe, alongside the sweet pea seedlings.  Looking at the forecast, I need to get the greenhouse insulation up and the heater up and running before the weekend - winter is coming!