Leaving the garden for any length of time is always a little
nerve-racking. Even in October and early
November, when the weather is unlikely to be very extreme and there are few
pressing jobs to be done in the garden, and even knowing that a kind neighbour
is keeping an eye (and some watering) on things, there is always the concern
that you might return to something unexpected.
While away on holiday we read online reports of heavy rain and the odd
gale at home, and some chilly nights, so we weren’t surprised to return to
rather a wet garden and cold-blackened dahlias, but there was nothing that was
unusual for early November. Piles of
dead leaves on the drive and veg patch, and lying less thickly on the lawn (I
would guess that the leaves from the big ash tree were blown away by the gale),
were waiting to be dealt with. The
courgette plants were, as expected, only fit for the compost heap, and the
summer bean plants were over (though I managed to salvage a few ‘Blauhilde’
pods for eating and some Borlotti pods for drying); the late-sown pea plants
were still bright green but the pods were in poor condition. All of these, plus the sweet peas, which were
not completely dead but had collapsed into a heap, and the remains of the other
dead (or nearly dead) annuals have been pulled up and added to the compost.
Gardening is often a regularly repeating cycle: 2019 sweet
peas pulled up, more sweet peas sown for overwintering, to provide colour and
scent in 2020. I will put them in the
same pots on the terrace, since they did so well there this year.
The late-sown veg seeds have not been a success; although
some had germinated nicely, they have now disappeared (slugs, probably,
although the pigeons and pheasants may have had a hand, or a beak, in it), with
the exception of the parsley. The various
brassicas that I had planted out and covered with fine mesh netting have also
gone, and again I suspect slugs; the netting would have kept birds off. Ah well, an opportunity to clear those beds
and mulch them heavily, in my new no-dig style.
Unexpectedly, however, the antirrhinums still have flowering stems to
offer for cutting, and the little ‘Pink Sunday’ salvia, about which I had been
so unkind, is standing up to the weather very well. There were even a couple of Nerine bowdenii
stems for a vase; they’re protected by a big, self-sown Euphorbia characias
(which is casting far too much shade for them, but they don’t seem to mind too
much).
Antirrhinums and Salvia 'Pink Sunday' |
Mahonia 'Winter Sun' |
With so many fallen leaves about and plants such as dahlias
in need of being dug up/cut back, the garden has a sorry look about it at the
moment. However there are small patches
of colour and other interest. The pot of
red dwarf chrysanthemums on the patio was in full flower on our return, and is
only just going over now; the Mahonia ‘Winter Sun’ is doing what it says on the
tin; and there are berries galore, mostly on the cotoneasters but also on the
Viburnum tinus and the Euonymus europaeus (spindle). And if you look closely, the leaves of
Cyclamen coum are out, ready for the delicate flowers later in the winter.
Euonymus europaeus 'Red Sentinel' |
Cyclamen coum |
Winter feels like it has come early. There was no autumnal warm spell this year; temperatures have been on the low side, with much chill and a few frosts, and one day we awoke to an unexpected light covering of snow.
There is plenty of wildlife about. The squirrel has been visiting, and one late
afternoon D spotted a big fox tucking into one of the windfall apples. I wonder if he was responsible for the pile
of pigeon feathers on the lawn?
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