A triffid

August is continuing to be more autumn than summer.  We’ve now had two separate gales and some heavy rain and persistent showers; we’ve moved on from saying that it’s ‘good for the garden’, that stoically British approach to wet weather, and are wishing that it would stay dry for longer between the showers.   It's on the chilly side too, and the central heating has gone back on.  The rain is certainly encouraging plant growth, though plants are moving into that late-summer stage of flopping about untidily, partly because I haven’t staked them well enough.

One of the most rampant growers in the garden at the moment is the winter squash plant.  Only one of the seeds I sowed germinated, but the survivor seems to be trying to make up for the failed seeds by sending stems out in all directions.  I’ve never successfully grown a winter squash before and, although I knew it had the potential to be large, I hadn’t quite anticipated how much ground it would cover.  Comparing that particular bed when newly planted up with how it looks now, I can see that I was much too ambitious; besides the squash, I put in the three courgette and twelve radicchio plants and sowed three types of French bean (fortunately not all of these came up).  The two ‘Defender’ courgettes were supposed to be tied to the tall stakes and grown upwards, but one of them is growing away in the opposite direction and I haven’t managed to corral the other one into its intended position.  The radicchio have done quite well, but twelve is far too many – and they’re being buried under the squash leaves, so some of them have rotted away.  It remains to be seen whether I will actually get any squash to eat; there are flowers on the plant, but I'm not sure how many have set fruit.

The young plants newly planted - the squash is in front of the left-hand courgette

The bed as it is now - the squash romping away towards the camera

This particular bed was one of the ‘no-dig’ ones that was mulched last summer to get rid of the weeds, and this has been quite successful, with only a few stray strands of couch grass creeping in from the edges (these have been trowelled out), and there’s no doubting the soil fertility! 

One of the neighbouring beds (at the back in the photo) is the Hill, which hasn’t been the success I was hoping for.  The top soil layer is too thin – in both senses – and dry to grow much in, and the slope over the top has made it impracticable to pile good soil or compost on top.  It has been mostly empty this year.  There are obviously still gaps between the branches underneath, as holes occasionally appear and it looks as though some wildlife is living down there.  I’ve been walking over the top in the hope of compacting it, but the mid-layer of twigs, brushwood and old grass clippings is still holding up quite strongly and makes it strangely springy underfoot.  However treading it down seems to be working as the Hill is gradually subsiding and is now no more than a low mound, and I should be able to mulch it heavily this winter with little risk of the topping all sliding off. 

The dahlias have stood up well to the wind and rain, and the ‘Café au Lait’ ones in particular have come into their own in the past week.  With their pinkish-white colour they’re not an obvious pairing with the orangey-red ‘Bishop’s Children’, but together they’ve made a striking little vaseful for the table.

Dahlias - 'Cafe au Lait' and 'Bishop's Children'

August - isn't it?

It’s August.  The calendar says so, and certainly for the first couple of weeks we had fine, warm, dry summer weather, including some properly hot days; it’s not often that the temperature gets above 30C here.  Inevitably this was followed by thunderstorms, and although not cold it is now mostly wet, with some strong winds today and no lasting improvement in the forecast.

Blackberries in the hedgerow

Early in the month, though, even before the weather turned, it was starting to feel a little unseasonable.  The euonymus europaeus (spindle) leaves were starting to turn reddish, a reminder that autumn isn’t that far away; and in the hedgerow opposite the house, blackberries were already ripe.  Surely that’s a sign of September rather than August?  The first apples (‘Discovery’) were also very early, dropping from the cordon at the beginning of the month, which is some weeks earlier than usual.  Some of the flowering shrubs also seem a little confused; Viburnum ‘Dawn’ is already in bloom (although it does sometimes produce flowers in autumn, it’s really a winter-flowerer), and Mahonia ‘Winter Sun’ definitely doesn’t know what season it is.

Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn'

Mahonia 'Winter Sun', in August

Small tortoiseshells, basking in the sun

The wildlife does seem to know about the seasons.  Spiders are starting to proliferate indoors, always a sign of approaching autumn, and the August butterfly boom is underway; no painted ladies this year, but lots of small tortoiseshells on the buddleja and sunning themselves on the nearby woodpile, as well as red admirals and various whites, but sadly few peacocks - though a fritillary turned up yesterday.  Some interesting moths, too.  The birds have finished nesting, although the sparrows are still feeding what must surely be their last brood.  The patio robins and the blackbirds are moulting; we haven’t seen many juvenile blackbirds this year (sadly one succumbed to a window strike, and was buried under the new euonymus, of which more in a moment), and no young robins, but a young goldfinch came down with its parents one day.  At one point we had four young woodpigeons, all feeding together on the lawn, but they seem to have dispersed.

A rather pretty moth

Dahlia 'Bishop's Children' series

Dianthus 'Siberian Blues'

As so often in August, colour in the garden is mostly coming from the dahlias, particularly the ‘Bishop’s Children’ which were planted out before the others.  Among the other pops of colour is a little pot of seed-grown Dianthus 'Siberian Blues' which I planted up a couple of years ago; it isn't my idea of blue, but it's a small bright spot among the patio pots.  The sweet peas were blown off their supports by the wind that swept in ahead of the first thunderstorm, and as they were already starting to go over I’m leaving them to set seed, in the hope of saving some for next year.  As for the brachyglottis, whose demise I forecast in the last post, its fate is probably sealed.  Just after I posted last, a kind (socially-distanced) visitor brought an attractive variegated euonymus as a present.  There was a suitable spot for it alongside the brachyglottis, and like the brachyglottis it’s just the thing to provide a contrast with the surrounding green foliage; so in it went, and in due course I’ll remove the brachyglottis and let the euonymus take over its role.  It seems to have settled in happily, and with some statice providing a spot of temporary colour in front it looks rather good. 

Euonymus 'Bravo', with statice

The plum tree has started to shed its leaves, as it always does after fruiting (quite a good crop this year), and the wind has brought down much debris from the other trees too.  Some serious tree-pruning is being arranged with a local tree man!