Gardener's Diary - autumn's arrival

Day 13 of astronomical Autumn

Hasn’t Autumn arrived with a bang this year?

I’ve had to get my winter pyjamas out the cupboard and an extra blanket on the bed. My clients believed that September would be sunny, but alas, Autumn’s two feet have arrived in the garden and the season has began.

According to the astronomical calendar, it began on September 1st. This calender is used by farmers and the dates remain the same from year to year. However, the meteorological calendar states that Autumn equinox 2024 will be around September 22-23rd commencing the season. This calendar varies depending on the earths tilt and daylight changes.

I have been collecting more autumn trinkets to keep my cheer up. I love to walk by fallen conkers rolling around the pavement, pocketing a few to store on my bedside. I mostly like them when they are fresh and glossy. There’s a special feeling when you peel back your first conker of the season, taking off the green spiked shell and prizing out the glossy nut - nature’s kinder egg.

The leaves upon the trees appear tired after the long summer they’ve had, keen to drop their leaves. A majority of the herbaceous perennials are still in the flower - the rudbeckia and anemones pierce through the gardens, even a few holly hock’s are hanging on. Salvias and roses are in flower and the final daisies loiter in the borders. I even saw a fox glove having a second flush last week.

I’m finally letting the sweet peas go to seed so I can collect these for next year - they are covered in mildew now, as expected at this time in the season. I’ve also been collecting nasturtium seeds and leaving them to dry out for clients who want to grow them again next year.

My client’s busy lizzie’s are still looking very plump and lush! I’m quite pleased. I had a conversation this week with another gardener who won’t use bedding, instead he uses a mix of herbaceous perennials, grasses and perennials. He was quite adamant that he wouldn’t touch any bedding, stating it isn’t sustainable. Bedding requires a lot of energy and water to grow and when its planted, doesn’t encourage pollinators as mostly they are sterile.

It was a difficult conversation - it’s complicated. I have a certain clients which insist upon bedding in their containers. I agree that it’s not the most sustainable practice, however I’m not in a position currently to refuse their wishes. With that said, I’m going to start to advise on alternative solutions for my clients and I’m committed to thinking about working my way around this in the future.

I purchased all my bulbs ahead of time as will be away on holiday next week and didn’t want to miss out. I purchased a lot of leucojum’s, alliums, tulips and snowdrops. I adore Nectaroscordum sicilum so bought a few for myself this year. I’m storing them in my clients sheds and a few in my allotment shed, ensuring they stay cool and dry, ready for planting in October..

My partner and I will be going to a wedding in Totnes this weekend. This means we’ll be able to visit Wistman’s Wood - it’s a site of scientific interest, an ancient forest with a temperate environment and hosts very old Quercus robur trees and varieties of lichen, mosses and ferns. Expect an update next week!

Also, i’ve been finding so many spiders at the moment. While I collect leaves, small pale coloured spiders come out in streams - yet to identify. I see 100’s of them a day, they hide in plant pots too and if I water, they all slip away out of the stream of water unphased.

Allotment

Charles Dowding has posted an instagram video comparing harvesting his squashes this year vs last year. This summer has been completely different to Summer 2023, very hard for vegetables growers. He has a new book out which I have hinted to my partner for Christmas - wink wink, nudge nudge.

We harvested our first sweetcorn and have been collecting more and more tomatoes for roasting next week. We have eating our home grown salad and plenty of cucumbers fill our fridge shelves. I also have been enjoying a home grown fresh mint tea in the evenings too - delicious.

Also, took a walk around the site and saw some heart warming sights. One of my neighbours had supported their tomatoes and squashes using plastic plant pots. I love the DIY approach towards allotments, repurposing and salvaging, practicality always considered over aesthetics.

A charming display of fallen apples <3

Plant highlights

I spotted this trained wisteria on a recent trip out of London and it was worth of applause. It’s been pruned and trained in such an unusual way and the quirky paint job only adds enthusiasm. It’s a reminder that gardening can be fun and you can bring such personality into any green space.

Flower display

The astrantia are hanging on from around three weeks ago - I’ve added a few oxalis stems to brighten up the display. I also collected the finished heads of the rudbeckia flowers, picking off any orange petals and enjoying the simple dark centre and green underside of the flower.