Gardener's diary - false Autumn?

65 days of meterological summer

Autumn feels as though it’s on its way, one foot in the garden, one foot out.

This week, the leaves have littered all of my gardens, a cool wind has been blowing through the trees and Thursday could have been a late September day.

I used to love Autumn as a child and I still do like Autumn, though much less. It involves a lot of sameness as a gardener, an endless amount of leaves to collect and hundreds of bulbs to plant.

I do find I become quite down during the transition from Summer to Autumn. The cool evenings and shortened days don’t warm my heart like they used to. All of the herbaceous perennials begin to sag, falling into a six month sleep, waking in spring completely rejuvenated.

The leaves gently fall, one by one, particularly if it’s an oak tree. Quercus taunt me, they drop their leaves slowly unlike other trees which will drop them in several weeks.

Yet, I do love the consistency of the seasons - they are a good friend to rely on and once Autumn gets going, I find myself enjoying the gardening work.

However, I have been reminded by my client that there is plenty of summer left. He promised bright sunshine next week…

There are many wonders in the garden - the roses are producing lovely scented flowers, canna lilies fiery colours burst through and the hydrangea flower heads linger in place. I adore Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ as it turns a striking shade of lime green.

The Passiflora caerule (passion flower) vine open their flowers willingly yet this week’s spectacle are the Japanese anemones. Once they begin, it does mean summer is coming to a close, their crisp bright flowers piercing through any garden scene. They root very deeply and can spread as though a weed, see the image below where they have taken over a neglected brickwork drive way.

Anenome x hybrida (right)

Tasks this week have been watering, dead-heading, tying in, feeding, mowing, hedge cutting and leaf collecting.

Front gardens

I love to take a walk around my local area and see what my neighbours are up to. Front gardens are fascinating, they say a lot about the owner or resident of the house. I have been looking into books on Britain’s front gardens and Ben Dark’s book, The Grove: A Nature Odyssey in 19 ½ Front Gardens looks like a good read.

I always enjoy a garden even if it’s not to my taste. If I’m lucky, I’ll find someone working outdoors, taking care - kneeling in borders with floral gloves or an old trowel.

A cherry tree, magnolia, euonymus, japanese anenome’s, euphorbia, roses and holly hocks

Japanese anenome’s, agapanthus, crimson flag lily, pineapple lily, aqualegia, geranium, acanthus, euphorbia, spent allium heads

I see so many front gardens like the image above, especially in my home county, Kent. Shrub roses grown against brick walls charm me and it feels like a quintessentially British front garden.

Allotment

Wow-weee, I harvested a few epic cucumbers. There were weighty and like special treasures. I chopped one and ate it with salt and olive oil. It was so delicious, nature is such a marvel.

I took a walk around the allotment site and saw a neighbour growing a kohl rabi which was stunning, a little like a sea creature.

My partner and I have been harvesting tomatoes and adding them to our dinners. I also have a generous neighbour who also gifts me a lot of tomatoes. I normally bring a basket to his glass house however used my t-shirt instead, like a child stealing apples from an orchard.

We’ve been freezing raspberries, blackberries and halved plums to enjoy through the cooler seasons. I also been enjoying opening my kitchen cupboard and looking at my stored jars of blackberry jam.

We are having real trouble with cabbage whitefly. t appears there isn’t much you can do so I’ve learnt to love them. They appear to adore curly kale so after harvesting, I soak the leaves in salty water and give them a good scrub and that seems to take off most of the eggs. I’m not fussy and it’s a sign that the leaves are truly organic.

A sad note

I previously mentioned one of my clients passed away and this week, we sorted and emptied her shed. I was gifted some beautiful tools which I’m really chuffed with. I must say, the shed was quite an ordeal - a few dead rats and tentative moving of things so as not to wake an alive rat nest, fortunately there weren’t any.

My client owned a lot - bundles of garden string, fertilisers and pesticides and many different gardening tools. The shed had become so full that nature had taken a hold and it had become unsafe to use.

Her garden is slowly being deconstructed, starting with the containers - her front and back garden have an assortment of planted containers, each as fabulous as the next. Some contained bird shaped topiary, sumptuous standard roses (a standard is a plant trained into a single stem, like a lollypop), luscious tiarella and muelenbeckia spilling over the sides and huge pots of overgrown rosemary.

I watched an assortment of family and friends load vans with her containers until there wasn’t much left. The pots really gave the garden personality and I have been feeling deflated.

I’ve never had a client pass away and it’s new to me. The family have kindly requested I continue to manage the garden for a little while but I’m quite lost.

It doesn’t bring so much pleasure to work on a garden if no one is enjoying it. I like to work as a gardener to make peaceful spaces for my clients to enjoy. I’d like to them step out once I’ve left and enjoy the garden looking its absolute best.

Flower display

There were a few snapped stems in the garden this week so I made a small flower display this week. Hydrangea mycrophylla and Alstromeria ‘Venus’ are good friends.