greentapestry : End Of Month View ~ September 2012

Sunday 30 September 2012

End Of Month View ~ September 2012


The end of September has been celebrated here today with shades of 'Black Cherry' - not autumnal foliage but the colour of my hair, as himself has applied lotions and potions to disguise the advancing grey. I sometimes wish that there was an off the shelf product which could send the month back on itself. I usually appreciate the serene days of September but this one with the exception of some glorious and oh most welcome French sunshine, is probably best put to bed.

At the allotment I am a wanted person - the allotment police have finally caught up with me and my weeds which have been a problem all year. I came home from holiday earlier this month to find one of those innocuous looking brown window envelopes which contained unpleasant news. I had failed the September allotment inspection and have some twenty eight days to remedy matters. Now that sounds a generous amount of time but not when you have been away for a portion of it, nor when it seems to have poured down for almost the rest of it. When I say rain this last week was more or less swallowed up by the mother of all slow moving rain clouds. However between the seemingly never ending torrents there has been a battle royal to hack down the weedy jungle. I am really hoping that the plot will pass when reviewed sometime in the next few days. I am taking some perverse comfort in the fact that there are a number of other plot holders in the same position. It seems that many of us gave up for the season earlier this year. With me I think that the breaking point was when my third lot of climbing French beans were ravaged by molluscs. Will report back next month on whether I still have an allotment plot or not !

As a result of all the frenzied time spent on advanced weed killing, building bonfires and trips to the tip with green waste I have seen very little of the garden. The gabion project is more or less finished bar some finishing touches. We are thinking of making the area over to planting some fruit trees - there are a couple of pear trees planted there already. I also want to plant at least two ornamental trees - nothing exotic but much longed for trees - one being a malus and the other an alemanchier. I am looking forward to choosing them and planting them this autumn. The stars of the garden this month for me have been the astrantias which have sent forth a second burst of flowering - it would seem that the wet stuff has been to their liking.

The new season's catalogues have been dropping through the letter box with regularity for the last couple of weeks. I have been quite disciplined squirreling them away  in readiness for the longer evenings. The stock of to be read gardening magazines and books is also gaining in height. I have made one or two new plant purchases and will post about them in the next few days.

Meanwhile I am sure that other bloggers will have more uplifting tales of September to recount as Helen kindly invites us to share our end of month views, over at 'The Patient Gardener's Weblog'. Hopefully come October I will feel less out of sorts.

12 comments:

  1. Oh dear that is bad news - don't the allotment police take holidays into account or the horrible weather. Good luck with the next inspection - if it had been my plot I would have been out on my ear months ago

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  2. Hopefully next month will be much more settled for you, gardening wise :)

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  3. Eeek! Oh Anna, how miserable, to have the allotment police on your case. Hope you pass muster, it has been such a wretched year for growing edibles, the weeds and the molluscs have been in the ascendancy. I love the sound of all your tree planting plans, it is one of my only regrets that, due to overhead wires, I am severely limited when it comes to tree planting opportunities in this garden.

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  4. Hope you pass the inspection this time. It's a shame that all those pesky molluscs don't eat the weeds, we'd have all had spotless plots this year with the amount of slugs and snails that's been about. The plans for your garden sound exciting, can't wait to hear more about it.

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  5. See that is another reason for me to give up the allotment - to avoid the allotment police. It would only be a matter of time before they caught up with me!! You would lthink though that given the awful year everyone has had that your allotment police would be a little more forgiving.

    I am really looking forward to seeing the gabion project.
    Thanks for joining in again this month

    Helen

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  6. I do hope the weather clears up a bit in October - and the allotment passes! If it's any consolation, despite the very dry summer here, I have had more slugs and snails than ever before... I suppose the garden was an oasis for them!

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  7. That is terrible! I don't think the allotment site where I had my plot ever had inspections - not many of the plots were taken so it would have been a bit tough to discipline plot holders when the empty plots were shoulder high with weeds! Hope the autumn improves for you. If it’s any comfort I have found countless snails, all laying eggs, while I’ve been tidying and planting – how they survived this summer I cannot imagine. Christina

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  8. Hello again, Anna. I popped by this post this morning but ran out of time to leave my comment and I see you visited me first. Thank-you for your comment and good wishes on my blog today.

    I’d like to extend my good wishes to you in your pending allotment inspection. Gosh… never knew they did that. I think that might put me off having one. Although, I can see reasoning where seeding weeds are concerned I suppose. Good luck :-)

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  9. Anna I now understand your comment on my blog better, you too have had wet and maybe windy weather, I hope you get to keep your allotment, I never knew they were inspected it's a bit like being in the army, you would think with the bad weather they would be more understanding,
    I only read about alemanchier trees last year and how beautiful they are so last autumn when buying some bareroot plants online I bought 10, I planted them along the path to the shed they have given me much pleasure this year though small the leaf colours are beautiful, I expect our recent and continueing strong winds have blown the leaves off before they change colour, I hope you get yours, Frances

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  10. Well, if it's any consolation, Anna, the weather here has been stupendous but I've still got weeds. You've got a legitimate excuse with the weather being inhospitable. I don't. How discouraging for you. Hopefully next summer will be better. I didn't get a second bloom on my Astrantia so water must be important for it to perform its best. I'll try to remember that.

    Wishing you a sunny October.

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  11. Good luck with taming the allotment, especially with the weather not cooperating. It makes it a lot less enjoyable when you have to garden to someone else's schedule and deadline.

    I've been planting lots of bulbs, and thinking more of spring than of fall.

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  12. I gave up on my garden, and especially any veg growing, this year Anna. Between the weather, molluscs and other numerous pests my heart just wasn't in it. I've said it before but I must get going with the nematodes thing for next year.

    Good luck with your next allotment inspection, hopefully October will be more settled.

    Jeanne
    x

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All your comments are much appreciated and treasured. I wil try to reply to everyone who leaves a comment, but it may take me a few days, especially when I start spending more time in the garden and at the lottie. I know that you will understand :) I am sure that I will also visit your blog if I have not already done so. If you have any specific questions I will either reply to them here or you can email me at : thegreentapestry@gmail.com

Namasté

- Anna.