Well my using my diary keeping attempts using this blog are proving haphazard to say the least. A couple of months have elapsed since I last wrote a post. August came and went but maybe the least said about it the better. It was a dull and depressingly not at all like summer month.
September however has by and large been a warm, sunny and quite beautiful month although the temperatures have dramatically dropped over the last week when there have also been winds and heavy rainfall. Autumn is well and truly here. We enjoyed the first week of the month on holiday by the sea in South Wales. The weather was a mixture of sun at the start and end, overcast in the middle but most fortunately dry throughout. Sadly there were no opportunities for any garden visiting but plenty of coastal footpath walks, unsuccessful dolphin spotting and sitting out in the garden of where we were staying reading and enjoying the beautiful view of the sea as well as bat watching each evening. We usually see bats in the summer at home but not a single one this summer. There was also time for the obligatory seaside fish and chips meal sitting on a bench overlooking the bay and of course an ice cream (not at the same time!)
The two new raised beds in the garden have been largely cleared. The sweet pea and bean wigwams have been cleared and will be dismantled soon. The pattypan squash 'Sunburst' remains along with some beetroot. Calendulas have been torn out but all the herbs planted there are designed to be permanent occupants with perhaps more to be added to their numbers in the future. The potato bags have been shaken out and cleaned in readiness for next year. We didn't grow the same volume of potatoes that the allotment allowed us to but the 'Charlotte' salad potato crop was much enjoyed and the potatoes were cleaner than those grown at the plot. We are now eating the last of the tomatoes the plants having been consigned into the green bin. The majority of the tomatoes were the variety 'Romello' which is a bush plant with delicious small red plum tomatoes and it produces in quantity.
I missed my 'Sunset' apple tree at the allotment as well as it's two companions and of course all the soft fruit I had there especially the raspberries. Still the stick of a spring planted 'Sunset' apple tree has taken and grown better than expected and our wonky apple tree has produced more fruits than ever. This might be down to having removed a large autumn flowering cherry in it's vicinity. The pear tree is covered with fruit and harvesting will be done in the immediate future before the squirrels get there. At the moment their attention is focused on scurrying about with conkers in their mouths bound for a secret hide and forget all about spot but that diversion will not last forever.
In the flower garden there has been some pruning and tidying. The battle against the marestail in the Lockdown Border runs it's infinite course whilst plans have been drawn in my head to remove some of the perennials in there. I'm planning on planting some new additions but still have to locate them. The new roses planted round the geodesic dome were doing well until I spotted some rose sawfly larvae munching them with relish. Some spraying and squishing seems to have done the trick but they did some damage. Their presence was restricted to one side of the dome so fortunately only three plants were affected. I've never come across these beasties on other roses in the garden and certainly didn't expect pests like that in September.
A few hardy annual seeds were sown as soon as we returned from our holiday - calendulas 'Sunset Buff' and 'Snow Princess', orlaya grandiflora, daucus carota 'Purple Kisses Mix', ammi visnaga 'Green Mist' and 'Antirrhinum 'Chantilly Bronze'. Most have germinated well except for the ammi and calendula 'Snow Princess' so second sowings have been made. A couple of days later I remembered the larkspur packet that I had left in the freezer before we left and a possibly too late sowing of these was made today. A perennial scabious has also been sown and cuttings of salvia 'Nachtvlinder' have been taken.
I've made a few plant purchases for planting up a big container at the front of the house - white flowering cyclamens, white violas, a small skimmia, Christmas box and an ivy. My bulb order was sent off and should have arrived this week but because of the shortage of hgv drivers/ fuel it is still with the carriers. I'm not in a hurry for the tulip bulbs as I will not plant them until November but would like to get my hands on the other bulbs as soon as possible.
Finally we made one garden visit as such to Abbeywood Gardens in Cheshire, a few weeks later after blogging friend Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' was there. You can see her post here. This was my first there since last August and we had a most enjoyable morning walking around finishing with lunch outside. The photos you can see on this post were all taken there apart from the seaside holiday snap. We also visited Chester Zoo last week where some of the planting there grabbed my attention away from the animals much to my niece's bewilderment. So on to a new month tomorrow and wishing you all happy gardening in October.
