Autumn Bits and Bobs.

[retropants]

Thanks for your kind words. You just have to keep going, don't you? Westi, you are right, everything all at once. x

[oldherbaceous]

You do just have to keep going Retropants, things do get easier in the end!

[Westi]

One of those days where my intent was good, I felt I worked hard but couldn't finish even 1 big bed so moved the finish to Friday. I was tackling the Chinese beds & had to be really careful trying to identify the plants from the weeds. Trouble is I couldn't identify some of them as I was given some seeds actually bought in China when my friend went home to see her family. She bought them back, all nicely sealed so allowed through but all writing on the packs was in Chinese. Some that grew were common & known but there was the odd one I had to cull as no idea plant or rouge poison weed or the like. I will be more diligent & resow into a pattern of some type so more identifiable as would like to see what they are & taste like as if winter doesn't show soon the weeds will be back!

[Clive.]

The wind went in the north yesterday lunchtime...I had sat in the poly tunnel over lunch and soon reached for my woolly hat upon emerging out to get on with readying the cold frames for Winter mode..the first application of woolly hat this season..
Today, cold in the drizzly rain and one sharper shower but alternating to warm in the sunny periods.

I sowed some excess saved broad beans as a green manure a couple of weeks ago and they are just popping through. I haven't done this for some years but following a prompt I thought it was a good idea to do it again.

Normally growing conventionally in north south rows for regular crops on this area I opted to sow the beans in rows running across east west and pulled out a series of sort of gull wing wavy shaped parallel rows with the draw hoe that thus cross the regular crop lines and walking access lines but not in a straight line 90 degree way...hard to explain...but seemed to make sense to me at the time. They were sown tighter than usual, fairly liberally ran the seed along the drills. They have come up very well from reasonably old very brown seed.

C.

[oldherbaceous]

Weeds and lawns growing like mad at the moment and loads of the Herbaceous plants that really struggled in the drought, are now re-shooting!
Managed to get loads of lawns cut today, so things look a lot tidier…..not many leaves coming off the trees yet, so will be very late in the year when they all fall!
Funny how some old seed germinates really well, isn’t it Clive….

[Clive.]

Yes, the wiggly lines of beans are more or less all through now...there is an explanatory label pushed in to explain...just in case anyone should think I've lost it with my wandering lines.

The leaves are starting to flutter down around here..there's some gorgeous tree colour to see though..but the leaf bay is empty, ready to fill.

I really thought the asters were not going to make it in to flower at one point...and some are going over now but the rain arrival was just in time to get them into flower ok.
With dead heading the dahlias are still on the go and some, grown from seed, Bishops Children dahlia are really a glow.
By my house back door in my south border one purchase last year is a real beauty, Aster ericoides Blue Wonder...very strong stems, a little later into flower than some and amazing intense long lasting colour. Even a piece that I had in a vase until its leaves went yellow has still retained sharp colour in the spent flower after throwing it on top of the heap..

C.

[oldherbaceous]

As usual, i’m putting the Sweet Chestnut cases on the bottom of where the leaf heap will be, this has stopped the Moles getting in and filling the heap with soil…..but like Clive, no leaves gathered yet!
I’m making a note of the Aster….

[Geoff]

I raked a load of leaves today. Thinking writing a book about the weather, working title "50 Shades of Grey", starting to get to me.

[Westi]

Popped outside this evening just in time to catch the tree in the little park in splendid colour with the sun setting.

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[Geoff]

Lovely tree and sunshine, a real treat.

[oldherbaceous]

Next door to number 36, has a lovely garden too…

[Westi]

Stuart really does have a great garden doesn't he? He looks after all the folk down that end mowing their lawns, helping them set up/move pots etc. Now everything has been removed from my front lawn he is going to advise me on whether to sow grass or lawn seed on the sad specimen left but I have to wait a bit until the tree guys can trim the tree at the front & remove some rouge trees at the back that have worn out their welcome. They are two of the guys that were involved in the studio build but have too many jobs now as the boss lady with the studio was impressed with their work ethic she has signed them up to her company to finish some jobs for Xmas for her.

[Clive.]

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I haven't added a photo for ages...had to think how....and my phone isn't at all smart so had to find the, now old hat, Canon...which is no longer holding its date info....
Attached is of Aster ericoides Blue Wonder with ref earlier posting, I sourced it from Claire Austin last year. I was familiar with a white Aster ericoides which is a well behaved lovely aster but is normally much shorter...really pleased at how the blue has done
C.

[oldherbaceous]

What a wonderful splash of Autumn colour, Clive….thank you for sharing the picture.
Got loads of lawns cut today, in readiness of the very wet weather that is forecast….even got some hoeing done too!

[Geoff]

Picked over 70kg Bramleys today, still a few inaccessible ones left on my big tree but haven't started the smaller tree. I suppose it is the same everywhere, can't give them away round here. "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" - can you overdose?