Almost bedtime...

...for my garden...

Virginia Creeper in autumn colour.

 October is here already.  The weather has been summer-like for days now but the colors in the garden tell a tale of autumn.

At this time of year, as if to make up for the dwindling sunlight the colours are deeper, richer, more fiery than all year.

Nasturtium

Purple salvia and yellow heleniums

Virginia Creeper again

Deep blue campanula 

I should have been out there every day for the last 8-10 sunny days but, although I have been out, mostly it has been to walk rather than to garden.  Today was the first full day I spent in the garden for quite some time.

I pruned the black currants, the lavenders and sages all down the garden path so they will bear plentifully next year - and so I can walk down the path without being smacked by a wet plant later when the rain inevitably returns.

The garden is still full of bees and birdsong.

See the bee?

This weekend I have promised myself that I will spend every spare moment out in the last of the sun tidying up and doing as much as I can before next week when the weather turns much windier and wetter.

So, this afternoon, after taking my prunings to the tip as there were too many for my compost, I cleaned a very dilapidated wheelbarrow.

My plan is to paint it and plant it up with bright things for the spring.   It is to be placed in the front garden...which is sorely neglected.   It is shady, windy and unappealing for much of the year in the front.   I need to address this and bring some change to it.  The wheelbarrow planter is a beginning.

Last week I bought a mass of bulbs with my 'loyalty card' savings for our local garden centre.

Selection of bulbs for next spring

None of those in the photo are suitable for the front, they are sun lovers.   I will get some shade loving bulbs next week - I'm thinking of some special daffodils and muscari which I noted had been hybridised for shady conditions.  I don't know what else.   Probably some winter flowering pansies and violas just for the top till things get going.  The red,white and blue bulbs were given me by a young friend who had recently visited Amsterdam, she bought them there!  Thank you so much C.

Daffodils and muscari 

The combination of the yellow daffodils and purple muscari never fails to look lovely - I will need the miniature daffs as the wind is too vicious in that part of the garden for anything too tall.

Vine by kitchen door - leaves turning red.

So although the summer season has been less than exciting this year, the last two or three weeks have certainly made up for it.  The garden has been a sanctuary of peace, colour and yes, sunshine!   Also it has given me more than an apple a day...the little pippin cox is a delightfully tasty apple and has done really well this year.    I've been eating tomatoes, cucumber, courgettes, and potatoes too, all from the garden.   And I've even had a couple of teeny-tiny grapes, but they made up in taste what they lacked in size.  Next year they should be bigger.  The salad potatoes are ready now - they are delicious.

Pink fir apple salad potatoes.

Now though, it is time to tidy up for the coming winter and to plant for spring.  

For those of you who might be interested here is a list of jobs to think about doing now.  Do I keep to the advice?   Some of it, yes, I do.   I think I have convinced myself that pruning is absolutely a very good way of getting the best out of so many plants next season.  There is so much advice online how to do it for the different plants - you can't really go too far wrong.

Planting bulbs too.   Honestly they are so cheap and, once in the ground, you are pretty much guaranteed a spring of beautiful colour, so why not spend a couple of hours putting them in?   If you haven't got enough ground then put them in containers, they are just as happy and just as lovely.

So if you do no other jobs those are the two I would suggest you prioritise.   The pruning nd the bulb planting.

Fritillaria imperialis

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention...among the bulbs I bought I bought two Fritillaria imperialis.   That's a very  grand sounding name isn't it?  It should be too.   The bulbs are expensive, these cost me £3.50 each, but I believe they will be worth every bit of it.   I bought yellow ones, as pictured.
  They grow quite tall, about 1 metre, and I think I shall have to be very vigilant in protecting them from slugs - also from sitting in too much wet...a bit of grit in the bottom of their planting space should solve the drainage - slugs...they are another thing all together.

S told me today that young Chris is going to be in the garden this weekend...by his sister's request.   She says the spiders are back...Sarah...what do you mean they are back?   I bet they never left!  Anyway, I believe it is Chris's job to cut back things in the garden to get rid of the spiders.   This is pointless.  And damaging.   The spiders in our British gardens now are the fat little chappies - see picture.

See the fat happy spider in the middle?

These spiders are useful pest deterrents and completely harmless.   I must have had half a dozen of them tangling in my hair and clothes today when I was pruning.   They are social, jolly little creatures and really don't hurt you at all!

Well I think that is all the news for now.   Hopefully by the time the weekend is over the garden will be much more prepared for autumn... and ready for the big bulb planting as soon as the ground is softened by the rains next week.

Have a wonderful gardening weekend everyone.   Don't forget to take in the last of the sunshine and just enjoy being in your garden too..isn't that what it is really all about?