Diary of a weekend gardener: October 2005

A very social weekend

With good friends up for the weekend (hope you had a good trip back T & E!) the garden rightfully took a back seat to food, wine and company. We all went to Dunham Massey for a constitutional, to watch the deer and for a walk round the gardens - mainly for me to see what's happening as it's not the most exciting time of year for a non-gardener.

Still, got some useful jobs done:
- cleared the pond of most of the duckweed, dead waterlily leaves and surplus vegetation
- finally removed the last of the sweet pea plants and collected some seeds
-re-trained the fig against the house wall
- swept up about 5 bags of leaves. Still need to empty last years wire bin, that's a job for this weekend.

Still so mild - strange things are happening with winter plants in full flower already in places.

Measuring up

I am delighted to present the official scientific formula for a sunflower as:

D+T+F=Height

Where:
D = David
T = Tony
F = Flower head

or 13ft 7in in old money

Fritillaria Crown Imperial trial..

As a parallel to the GW Tulip Trial, a few intrepid souls on the GW Message Board have embarked upon a Crown Imperial trial. Not quite as co-ordinated an effort, but so far we have:

Toadspawn: 'I have already sown a pot of yellow and a pot of red Crown Imperials. Didn't record the date unfortunately but it was approx 17th September. The pots are in the coldframe and we shall see what happens.'

V.B.: 'Yesterday I planted up 6 (3 yellow/3 red) in individual pots with a mix of spent John Innes No 3 and vermiculite. I also planted two in the ground last weekend in free draining soil'

Obelixx: 'I bought some red crown imperials at the market a few weeks ago and have planted them in a pot'

Trillium: 'I planted 5 crown imperials yesterday - on their side in sandy soil'

Acidanthera bicolor

This acidanthera (gladiolus?) only just finds time to flower before it has to be dug up to escape the frosts.

A good slow autumn

So far no frost and no gales so everything's lasting ages. Took the chocolate cosmos and the tender fuchsias under cover today and finished top dressing the lawn.

The odds of picking winter salads from the polytunnel have decreased sharply as slugs have eaten every last seedling!

Some of the Thalictrum delavayi, freesia laxa and the tall white scabious seeds have germinated already. Must try to keep them frost free and dryish over winter. Most likely problem is mildew which is already affecting the pelargoniums.

A real gem this year

Sweet pea 'Cupani's original' still going strong in October.

On listlessness

I'm going to stop making lists. As fast I get things done, new jobs become apparent. It's pointless - I probably only do it because I think I'll drop dead when the list is empty.

Anyway, thanks to great weather on Sunday and some assistance from OH we can finally hold our heads up on the street. The blackthorn, hawthorn, mahonias and self seeded sycamores are no longer stretching halfway across the footpath (it was still plenty wide enough to pass, but still a little unsociable, I accept).

The hired scarifier worked a treat and even left neat stripes. The four bags of top dressing vanished in a quarter of the lawn - I seriously underestimated how much it would need. The veg plot is half weeded and the shade tunnel is finished except for the ends.

Plants that look good now:

- Fothergilla - finally! Still small, but fabulously red
- Rose 'The Times' yes, still flowering
- french lavenders
- all the hardy fuchsias - Tom Thumb and Riccartonii especially
- Spirea 'Limelight' turning wonderfully red
- Sorbus hupehensis
- Acer palmatum atropurpureum
- a little clump of cyclamen
- Cosmos 'Sonata' (would look better if I deadheaded them though)
- the old-fashioned sweet peas are still going strong
- the sunflowers!

Russian Mammoths...

Rained off

The plan was to finish the shade tunnel and scarify the lawn. I was out bright and early to buy the four posts I need and to hire a scarifier from HSS. But it started raining on the way home and hasn't stopped since.

So no progress on the lengthening 'to do' list which currently looks like this this:

- cut back the front of the garden so that it isn't a local health and safey hazard
- generally tidy the front so that it enhances, rather than disfigures the front of the house
- scarify and top dress the lawn
- finish the shade tunnel
- clear the veg and fruit patches of weeds
- creat the new dry garden where the pumpkins and sunflowers are now.
- clear the pond
- take ivy off the long fence
- take out symphorcarsis
- tidy privet and holly
- weed the drive and path

A good gardening day in October is a bonus

Today was one such day. Still, mild and enough sun to brighten the day. Took tons more cuttings - cornus alba 'Elegantissima', rosemary, several lavenders, Anthemis 'EC Bowles', Verbascum, Lithodora, etc. Probably a bit late for some, but they're in the polytunnel so might survive. Split and potted up Geranium sanguineum var. striatum as I'd accidentally planted it over dormant Cyclamen tubers which were fighting for light. The 'Acuba', Rocket and Corn Salad seeds have germinated in the greenhouse - it'll be interesting to see how they do.

And below are some October pics - amazing how much is still happening. I especially like the completely accidental cosmos/astrantia combination and the sunflowers - which still haven't blown over despite being ridiculously tall for the skinny canes they are held up by.