It has been a slow weekend of pottering and faffing around. We are at that point of the gardening year when you suddenly realize that you have to grab the opportunities to garden when you can both due to the shortening days and also the inclement weather. I haven’t quite got that sense of urgency I often get at this time of year when I realize how many bulbs I have to plant or things that need tidying up. I wonder whether its because I seem to have kept on top of the bulb planting this year.
Oenothera versicolor ‘Sunset Boulevard’
I am really thrilled with this Evening Primrose (Oenothera versicolor ‘Sunset Boulevard’). They were grown from seed earlier in the year and I am hoping they will be perennial and not biennial as it was said on Gardeners World the other night! I love the warmth of the orange flowers, it is working really well with the Autumn foliage.
Today the sun was attempting to shine and although chilly at first it was a pleasant day to be outside. I had to half empty the greenhouse yet again so I could plug in the heater and re-jig all the plants, again, in order to fit just a few more tenders in. This year some have been brought into the house as I will never get them all in the greenhouse – luckily my youngest has moved out so his bedroom is available! There are now only the border line plants to deal with. I have been taking cuttings but I think I will lift one of the Salvia ‘Phyllis Fancy’ and then mulch around the base of the other border line plants.
The last of the bulbs, with the exception of a few tulips, have gone in. I struggle to get Iris reticulata to come back year on year but I read the other day that this is because we plant them in dry and warm areas and this leads the corms to split into smaller corms and then a delay of several years for them to bulk up and flower. The theory is that you should plant them deep in a sightly shadier location which seems to make sense. I thought I would give this a go as I love Iris reticulata and I would be thrilled if I could establish a drift of them. So I have planted groups of corms in two shady parts of the garden and we will have to wait and see.
The other job I wanted to complete this weekend was emptying one of the compost bins. Sadly I sort of failed with this task. I have dug most of the contents out over the last few weeks and used it for mulching but I discovered today that the bottom battens of bin had rotted so I need to replace it. The trouble is that due to the slope of the garden the bins are cut into the side of the hill and when I don’t empty them for ages the moisture rots the wood. I also have to literally dig out the contents as I can only access the bins from above (i.e. standing on ground level with the top of the bin!) which is not very satisfactory. It has been annoying me for ages so after a consultation with my eldest we have decided to build a couple of new bins from pallets, which we can easily access, and have them along the fence line. They will be built in such a way that I can remove the front of the bin and empty them easily. It will also mean that I can really tidy up the area under the willow where the bins are located. Now the willow has been cut back there is more light in this area and all sorts of things are growing and shooting so it would be good to use the space better. So that will be my winter project.
I think it is one of the joys of this time of year that as you slow down you start to have time to look and think and muse and decide on what you might do next year
