Oh ok, I also know it is not a new moon on Sunday either, its waning gibbous, but waning gibbous on Sunday is not a song, however it does sound like the start of a good ghost story.
Sunday is the autumnal equinox, at 20.44 you should look up
at the moon and know that the earth has moved just that bit more into another
phase. The nights will continue to get
longer, which is always a difficult time for me. Already as I get home from work I consider
myself lucky that there is still some light left, to lose my nightly garden
inspection is not a time I look forward to.
I reach that point in the year when I only really see the garden at
weekends. This does have the benefit
that weekends are even more looked forward to, I also get up and out quicker at
the weekends this time of year as I know the light is precious.
We have just had a bit of a chilly spell, then this weekend a slightly warmer spell which will be followed by a chilly spell again. I start counting the days to when there will be the first frost, to when the dahlias get blackened leaves and the nasturtiums turn into a disgusting slimy mess that smells quite unpleasant.
I already know I am looking up at the trees a lot at the moment. My pruning saw hand is getting twitchy, I am
mentally noting branches that I want to remove.
I am staring at the apple trees in particular and thinking they need
quite a bit of work. Actually maybe more
work than I can do, I might have to get someone who knows what they are doing
to deal with them as it is more than the odd branch that needs looking at. I do enjoy a good pruning session on a chilly
autumnal day, it keeps me warm and I like the altering of the light and the
boundary hedge shape that results.
It is also the time of year when the plants from outside start moving inside. Now I have always said I am too lazy to faff around with lots of delicate plants that need to come in for the winter. I know that that I am too lazy to do this, so why when I go into the conservatory now does it look like this?
Best of all though it is not the end of the gardening year,
but very much the beginning of much planning, digging, planting and
sowing. There are shrubs and trees to
consider as now is the best time to plant them before the soil goes cold. I have areas of lawn to remove to extend and
reshape the borders, these need to be done before the frost hits so that the
freeze will help break down the soil (less digging, it works a treat!). I also have quite a batch of cuttings
hopefully rooting away merrily in the greenhouse and this year I am going to
have a real concerted effort to do some autumn sowing of hardy annuals. I have various seeds and under the advice of Mr Ranyard I have waited until the equinox to sow them. Well why not, it has been a bit cold this
week and it will be a bit warmer at the weekend so it seems sage advice to
me. I will even sow some sweet peas, I
have never had a lot of success with autumn sown sweet peas and I usually wait
until the Spring. I am of the opinion
that sweet peas, just the same as their more edible cousins, benefit from
successional sowing. I sow some every
now and again and that means that as I write this I am still able to bring in a
few blooms every week to perfume the kitchen window sill.
I will let you know how the autumn sowing goes.
A song, you say, a song! well what else would I choose?
