End of month review : October 2011

It's the end of the month again. The clocks have gone back and the days are getting shorter. Just time for the odd bit of pottering in the garden and some selective tidying. I don't do much and prefer to leave most of it for birds and overwintering insects.

It's also time to review what's been happening in the garden this month. Why not have a look at Helen's garden at Patient Gardener's Weblog.
 
This is the ornamental garden a couple of days ago. It doesn't look too bad from a distance, in fact it's got a certain decayed elegance at this time of year.

But look up close and it's all a bit sad...
But here and there there are signs of next spring. The camellia bush is covered with plump buds.

All the buddleia have been cut back by half. The be cut back hard again next March to stop the shrubs getting too big. Cutting back the buddleia at this time of year was a habit I acquired (and kept) when living in Orkney. Wind rock was responsible for killing so many shrubs.
They will have self seeded. Need to clear damp leaves of the deck path. Bird food out.
Lots of jobs to be done

Our young gunnera manicata is in a sheltered spot near the house.



I mulch it and bend the leaves over to give it some winter protection.

The straw and fleece treatment will give the tree ferns some protection when the bad weather comes.

As yet the weather is still very mild.In what continues to be a strange autumn the cirsium is about to flower again.

 The tender pineapple and tangerine sages are still growing well and in flower. As the frost will kill these off I always take cuttings and overwinter them.

The verbena bonariensis seeds in particular is a favourite with the goldfinches during the cold weather.  They are still flowering.

The beautiful bloom of the fatsia japonica is a welcome addition to the border at this time of year.

 As are the blue berries of the cornus.

The kitchen garden has very little left to commend it. The leeks have bolted, and the kale is a bit tough now. There are a few root vegetables still growing, parsnips, scorzonera and mangle beet which will be picked later in the winter.

The Globe artichokes have put on a lot of green sappy growth and may not survive the winter even with protection.

Even after a cursory tidy up the second compost bin is piled high. I'll empty the other one and spread the compost of long border and turn the heap. The leaves from the big sycamore trees will be collected and added to the end leaf mould enclosure.

Lastly I have added a not very pretty image of one of our hoses. This a reminder (to me and you if you need reminding!) to put away the hoses.  One year we didn't and it burst flooding a corner of a neighbours garden. Oops!