September 2022

Grass and wildflowers have burgeoned in the last few weeks with the grass turning from short and brown to long, luxurient green following cooler, wetter weather. I have cut the grass on the highest cut, just to tidy it up a bit. I also saw a frog just before I started mowing and didn't want to kill it by using a low cut setting. I did encourage it to move along but it disappeared among the lower stems. Frog camouflage is very effective. It is also great to see lots of seedlings coming up; so far I have spotted foxgloves, primula, geranium, and a lovely blue flowered annual whose name I have forgotten which probably won't survive the first frost. Fingers crossed that it does!

Brambles have been cut back by hand in the long hedge - next jobs include cutting the brambles in the high hedge back with the extending hedge trimmer.  I have cut back some perennials that have finished flowering, but not to ground level as stems may be useful for winter wildlife.

I spent an hilarious morning with a friend putting new roofing material on the shed. This involved standing on wobbly ladders, climbing on fences and ultimately climbing onto the roof itself, then sitting there enjoying the sunshine and scaring the neighbours! Great fun. Oh yes, we got to hit things with hammers too. Yay!

The thornless blackberry continued to be fruitful and I have picked and frozen several kilos of berries, made apple and blackberry crumble, and chutney. I have started cutting the fruiting stems back now and will tie in this year's canes soon. 

The compost bin needed dealing with so I emptied out the dustbin of mature compost and spread it under shrubs, then emptied the big bin. In the process I found three slow worms and lots of slugs, spiders and woodlice. Mature compost was put into the dustbin ( it has holes in) and a large bucket, and the new material was put back into the big bin. I always find compost bins fascinating.

I am slowly dealing with the paper bags full of seed heads that I have collected over the summer, and spent a very pleasant hour detaching honesty seeds from their papery seed capsules while also trying to get a photo of a high speed camera-shy woodlouse spider. I failed at the latter task. Many of the potted plants around the garden have been moved under the lean-to at the side of the shed so that they don't get too wet over the winter. I may make that area into a nursery, but not sure how as yet.

There is still plenty to do in October so I will be busy, depending on the weather and my energy levels!

Flowers this month:

Agapanthus, California Poppy, Hawkbit, Chives, White Clover, Dandelion, Echinacea, Evening Primrose, Fennel, Fuchsia, Fuchsia 'Bella Soila', Fuchsia 'Winston Churchill', Geranium nodosum, Geum urbanum, Golden Rod, Lemon Balm, Lavender, Toadflax, Mallow, Calendula officionalis, Passiflora caerulea, Pelargonium, Perennial Sweet Pea, Phygelius capensis, Penstemon, Ragwort, Red Deadnettle, Scarlet Pimpernel, Sedum spectabile, Sedum spectabile purpurea, Soapwort, Teucrium, Verbena bonariensis, Mexican Fleabane, Mint, Oregano, Willowherb, Wood Sorrel, Hyssop, Buttercup, Fuchsia magellanica alba, Sunflower.