Growing Nicely

gardening, sustainability, growing food, plants and flowers.

  • Home
  • About
  • Garden Writing
  • Garden Services
    • A Garden Consultation to Reveal the Beauty of your Garden.
  • The Blog
    • Sustainable Gardening
    • Growing Food
    • Gardening & Plants
    • Garden Design
    • Garden Visits
  • Contact Me

More of My Garden in October.

October 24, 2016 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

According to our kitchen calendar, British Summer-time finishes at the end of the month. I’m not one for mourning the end of summer though. Autumn has been glorious here, I’d forgotten how much I like its’ soft light, fiery foliage & vivid blue skies.

Gardening is a real pleasure in this weather, just as well because there’s plenty to do in our garden before winter sets in.

More of My Garden in October-Autumn colours- Virginia Creeper- Parthenocissus quinquefolia

This fabulous Virginia Creeper [Parthenocissus quinquefolia] was growing in the village we stayed at in Suffolk, it lit up beautifully with the setting sun behind it.

The weeding has been done & soil dug over ready for shrub planting over the next few weeks, the soil is still warm making the conditions ideal for new plants.

Where possible I’ll buy bare-root trees & shrubs. Roses, peonies & fruit bushes have to be my favourite bare-root plants. They’re much cheaper than ones bought in plant-pots & are available from October.

Our lawn was laid 6 weeks & is looking green & lush. It still needs a weekly trim, with the blades set high for autumn/winter cuts.

Drainage was a major factor in the design of our garden, so I included shingle paths rather than paved ones, not only are shingle paths better for drainage, they’re much cheaper too. Fallen leaves take a lot of time to clear up, especially from shingle paths.  The big compromise was to buy a leaf-blower – possibly my most disliked piece of gardening equipment –  but it does a good job of removing leaves while keeping the shingle in place.

The geraniums have been dug up out of the pots of summer plants, cut back & stored in the cold-frame out of harms way before the frosts come. I’m not sure what to replace them with yet, but small Narcissus tete a tete will definitely be included.

Narcissus tete-a tete flower, spring flowering bulbs, www.growingnicely.co.uk

Narcissus tete a tete

There’s been a wonderful display of dahlias at my buddhist centre outside London

october-dahlias

More of My Garden in October-colarette dahlias- pink flowers

Dahlias from the allotment last year

My dahlias have done so badly this year, I don’t have the allotment anymore, so I planted them in the garden in what turned out to be the most slug-infested bed in the garden. I usually dig them up & store them in the greenhouse over winter, but I may leave them in the ground. Frankly I’m a bit fed-up with their lack of performance.

They can be left in the garden over winter with a generous layer of mulch over them for protection. But they flower earlier when they’ve spent winter in a greenhouse or cold-frame.

David Austin roses are available here & peonies from Claire Austin here.

Enjoy the rest of the month.

Jill

all photos: Jill Anderson

Related posts:

Let’s make bee friendly gardens yellow rudbeckia flowers,Plants for damp places. Default ThumbnailBook Review: The Half Hour Allotment by Lia Leendertz Why We Need Butterflies In Our Gardens.

Related posts:

Let’s make bee friendly gardens yellow rudbeckia flowers,Plants for damp places. Default ThumbnailBook Review: The Half Hour Allotment by Lia Leendertz Why We Need Butterflies In Our Gardens.
Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: bare-root peonies, David Austin Roses

Never Miss A Post

Subscribe for updates to be delivered straight to your inbox.

Comments

  1. rusty duck says

    October 25, 2016 at 11:21 am

    Love that Virginia Creeper. I had the same problem with dahlias. Unfortunately my whole garden is slug infested so I’m not bothering with them anymore. The skeletal specimen that remains will get a mulch and we’ll see if it returns. But I doubt it.

    Reply
    • Jill Anderson says

      October 28, 2016 at 5:28 pm

      Virginia Creeper has been wonderful with so many days of blue skies this year. I do sympathise, so frustrating to loose dahlias to slugs … but I’m going to keep battling on!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

plants-gardens-growing-eating

Jill-profile image

Hello, I’m Jill Anderson.
This is where you’ll find good, solid information about gardening, growing fruit & vegetables and how to keep it all looking good.
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
The healing, calming power of nature in one photo. The healing, calming power of nature in one photo.
These wonderful autumn colours won’t be around for much longer. But that’s ok, because now is what matters, & their fleeting beauty makes them even more precious.
It’s easy to see how being among trees & nature is so beneficial for our health & wellbeing. 
Have a great Sunday.
Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it lo Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it look spectacular with this bold front door.
Today has been hard work, after a lovely time last week in Norfolk. The north coast there is spectacular. Realising these last few months, that there are so many beautiful places here. 
Have a nice evening.
Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Vis Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Visiting to see the Anish Kapoor sculptures, which are amazing, but unprepared for the beauty of the grounds & garden. 
Such a treat, worth coming to Norfolk for this alone!
Hope you’re keeping well, & managing to smile some of the time. x
P.S. more of Houghton Hall & Anish Kapoor on my stories
We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberrie We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberries, after coffee & cake, sitting in the churchyard - the cafe was full, & the churchyard is a quiet, peaceful spot..... as you’d expect.
-
One little advantage of lockdown is walking so much more, rather than using the car. Though it shouldn’t have taken something as momentous as this, for me to change bad habits 🙁
Hope you’re weekend is going well.
My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from a random clump of hazel on the garden. Now looking much better covered in winter squash plants, so you can’t see just how ramshackle it is. I like to think it has a certain home-spun charm .

Great for small space gardening, imagine how much room you need to grow these without vertical supports.

I’ve got 2 Uchiki kuri, lovely nutty flavour.
1 Turks turban, for its flamboyant shape & colours, though it also tastes good.
One unknown, grown by my grandsons in their homeschooled science lesson.
Close-ups of the squash over on my stories.
Stay cool my friends x
I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium reg I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium regale) which is flowering right outside our bedroom window. 
It gets sun for about 4 hours only, you can order the bulbs now for planting in September. It’ll reappear every year & waft delicious scent around your garden, or through your windows.
Have a very happy Monday x
It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be said for fabulous seasonal flowers that haven’t travelled thousands of miles ...... & are wonderful for biodiversity
A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-s A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-summer!) & it’s, mostly, all growing nicely.

Spinach, courgettes & garlic in shot here. 
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x
Hope is a decision I’ve thought long & hard abou Hope is a decision
I’ve thought long & hard about how to view the tumult in the world we’re living in now. 
The only thing that works for me, is to choose hope.

It’s a tall order, but avoiding mainstream news & speculation helps avoid the anxiety, that’s often waiting in the wings.

One day soon there’ll be grandchildren clambering over this again.
Follow on Instagram

Don't miss any posts!

Enter your email address and receive notifications of new posts.

Archive

Copyright © 2021 Growing Nicely | Privacy Policy

Please note this website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent for cookies to be used. For further information on use of cookies please refer to our privacy policy Find out more.