Bulb planting and since...

Since I used up all the space on my laptop and had to have it "sorted" by very helpful Apple Genius in Regent Street, I am a bit out of date with my posts.   So here is what should have been posted early in November.   Up-date to follow (with snow news!) very shortly....

It has turned very cold now.   All my fragiles and garden furniture are out of harm's way but there is still a lot to do and so little light to do it in!

Have finally managed to get all bulbs planted.   In the herb/rose garden are tulips Ballerina and Burgundy (as per last year) but this time with Jimmy & Ronaldo -  Parker's speciall offer!   In the main "border" are Orange Emperor, Marilyn, Maytime and Doll's Minuet.   I have packed a couple of pots with a crazy-looking new parrot-style tulip, Rai and squeezed another 25 allium Christophii in any spaces I could find.

A quick trip to the garden centre provided dwarf Irises (mixed), miniature Narcissus Minnow and a pack of mixed shade mauve pansies which I just about managed to cram into my window box before it got dark!

The garden is generally looking very green and brown - with just the odd splash of colour, mainly from the nerines and a few late aconitum but the winter jasmine is also in full flower and very cheery - it's a wonderful screening plant and incredibly well-behaved, even if it seems to flower when it wants to!

Biggest surprise to me was that I picked about 1/2 lb of raspberries today - what a treat!.

Small pleasures

Even though it has turned mild again, I have put away the tops of my ceramic bird baths for protection against possible frost damage.   It's a pity but a worthwhile precaution.   Diana Roles' ceramics are technically frost-proof but if water freezes in any spaces, part thaws and then re-freezes, it expands and that is where the damage can be done.   Pieces that drain or are smooth-sided are OK but I'm not taking any risks!

On the plus side, revealing the base of this piece has opened up more opportunities for the acer leaves to catch in cobwebs!

October - work to be done

I had some crazy idea that I would be able to whip the dahlias out and pop in the tulips - in a matter of a few hours!!!!    In fact just labelling the dahlias proved to take almost that long.   Now I see why people buy expensive metal tags which they leave on plants - permanently.   Anyway, I think I sorted them all out.   The next thing was to allow time - in the right location - for the worms which refused to be made homeless to decide to wriggle out.   Then came the small matter or hanging the tubers upside down for a week to allow them to dry out.   Hmmm - makeshift arrangements in the greenhouse took a bit of thinking out but I was glad I hadn't chucked out all the old shelf supports.   One greenhouse-length piece of wood balanced on some garden chairs seems to have done the trick!

Dahlia tubers drying on make-shift shelf in greenhouse

The first bach of tulip bulbs took longer to plant than expected as some multi-coloured osteospermum I had popped in as colour bedding have suddenly put on a new flush of blooms so I had to carefully dig around them.   Another lesson there.

In the greenhouse the winter salad crop and herb seedlings are coming on quite well.  Will soon have to decide whether to harvest some as "cress" or just thin out.   May experiment with a bit of each.

Progress of winter salad crops in growbags in the greenhoue

The nerines are certainly worth growing.   Sicne they are such a shocking colour I may even put in some orange ones for next year.   That would be interesting!

More crazy nerine shapes - they are so worthwhile - however LOUD!

Last luscious blush of little acer (unnamed seedling from Westonbirt arboretum)

First frost

So we have had our first heavy frost - on the night of the 20th - which has put paid to all the cheerful exhuberance by turning the dahlias black.    My temptation was to whip them all out of the ground so I could put in my tulips but apparently the dying foliage has to be left at least a week.
Instead I spent some time having a serious think to try and remember where I envisaged the tulips going.   The front border has emerged fairly unscathed from the house being decorated (very handy having a decorator who is also a gardener!) and the white paintwork at the bottom will provide a great backdrop for tulips so I put in all the bulbs I rescued from 2009/10 plus some new "Irene" - then remembered the crocuses I had dug up so shoved them in - they will have to take their chances.
There is some new colour - evergreen honeysuckle has started its second flowering, winter jasmine (very early!), the nerines are opening, a few late roses and most stunning are the acer leaves which have turned a luscious coppery crimson.
Red robin has been exerting his territorial presence and I finally saw a squirrel yesterday.  
Now preparing myself for a lot of work next weekend.

What a mess!

Suddenly the garden is looking pretty much of a mess!   So much for hopes of cutting the grass - I think that would make a big difference.   Still a lot of growth and quite a surprising amount of colour but I think this is the real turning-point.   I fact tonight's predicted frost prompted me to be quite ruthless about cutting handfuls of gorgeous dahlia blooms - so this will probably be it for dahlia pictures this year!!!  

I am posting a picture of the progress made by the nerines which shows just how much growth has begun to slow.  

There are still PLENTY cobwebs (seen here catching the light behind crocosmia leaves) - must be a very good time of year for spiders, although I have no idea why.    Are they fattening themselves up for winter?

Nerines

Nerine buds

It did turn out to be a beautiful sunny day - if rather windy.   Pruned forsythia, swept up some fallen leaves, picked a handful of raspberries and collected a few more nuts.   So had something else.   Before I realised the nuts were worth gathering I was throwing them into an empty pot.   They have all gone!
 Too wet to cut grass but gave 2 garden chairs a rub over with WD40 (yet another use of this wonderful stuff!) and put them in the shed for the winter.
Sitting with door open onto garden at dusk descends!

Changing hues

Sadly, we are back to the time of year when I only get to see the garden at weekends and there has been a definite change towards autumn in the past week.   The amelanchier has begun to shed its leaves and the acer is turning.   Everything is just beginning to look a bit messy.   I so hope the promised sunshine materialises so that the grass dries out enough to cut.   That always tidies things up!

But there are still little surprises.   The autumn raspberries are putting on quite a crop although the rain has turned them mildewy before I could get to them.   My growbags in the greenhouse are full of little seedlings of lambs lettuce, American land cress, rocket and leaf coriander (cilantro) - exciting!   Must remember to get more perpetual spinach to plant outside before it gets too cold - such a worthwhile veg..

My tulip bulb order arrived from Parkers last week- plenty of work to look forward to there.   Lovely bulbs.   I am impressed with Parkers.

The dahlias are still going strong, the rather strange buds of nerines are pushing their way through, the autumn crocuses and Japanese anemones are in bloom and a few stems of late aconitum have flowers for about the first time so I'm glad I didn't dig them up last year.  

Today I picked a tiny bunch of delicious-smelling sweet pea mattucana and nasturtiums including a gorgeous rust-coloured one.   Also despatched another 3 lily beetles and missed one.   They are certainly prolific.