Having decided not to move house I thought I’d better start the autumn tidy up! I’ve found a gardener to help me too, an old nursing friend called Sally has been doing gardening for many years, she’s going to come round for a couple of hours twice a month, just knowing she’s coming has given me the impetus to get out in the garden again, at least it will look like I’m trying! She was meant to start last week, but typically it was raining heavily so we called it off til this week.

After a long dry summer, it’s feeling decidedly autumnal now, a bit backendish as they call it round here. When I set off for work it’s only just starting to get light and the evenings are drawing in too. The days can turn out pretty warm still so I’ve managed a few afternoons in the garden.

Knowing I’ve got some help coming I’ve been noting in my mind which areas I struggle with. I’ve started tidying up the pond area, both the pond and Hubert the heron pretty much disappeared this summer behind a mass of foliage, there’s a lot of things need thinning or splitting. The crocosmia lucifer and the Solomon’s seal in particular are both getting out of hand, as well as the irises. I’ve tried digging the area before but digging is one thing I can struggle with due to my lack of balance. I’m OK with fairly soft soil, but anything compacted and I struggle as you do have to stand on one leg for a moment or two, not my best stance especially on uneven ground!

Hubert is just in sight now…

I’ve been tidying up round the amber and amethyst garden too, my standard rose has still got a few blooms, I planted it last year in memory of my mum, it’s called Roald Dahl and as a primary school teacher she loved reading Roald Dahl books to her class.

Over by the steps I’ve a somewhat sprawly sub-shrub which I’ve rarely seen for sale, it has lovely blue flowers, it’s never going to take centre stage in a bed but actually at this time of year it adds a bit of colour. It’s actually from the clematis family, but rather than a climber, this one is a shrub. As you can see from the photo, I’ve not started tidying and weeding this border yet!

The pots by the patio need a good sort out, though I’ll probably wait until early spring, see which ones have survived the winter and which ones would be better planted out. The water feature I turned into a bird bath by adding lots of pebbles hasn’t been a roaring success but I’m not giving up yet, I do need to sort out the duckweed though, which has obviously been transferred on an odd pebble from the main pond, the lime green colour of duck weed does stand out somewhat!

Last spring I planted a new rose, it’s a climbing rose to go over the arch by the patio, I used to have one called Teasing Georgia there but having been there for many years it was definitely past it’s best so I dug it out. You have to be careful replacing a rose with another rose, sometimes the second rose will get rose sickness, to try and avoid this I dug out a lot of the old soil, replaced it with lots of home grown compost and also used a micorrhizal product to encourage the roots. The new rose is called Wollerton Old Hall and the flowers are just gorgeous…

…fingers crossed it stays happy and healthy!

Looking forward to Sally’s first visit, there’s certainly plenty to do!