End of month view

September rushed past in a blur and here we are at the end of month view again.


Here is the side garden.  From this distance it all looks a bit fluffy although from closer to you can tell that the bed at the back of this picture is working quite a bit better than the bed at the side.  The side bed has been planted mainly for spring and summer.  The back bed works well in spring, is a bit empty and sad in summer and comes into its own later in the summer as the crocosmia Lucifer and the sedum bulk up, the rudbeckia shines and the dahlias and cosmos fill out to take the space earlier occupied by the oriental poppies.  It is in this bed that I am intending to put the miscanthus which (having seen and admired Karen's fabulous grassees) I have ordered from Knoll Nurseries.


I love this sedum and, wonderfully, it loves our soil and produces enough extra plants every year to allow me to spread it about the garden.


I love this dahlia too.  When the new grass goes in I shall have to have a rethink about the use of my dahlias.  I might move them into the side bed so that it is a little less green and fluffy at the end of summer.


This is looking past the new cherry tree at the end of the orchard towards the cutting garden.  The orchard is really settling in this year and starting to look like a collection of trees rather than some random sticks.  The cutting garden has had a mixed year.  The sweetpeas have been fantastic.  The lavender has grown and flowered to the extent that I even harvested some and made some lavender bags to take to our friends in Provence.  I think taking coals to Newcastle is so outmoded.  We middle class types take lavender to Provence.  But the rest of the flowers have been a bit of a disappointment.  The irises have hardly flowered at all.  The cosmos are crowding out the echinacea.  The zinnias, grown for the first time this year, are only just now starting to really flower and will at any minute be cut down by cold.  The whole thing needs to be rethought for next year and I am getting stuck at the moment.  The end with the perennial plants - globe artichokes, lavender - is fine.  Do I grow more perennials or dig up the unsatisfactory end and replan it as a place for annuals?  Any thoughts gratefully received.


Here is the sunny bank.  The circle in the grass is the evidence of the base of the sun umbrella.  We gave up and took it in last weekend and now the sun is shining.  The main colour here is more sedum, some penstemon, and a bright pink salvia, bought on a visit to Wollerton Old Hall with blogging friends.  I hope it is hardy enough to stay outside but I have taken some cuttings just in case, just like a real gardener.  So far, they are still alive.


This is the kitchen garden.  This is an example of the power of the camera.  It looks pretty nice here.  In reality it looks ok, but a whole lot scruffier than this picture suggests.


This is one of the apple trees in the kitchen garden.  There is a wonderful crop this year.  Usually the big apple tree in the orchard wins hands down and the kitchen garden apples are a bit of an also ran.  This year the kitchen garden is actually producing a crop.


There are marigolds growing round the runner beans.  I must find a use for marigolds.  I am sure they are useful already, calendula cream and all that.  Actually I withdraw that.  Marigolds are useful for their beauty.

Comments

  1. Your garden always make sme shamefaced it is so organised planned and tidy!!

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  2. Her at home - no no no, it makes a stab at a form of organisation but it is so not tidy. It is full of nettles and docks and creeping buttercup. Don't forget that the camera lies!

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  3. Utterly charming. I wouldn't be able to leave the place for a brief holiday. It even makes Smee shamefaced, and he's a hardened pirate. Tick, tock...

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  4. Blimey - how many gardens do you have? I might post photos of mine to give everyone a laff.

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  5. Beautiful! I can't even imagine how much work this takes, but I think you define labor of love. That greenhouse looks lovely too.

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  7. I'm going to have to stop reading your blog, It makes me realise how lazy I am.

    The apples look nice. Cox's?

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  8. A lovely catch up. You really do live in an incredibly beautiful place Elizabeth. It is just my soidea of bliss to wake up knowing all that is outside your window x

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  9. Oh, you're in such a beautiful location there. Will we ever move?

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  10. Your garden is looking fabulous for this time of year Elizabeth. I couldn't offer any gardening advice, your gardens put mine to shame.

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  11. Ineed your excellant gardening skills over on Armchair please in identifying a plant!!

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  12. Hi,I must you had a great knowledge about plants and more over how to take care of it..How you manage all? Your garden is so pretty when I come to this link I thought its the destination place somewhere but when I read then comes to know its your garden..Hey gift me some apples ha ha..

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  13. Elizabeth, It's an interesting time in the garden~Flowers still blooming, but they could be gone with a frost in a week. October came too quickly this year....in a rush and i have plants to get in the ground! I love your kitchen garden; it must be fun to putter in the green house when the winter is wet and gray! gail

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  14. That's it - all invitation to visit Pondside are herein withdrawn - unless you visit with the garden is under snow. Everything looks so organized and tidy - a dream for me. What a treat to look into your garden.

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  15. Great pictures - the colours just leap at you.

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  16. That is what I like about photographs of gardens elizabeth - the camera seems to ignore the weeds. Lovely gardens - I do love that rudbeckia - I have it too and it gives such a good show.

    Do you have any schyzostyllus? Mine is very invasive but is out all over the garden at present and is a wonderful bright red. I will post a photograph tomorrow so that you can see it. If you want a bit, I am happy to parcel it up and send it to you.

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  17. Your garden is looking beautiful and organised, as always. After reading this, I think I will avoid looking through my window for a couple of hours! Just until the mental images have faded :p

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  18. Tom - I manage to leave. I love coming back.
    EPM - it is about 2 acres, mostly field and nettly bits. I show you the bits we are carving out of chaos.
    Hi Kate and welcome - it is a lot of work but in a patchy, seasonal kind of way and I love it anyway!
    Cro - don't stop reading my blog! That would be sad, and I don't post about all the things I don't do.
    Apples are unknown varieties except for the big tree in the orchard which is a Howgate Wonder.
    Pipany - It still surprises me sometimes to think that I live her, even after five years of it.

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  19. Chris - you are bound to move somehow. Just wish it were closer to here!
    Posie - I bet you could give advice. We must have similar problems with gardening at height and with intermittent wind. I still haven't cracked how to cope with the occasional blasts we get from the south when most of the time it is sheltered.
    hah - came, saw, didnt have much of an idea sadly!
    VB - hi and welcome. Large box of apples on its virtual way!
    Gail - I still have plants to get in too and am hoping I will manage that in the next couple of weeks. Should be ok for frosts to end of October here. The frost pocket is down the bottom of the valley and we are usually safe up here.

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  20. You might think bits of your garden are too fluffy , but I just see a beautifully planted and cared for garden that must be a joy to potter in .
    If the q---t is anything like so pretty , you'll be the envy of us all !

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  21. Your kitchen garden looks wonderful and I've so enjoyed this round up Elizabeth. I'm increasingly fond of marigolds - so old fashioned and simple.

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  22. So much work and I thought we were overwhelmed with just one acre. And it's not been an easy summer. Calendula - dry the petals and use them as if they were saffron, or put them along with other dried edible petals and salt and pepper corns into a herb mill.

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