There has been a distinct lack of news from our garden this year.  Largely this has been because there has been little to report, especially on the ornamental side.

To be honest, after some early season tidying up, we rather lost impetus as the weather deteriorated.  Mark’s work on kitchen gardening over the summer and our joint efforts on the allotment took priority and the cold wet weather soon dampened enthusiasm for shrubs and flowers.  On the fruit and vegetable front, the asparagus bed has developed and next year we should start to harvest, so there will definitely be a posting then.  Our small cabbage bed has done well with both Minicole and Kalibos cabbages in store to see us through the early part of the winter and we have had plenty of leeks.  The rhubarb did very well and as well as eating lots of freshly cooked crumbles, jars of rhubarb jam made their way into the cupboard and rhubarb pies into the freezer.  We had mixed success with container growing – potatoes and carrots did quite well, but the more exotic crops, chilli peppers and aubergines struggled with the lack of light and warmth, as did the tomatoes.

Re-using the re-cycling tub

The autumn has seen renewed efforts in the garden, especially in the back garden where we have put some serious effort into tidying up the beds, including moving a couple of the more overgrown shrubs.  We should now have a fairly solid framework for next year and have plans to grow more annuals to splash drifts of colour amongst the borders.

One pleasant autumn afternoon provided a powerful catalyst.  Making a small improvement in one corner suddenly provided the incentive to get the rest of the garden up to the standard of the bit that had been done.  The energy provided by making a visible difference in one place inspired the latest musing.