I ’m always surprised by how good the garden take care at the beginning of November . The Gin & Tonic Garden , though lack the abundance of heyday enjoyed in late summertime , is as good as it has ever been , only richer and lusher . Looking down on my tiny court from above , I spy a sodding tapestry of green , ash gray and gold . The glasshouse has almost vanished beneath a rising tide of foliage . I desire it to go on like this eternally .
Challenging myself to do better next year , the main improvement I ’d make is to establish more height . This will need to be done carefully so as not to block out the light source which makes this garden so different from the Jungle Garden . The Beau is keen to grow more mountain papaia . Perhaps these could be the answer since they have a parasol - similar habit . I ’d also like to add a duet more columnar tree , although planted in the ground rather than in wad .
The Jungle Garden , mostly more exposed to the elements and heavily reliant on tender works for its glory , fades first . By the ending of October everything has become tall , leggy and overcrowded , so it ’s a relief to start up the appendage of restoring order and creating space to move again . Fallen bay leafage lie deep across the control surface of the raise seam , a crisp carpet of light - dark-brown pierce by hundreds of dark - leave English ivy seedlings . I ’m unsure whether to find fault the hedge sparrow or the doves for these little dark-green gifts . Thankfully they pull out easily enough . After rain , any Eucomis leaves overlapping the itinerary become as slippery as a banana tree peel . It ’s time for them to go , before I take a pre - dawn tumble .
We demand to have a major rethink about the raised bed over wintertime . The trees I planted 11 years ago are now mature , creating shade and run through the lion ’s percentage of available wet . They are wonderful to lay eyes on , absorbing disturbance and providing shelter , but they have castrate the nature of the garden and I must conform to the conditions they ’ve created . For a few years now I have flirt with re - imbed the earth beneath them . Now that I have The Beau to help me , I might just do that . I have far too many plant life in pots and embarrassingly little going on in the raise bed behind them . By pinch the crown of each tree I hope to be able to admit more luminance and rain , opening up novel planting possibilities . Irrigation will almost for certain be required to supplement what moisture the evergreen canopy block out . I have found that a soaker hosiery work very efficiently if it ’s pucker neatly out of sight . I need a few months to browse my library in search of the proper industrial plant to produce , and thank my lucky genius that there ’s not too much space to be occupy .
Since come back from China last week , anything particularly tender or good - looking at has been moved into the garden elbow room for winter protection . Now that it ’s crowded with begonia , impatiens , flame nettle and fern I ’ve commit up any promise of being able to form in this outer space until give . We moved the airplants and bromeliads indoors at the end of September and these have settled in nicely . My independent concern now is controlling pests . In such warm , crowded condition it does not take long for greenfly , whitefly or red spider mites to make an nuisance of themselves . Vigilance is life-sustaining . Woolly aphid and scale insects are already make me a concern indoors , defying all effort to eradicate them . I suppose some affliction one just has to dwell with . We ’ve taken cuttings of almost everything as an indemnity policy . If they survive , we ’re going to have a lot of unembellished plants come fountain !
Meanwhile I am antipathetic to interpose with anything in the Gin & Tonic Garden . A clue of autumn is supply byLiquidambar styraciflua‘Slender Sihouette’,Ginkgo biloba‘Menhir’,Calycanthus raulstonii‘Hartlage Wine ’ andCatalpa bignonioides‘Aurea ’ , but everything else looks bigger and green than ever before .
It seems to have rained the entire time I ’ve been aside , and this demo in the prodigious growth of plants such asGeranium maderesewhich burgeon during a tank spell . A couple of species Dahlia pinnata , D.tampaulipanaand D.campanulataare tantalisingly close to blossoming , but The Beau is pessimistic about their prospects . D.tampaulipanais so wanted that it has been leave protection in the glasshouse . Neither of us has seen this new discovery from Mexico ( via Pan Global Plants ) flower , and we are dictated that we shall . ( It will doubtless turn out to be murky pink and a huge disappointment . ) The dahlia ride alongsideSalvia dombeyiiwith its red , pendulous flowers resemblingFuchsia boliviana . If one ca n’t get to South America , it ’s not too difficult to make the look with a few well chosen plant .
Tentative as my effort to cook the garden for winter are , this grow season has reached its finish . There may still be buds and shoots , but their progress will be thwart sooner rather than afterward . There will be no more fond spells and the days will be too short to fuel increase . It ’s all down mound from here .
The gale that tally the south on Saturday had largely blow out by the metre they reached Broadstairs , but nevertheless the garden contract a battering . As we approach bonfire night , the Jungle Garden look soggy , fray and no longer presentable . It ’s now a type of move each pot into its wintertime quarters – whether that be the workshop , the glasshouse or somewhere sheltered outside – before move back inside for a brief rest . In the glasshouse , pots ofIris reticulataare already constellate with sick light-green shoot . It may be a blistering ending , but new commencement are already in sight . TFG .
Share this with others:
Like this:
Categories : Container horticulture , Flowers , Foliage , gingers , Our Coastal Garden , Plants , Small Gardens , Trees and Shrubs , Weather
Posted by The Frustrated Gardener
