Autumn in the Garden

I need to take stock of what needs doing before the winter sets in.

It's been a long time (too long) since I ventured out into the garden on my own. Alf is with his Pack, the sun is shining.  A quick check of the Physic garden shows that there's not much to do as most of the herbs have died back for the winter hibernation.

There's quite a lot of Autumnal colour, with berries, Sedum, Cosmos, and Salvia continuing to attract the birds and insects. I was going to cut some flowers, but they were covered in bees and flies, so I couldn't bear to bring them indoors.

The sunny border is thriving. Both fruit bushes are doing well. The trellis has been moved from beside the kitchen door, when the yard was cleared and tidied. The yard needs cleaning and the surfaces repairing before the frosts set in.

There's evidence of water-damage on the yard's wall - a common problem on the street which is built on a hill. No drainage was provided in the garden walls. I will have to see if this one is fixable without knocking it down.

On the opposite border, my gardener still wages fortnightly battles with ground-cover weeds and ivy. The Arbour Seat has not been used all summer, mainly because of adverse weather - both heat and wet - and also because the Dogwood was beginning to climb all over it. The Dogwood will need some hard pruning when all the leaves have fallen.

The Arbour seat itself needs a good clean and a fresh coat of paint.

Planned raised bed behind shed

I have made plans, with Bex, my gardener, to move the climbers that were in pots in the yard. The Jasmine will have to be replaced, the clematis will need repotting. The Jasmine didn't thrive in the pot, and can't be planted in the chalky soil, so there is a cunning plan to create a reaised bed along the back of the shed, with more trellis added there.

After only 20 minutes in the sunshine, I'm feeling brighter. A little bit of exercise (washing the yard) and my BP has dropped to 140/72. That may sound high but it's 40 points lower systolic reading than it was only a few days ago.