Leaf mould ingredients

Fallen fig leaves

Yet more fig leaves!

The fig is dropping its very large leaves quite fast now and, along with all the other leaves, are finding their way to the compost heap for future use.  Funny how some leaves go such beautiful colours and other such as the pear leaves just go from green to dark brown!  All these will be blown onto the grass then 'hoovered' up with the mower as the chopping not only assists the composting process but more importantly, makes collection so much easier I know Monty D. bangs on about compost and stirring it all the time.  We are not in that much of a hurry and in any case, there's more to life than stirring compost heaps!  Having said that; Chris has been known to turn it over into the other bay - when it's been emptied but we don't ever do more than that.  Incidentally, we do make very fine compost!

Gardening in Miniature

Evie's photo of her miniature garden

Last week, our niece; young Evie Thompson came to stay at P.T.C. As well as spring cleaning the studio super thoroughly (she even hoovered all the spiders out of each of the old bottles!) and collecting mushrooms, there was time to make a miniature garden.  It was rather rushed but this is a photo she sent after arriving home with it in Leamington Spa.  We made a winding path from horticultural grit, a pond from foil and decking from Dogwood stems.  The terrace was made from small pebbles and the studio/gazebo from more Dogwood stems with a cardboard roof.  We used moss for the lawns and Sedums and various conifers for trees and shrubs. Following all this heavy garden work, Evie helped serve much deserved cream teas for 4 in the now immaculate studio (photos of an exceptionally tidy studio to follow!)

Violas versus Pansies

Meanwhile, these are some of the Violas I planted out a couple of weeks ago.  I do find that they cope much better with winter weather, if planted out early when they can get established before the worst of the weather arrives.  These are some of Keith Bolton's specials from Heath Nursery, Lower Broadheath.  As I said in a previous post, although smaller flowers than Pansies, they are more disease resistant and therefore less susceptible to fungal diseases.  They all have rather cross faces though!

Greenhouse work in the dark!

Since the new/old greenhouse tiles were laid and grouted by Chris, I've been itching to finish off by cleaning all the glass inside and giving the tiles a thorough brush over.  I had to steel myself to wait for the grout to dry first! It looked pretty dry this morning and in any case, I didn't spill water on them. It's amazing how much more light there is now the glass has been cleaned - even though I only did the inside.  It was really quite green with large areas of algae.  Having swept and brushed the tiles, I was able to lug the heavy pots back into place.  Not wanting to obscure too many tiles, some of the smaller pots have been rearranged in the main greenhouse.  Now: even before the greenhouse tiling project was thought of, it was always my intention this year to have some winter colour inside it.  Feeling doubly inspired and not having got around to growing anything from seed, it was off to buy a few Primulas and half a dozen Pansies.  This year only Violas have planted outside because I'm fed up with all the spotted fungal diseases Pansies attract and having been infected, they look so miserable.  Violas seem so much more resistant and so I potted up the Pansies for indoor pleasure only.  One's ever loving husband kindly put up more shelving and adjusted its height making more room for over wintering Geraniums and freeing up the staging for more colour.

The only trouble with all this work was the fact that the clocks changed and I was potting up in the dark!  No light over the potting bench and one just didn't want to spill compost on a freshly cleaned greenhouse floor!

More worthy of a period orangery!

More recycling and not just in the garden......

Whether it's up on the roof or down on the floor; one way and and another, there's been a lot of tiling going on at PTC.  When one Chris gives you lovely reclaimed tiles and the other Chris lays them, that's about as good as it gets!  Well.............nearly.  I must say that had I had any inkling that I would have been given anything so lovely, I wouldn't have chosen a brick greenhouse path.  I would definitely have used these tiles.  That being said, we now have a a tiled entrance and the end section of the greenhouse has had the concrete slabs now tiled over in these lovely ochre patterned clay tiles.  They have since been grouted with an ochre coloured grout and I now can't wait to clean the glass before rearranging plants to over winter there.  Such beautiful tiles are definitely more worthy of an elegant orangery than a modern cedar Dutch light greenhouse.  Having said that, some of them did find their way into the back hall, the larder and the bottom of the Elgar stairs.  Well, I did say there's been a lot of tiling!!!

Leaves as bright as jewels!

Leaf fall on the old oak bench on a dull autumnal day down in the Woodland Border.  

Lessons in Bonsai Pruning

Two weeks earlier

Isn't just great when one has a Bonsai expert on hand!  Before replacing broken chimney tiles, Chris G. gave my most precious Acer (ie the one my Daddy gave me) the once over.  Because it's on the side of the path, it's important not to have twigs and branches projecting at eye level.  Rather than just prune it back, Chris has tied some branches down and showed me how to prune back to a pair of horizontal buds rather than a pair above and below each other.  It's over two years since Chris manhandled it out of its pot and showed me how to prune the roots before repotting it.  It's now so big, I couldn't imagine ever being able to repaeath that exercise! The leaves on this Acer are almost black in spring and even though most have now fallen, just see how vivid they are.  Perhaps I should mention that it's an Acer dissectum atropurpureum - just in case you're wondering!

The girls.....

.......chilling on a Sunday morning!

Recycling an old oak barrel

We've been planning to recycle this old oak barrel which has been sitting in the Creosote Yard for quite a long time.  In fact - a very long time! It took Chris (Genever) to get things up and running.  On the garage door canopy, Chris has put up guttering and down pipes, cut out the top of the barrel and installed a rain diverter.  The idea of the diverter is that when the barrel is full, excess water is diverted into what has always been, a very dry border under the garage window.  I shall now have a handy water source for watering pots and tubs at the front of the house.  The lid is awaiting some minor adaptation and the barrel aperture is just wide enough to dip in a watering can. How much nicer is this to look at than a plastic water butt?  Now we can recycle both an old barrel and the rainwater inside it.  We are just left wondering what the original contents might have been - hic!

October colour

In between what seems like a lot of projects on the go simultaneously, I couldn't fail to notice the colours on these five Acers.  This little collection seem to enjoy the shelter of the old cottage chimney where they enjoy protection from direct summer sun and cold winter winds.  In winter they also have the warmth from the chimney itself.

Rain Chain in Action

Our American rain chain

Sometimes rain is welcome even when it's not needed for plants.  We have been waiting to see how our new rain chain performs in heavy rain and with today's really vicious squalls and downpours it saw some real action! Pity these aren't sold in the UK - with our annual rainfall statistics, there's a definite gap in the market.  This one is made out of copper and over time will go a lovely shade of green as it weathers.  We can't wait to see it adorned with icicles!

Changing colours

Pheasant Berry (Leycesteria formosa)

As the days become shorter, it's difficult not to notice the changing colours in the garden at this time of year - even on the dullest day. 

It's no wonder that the birds are attracted to the shining  Pheasant Berry fruits.  The clashing day-glow orange and pink of the Spindle fruits could only occur in nature! Apparently, this Euonyous is so called because spindles were actually made from its wood and the fruits are poisonous enough to to have been used on arrow tips. 

Although the leaves of the Witch Hazel are very similar to our native Hazel (Corylus), it is not related at all.  Not only do the leaves look spectacular in autumn - much more so than our native Hazels, it's one of the earliest shrubs to flower in spring and the little spider-like yellow flowers are highly fragrant. It was first used by American Indians for skin remedies. It contains hydrosol which is an astringent and is still used today. Winners all round!

Witch Hazel (Hamamelis Mollis)

Spindle (Euonymus europaeus)

Rain chain to drain

Some weeks back, we found ourselves using some downpipe outside the workshop elsewhere round the house.  In its place, we had the idea of trying out a rain chain and so rigged up some old chain just see how it worked.  We could see great potential but it in order to direct the water down the chain we used a plastic funnel so the overall appearance was less than ideal!  A 3 year old granddaughter also saw potential but only for swinging on and pulled it down!  We looked around for copper rain chains but found them prohibitively expensive until we found an American company with exceptionally helpful staff at www.RainChainSuperStore.com .  Well, to cut a very long story............we ordered from them and picked it up en route back from Alaska and Chris installed it just in time for the big break in the weather.  It works really well and we're very pleased with.  It's rather like a useful water feature that makes lovely tinkling sounds.  There is one drawback.........we need umbrellas to admire it in action!

Out with the old..............

........and in with the new.

After our Indian summer it seemed such a shame to lift all the geraniums in full flower.  The hot and dry weather has meant that watering has continued to be as necessary now as it was back in July.  For once, the forecasters seemed to have their fingers on the button so with the promise of storms and plummeting temperatures, it was out with summer bedding and in with bulbs, cyclamens, irises and violas.  The geraniums were cut back, potted up and put in the freshly cleaned out greenhouse for winter.    After a riot of so much colour so late in the season, the pots and tubs all look a tad bare now but, hopefully in March, they will all spring into life once again.  I have layered the different bulbs in an effort to prolong continuity of colour.  Well, that's about half of the containers done...............!