A WEEK IN MY GARDEN 26 SEPTEMBER - ROSES, ROSE HIPS AND A NEW DAHLIA

Autumn has arrived.  There's no doubt about it.  The heating is on and plants are starting to turn yellow and brown.  We start this week's amble in the potager, which has been tended by Mr B this year for the first time. What a year for him to start, poor chap, with not a drop of rain for weeks on end (or was it months?).  

He's had his successes though.  The herbs have done well and the courgettes.  Lettuces have done very well grown in the raised bed.  Look at this lovely one I picked today.

Adjacent to the potager is the orchard where among the apples and plums we have room for a Medlar.  I confess we haven't eaten any yet.  I grow it because it has lovely blossom, curious looking fruits and the variety is called Nottingham, which is, of course, where we live.

We planted this tree in 2002 as part of The Queen's Green Canopy initiative to mark Queen Elizabeth IIs Platinum Jubilee.

Also near the Potager is a wild rose.  It seemed too pretty to remove, so here it grows at the base of an Ash tree.  The brightly coloured hips caught my eye.  It made me think of rosehip syrup which doesn't seem to be a thing anymore.  Am I going to make some?  No, because I've got enough going on in the kitchen department with my sourdough starter.  I began it with one of those apples I showed you last week, and now it needs feeding and watering like any other pet.  If you've made sourdough yourself then you'll know.

Roses climb the front of the house.  After the recent rains they have fallen forward a bit.  It's on its third flowering this year, which is marvelous.

It's name is Golden Showers and it is a good healthy rose that doesn't grow too large, just up to the first storey.  I'm not interested in having to go up tall ladders to prune my roses.

The front of the house looks out over a field that is mainly used as horse pasture, although we've seen sheep and cattle there over the years.  At this time of year it becomes a mass of weed seeds that will no doubt be blowing all over the garden quite soon. Oh joy.

More bad news next.  I love the silver birches in the woodland as their trunks add a point of interest among all the brown trunks.  However, this one is no more, as you can see from the bracket fungus growing on the trunk (and it has no leaves if there was any remaining doubt), so the tree surgeon is booked to take is down.

I tried a couple of new Dahlia varieties this year, and they have been rather slower than the others to get underway.  We can take a look at one of them now though.  It's called Snowstorm and I rather like it.  It's a really good pure white, so obviously it went in the white border, even though I actually bought them for the Long Border.  But that's gardening for you.  You make a plan, you change the plan, you plant the plant, you move the plant and so it goes on.

 That's all I have for you this week.  I've ordered the bulbs (hurrah).  How can they seem so cheap (£4.95 for 25 or so) and yet once you've put just the bare essentials into the online shopping basket it comes out at £100? and then it's a hell of a job to whittle it down to a more reasonable sum.  I've belatedly come to the conclusion that tulips that only do their thing for one year are a largely a waste of money (note that 'largely' like I'm giving myself a get out clause).  When they arrive I'll do a run down of what I ordered in case you are interested.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you have a good gardening week ahead.  Until next time...