AUTUMN GARDENING JOBS 2013

I mentioned in a previous post how I was saying goodbye to problematic roses but there seem to be a million jobs that have come at me all at once this autumn.  Where to start?  For one thing, it was a mistake to let a strawberry plant that had managed, somehow, to appear among the roses.  It provided two delicious strawberries and so I left it.  While I had my back turned, its runners managed to run and root among roses, amid herbaceous plants, and made their way to the lawn.  I had a devil of a job pulling them out.  Strawberries are not on my agenda for next year.  I need an easier life in the garden and am semi-decided on going for small shrubs and herbaceous perennials.  I want ground cover to supress weeds.  One rose that is doing so beautifully that it is quite safe, for now, is Wild Eve in the north-facing border.  She's flowering even now and her next-door neighbour, New Dawn, will also remain.  They have both remained trouble free this year. 





Wild Eve, a David Austin rose

I cannot say the same for the pelargoniums that have been decimated by the pesky pests known as caterpillars.  I am most unhappy.  The sunny trough on my south-facing window has been riddled with them and as much as I have searched for the little blighters, I found none.  I've grown pelargoniums, or geraniums, for years and have never had them attacked by caterpillars before.  Usually I bring them indoors before autumn frost nips them and I take cuttings from healthy pelargoniums  in early spring.  This year, considering the state of the pelargoniums, I have taken cuttings now and thrown the big, ugly plants away.  





Pelargonium cuttings

It's been quite a year.  Even my tomatoes in the tomato growhouse have been 'got at' by slugs and snails.  I must have had to throw half away despite my putting down slug bait.  For all the effort and expense, it has not been worth growing tomatoes at all. 



There are lots of jobs yet to do, including pruning the climbing rose, Compassion, later this autumn.  It needs a bit of tidying and training before it gets out of hand.  It has wonderful, fragrant flowers and although it sometimes is troubled by blight and mildew, it seems to have done quite well this year, so it can stay.  For now. 



While I hadn't been troubled by greenfly on the roses much this summer (probably due to the fact that I applied a systemic insecticide in spring), there have been thousands of them sucking the life out of my rose buds lately, including the buds on Arthur Bell.  I didn't want to spray at this time of year because the roses have almost finished making buds, so I just squidged the aphids between my fingers.  That'll teach them.



Bit by bit I shall have to put away the swing's canopy, and the outdoor chairs.  I shall have to protect the marble table with a sealant, and cover it to protect against freezing temperatures.  I'll spray the 'joins', nuts and bolts on the swing with WD40 to try and ward off rust.  I did buy a cover for it but the first time I used it, when the wind got under the cover it acted like a hot air balloon, in this case cold air balloon, and nearly took off. 



The deep cushions from the swing will be aired off indoors and then vacuum sealed into strong bags so that they don't get mouldy in the shed during winter. They take up such a lot of room, the shed is the only place for them.



Last, for now, but not least.  I was so pleased with the winter-flowering violas that I planted in 2012 and which lasted until late spring in 2013 that I have planted more.  They are tough little beggars, come rain, snow or shine, and I am hopeful that I will get just as much value for money as I did with the last lot.





Winter flowering violas planted late September 2013



One of the next jobs is to plant the spring flowering bulbs including the tulips that I have had stored all summer.  That'll be mentioned in another post.