At this time of year my little garden starts to look a total mess. The neighbouring ash trees are shedding leaves over everything - lawn, path, plants - and as fast as I try to tidy, down they come and they keep on coming until the trees are bare. Then there are other jobs to do. Now my precious little James Grieve apple tree is down to one apple, I have removed the 'shepherd's crooks' (steel fencing pins) 👇 that I put around it in summer to support the weight of the branches; it has been a good crop this year.
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| Dwarf James Grieve apple tree - branches supported with Shepherd's Crooks |
The Shepherd's Crooks which I bought off Amazon have been invaluable; I also use them for my Wild Eve roses. 👇
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| Wild Eve rose supported with Shepherd's Crooks |
I've pulled the courgette plants, Courgette Buckingham F1, out of their tubs as the fruits (yes, courgettes are fruit because they develop seeds, unlike vegetables) were starting to rot before developing (possibly due to all the rain we've been having), and put them in the compost bin. It's really, despite my effort, not been a great year for vegetable and although I tell myself this every single year, I will do less next year. I will. It's not worth the effort and I'm not getting any younger.
I swept the path running across the path of the house to remove all the fallen leaves but I put them onto the garden border. The compost bin is full and I never waste the opportunity to return vegetation back to the soil. I garden on a no-dig, no hoe, no-work-if-I-can-help-it principle and I let the worms do all the work of aerating the soil and pulling vegetable matter down into it.
The tomato plants, growing in containers, will be the next job. I want the pots to put bulbs in for next spring. The bulbs from last year have remained in the pots 👇that I planted them in last year but the compost needs changing.
The next job I need to tackle is the honeysuckle - Lonicera periclymenum Scentsation. It is following the sun and has draped itself over the fence and towards the neighbours. It is only supposed to grow to about 10ft but it is vigorous, the fence is only 5ft high, so you can understand the problem. I found that the last time I pruned it, and quite hard, it suffered not at all.
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| Lonicera periclymenum Scentsation with Wild Eve rose July 2018 |