Autumn Gardening - my, but its been a while!

Haven't blogged at all since ooooh, ages ago.  Sorry about that!

Its been a reasonable summer on the plot but the weather hasn't helped.

Successes this year have been garlic, root veg and surprisingly brussel sprouts.  Everything else has been OK.  Been a little too wet for great crops but you take the rough with the smooth..


some half decent carrots

The first new tatties of the year. Nom nom.

Garlic and onions all hung up to store.  Lovely.  :0)



The past few weeks have seen the real start of the autumn work in the garden.  Our fairly large 1/4 acre garden is surrounded on three sides by a nine foot high beech hedge.  As you can imagine that takes a bit of tidying up.  I try to wait until autumn to do this so as to give the birds a chance.  It saddens me to hear hedge trimmers going in the spring and summer when the hedges are full of nests with eggs and young chicks.  Next time you are tempted think about it - a hedge in need of a haircut isn't that bad a thing is it?

Don't burn all those lovely leafs either!  Gather them up and store them to turn into leaf mould.  If you haven't got room for a leaf mould box or a seperate composter then fill some bin bags with them, poke some holes in the bag with a fork and leave them hidden under some shrubs.  Given time and some good winter weather they will eventually turn into gorgeous crumbly leaf mould - quite simple the best thing for feeding plants in the spring.

Two big leaf mould boxes.

We also have a couple of internal ever green laurel hedges which need trimmed at this time.  Its not a good idea to compost ever greens so we shred them up and take them to the council to compost at higher tempratures than we can achieve and leave a few piled up in the "wild garden" for the hedgehogs to cosy under for their long snooze.


We dont do too drastic a tidy of our cottagy perenial borders either.  We cut back the stuff that will look truly soggy and rank but many of the big plants produce great seedheads that look glorious with frost on, give some shelter for ladybirds and quite frankly give some interest in the winter.  When people tear out all of their annuals and cut everything down in September in a mania of tidyness it really looks sad I think.  Leave the garden to be a garden and with a bit of a cut back in the spring, some mulching with lovely leaf mould and a little organic feed it'll be away again.  Embrace the scruffiness I say!

Before the dreaded winter dig in the veg plot I will need to buy a new digging fork.  My old faithful finally gave up the fight this year and the metal rotted through.  I've had that fork for over 20 years.  I was genuinely upset at its passing.  One new but used purchase (you know what I mean) was an old kelly kettle.  What a fabulous old thing for the shed.  No need to light the gas stove any more I can light some twigs in the kettle and have boiling water in no time lovely and has its own great rustic charm.

I'll be back to post more regularily now that things are slowing down.  Remember to take your time and enjoy the garden.  Even in the autumn there is plenty going on!

Ahhhh, old friend.  :0(

Frugle Gardener Tip - be properly tight!

I was out at our local garden centre here in Dumfries on Saturday.  Its just been extended again and is now officially pretty massive.  It has always been really good too, and I have got to know one or two of the staff there over the years and most of them are actually gardeners.  (You'd be surprised how many aren't in some places - just ask a tricky question).  Its a lovely place for a wonder round, the kids love all the toys and books, Mrs M likes the lovely flowers and gets ideas for different plants and I can browse exotic veggie seeds to my hearts content.  I tell you what though, its not half getting an expensive place to shop!  Thats not a criticism of this garden centre, I imagine its comparably priced but generally the sector is getting really pricey in direct correlation to gardenings growing popularity!  Funny that!


I'm a proud Scot and with that comes a love of being, shall we say, a bit tight!  I enjoy saving money, I can't explain it, its a cultural thing!  When we were there there were people loading up baskets and trolleys with lovely lush looking plants, buying packets and packets of seeds and countless specialist tools.


Do you want to know the secrets of not spending a fortune in the garden centre?  Make friends with your neighbours, always carry a pair of secateurs and some freezer bags with you and gather seed where you can!


I know, neigbours can be a pain.  I'm lucky here, my neighbour Wullie is 176 years old, a lovely man and knows stuff about gardens.  Know your neighbours and you can take divisions of their perennial plants from them as they will from you.  You will be able to see what grows well in their garden and will therefore (probably) be alright in yours.  If you grow too many tomato plants they will probably have something to swap with them.  Same with relatives and work mates!  Take advantage.  Once you become "a gardener" you become part of a secret all knowing and very friendly society!

At one time I would have suggested carrying a sharp knife but that can land you in all sorts of legal horrors these days.  Carry secateurs though when out walking the dog or to the pub or to visit friends and suddenly every plant is a source of lovely fresh wood cuttings!  Especially in the next few months.  Nip a little of that lovely flowering thing of neatly, stash it in your bag.  Pop it in some moist compost with the bag over the top for a few weeks on a windowsill and old Mumma Nature might just bless you with some rooting.  And there you go - a free plant!!  Ok it won't be in the scale of some of the beauts that sell for £25 in the garden centre for a few years but who's rushing??  Mrs M also is a big one for doing this with the odd (very odd) bunch of flowers she gets bought.  Below is what transpired from the supermarket bunch of carnations she got yesterday for mothers day....

Baby Carnations - for free!

Gathering seeds sounds almost mystical but in fact its very easy and once you get the plants growing and then grow some more from their seeds it really does become extremely rewarding.  I still grow certain tomatoes from seed which Wullie the neighbour grew first 30 years ago - thats a lot of generations from one seed packet!!  You can get your seeds from flowers, some veg, many many plants.  Most will need dried off slowly and stored but with a bit of luck on your side, some moist compost and a bit of TLC the world of free plants will be yours young Jedi!

Until next time, Happy gardening!  Don't spend it all at once!