The season of poetry and mellow wistfulness is in full swing and some of us are all muddy boots, hearty soups and ruddy complexions.

The garden has had a hard time of it this year and you are forgiven if you’ve had enough and just want to chuck in the trowel and come inside. I shall try to tempt you to hang on out there a while longer though, as there’s still plenty going on, and actually, once you get outside and start pottering, it’s not too bad at all.

I’ve heard that freshwater swimming is the cure for many forms of depression, but gardening is a good alternative if you want to stay fully dressed as the SAD season descends.

The party’s (almost) over

There are some who say that autumn is the beginning of the gardening year, that now’s time to clear away the old and get on with planning and planting the new. I agree in the main, and definitely in the veg patch, but this is also a time to breathe out, to let things go gently, and not rush in with the secateurs. Autumn seems to be getting longer and we often have warm, dry weather well into November.

We don’t often see labels on plants that say ‘dies gracefully’, but there are definitely some plants that look just as good as faded skeletons as they did in their prime. Dying stems and flowers make poignant silhouettes in the low slanting light at this time of the year, which look lovely among grasses, or next to sturdier evergreens.

Some plants have sculptural seed heads, hips and berries, which are lovely for us to look at and are also of huge importance to wildlife, so even if you like things neat and tidy do try to leave an area. Looking out for wildlife is a good excuse for not being too neat and tidy.

Winter harvests

I have to admit that I sometimes find growing crops through the summer months quite exhausting, especially this year, as we’ve had virtually no rain, and because of the mild winter last year, there have been so many more pests around. Once the cold weather arrives, the pests disappear, the plants slow their growth (hot weather causes so many things to bolt into flower) and I can breathe once more.

There are quite a few worthy vegetables that are hardy all through the winter, but if I only had space to grow one vegetable crop it would be leeks – and then I’d try to squeeze in a few kale plants, and perhaps some spinach. These three are brilliant to grow and harvest through the winter months and will stay safe in the plot like an outdoor larder, until you’re ready to pick them.

If you haven’t got any winter crops to harvest and the summer ones have all finished, try not to leave the ground bare. Nature feels naked without a cover and will try to compensate with a blanket of weeds, so apply a mulch to any bare soil – that way the worms will work it all into the ground and prepare you a perfect space for planting into next spring. Let’s hear it again for the worms.

Evergreens

Once the winter proper comes and the flowers have drifted off like fickle fair-weather friends, it’s an idea to have a few faithful companions in the background ready to step in.

I love the quiet handsomeness of evergreens like Viburnum davidii or Hebe ‘Red Edge’ – they sit stalwart and demure, waiting out the warmer months in the shadow of showier plants, like unsung heroes in the borders. Summer flowers can be a bit ‘all mouth and no trousers’, and are usually cut short, sometimes completely destroyed by the first frosts of autumn. Frost may kill the more tender plants, but it positively enhances the look of many evergreens, gilding the bare bones of the border. The squelchy brown mush of frosted plants never seems to sparkle in quite the same way.

If your borders are lacking in structure, now is the perfect time to plant shrubs, evergreen or deciduous. The ground is still fairly warm and welcoming, but growth has stopped, so they’ll have time to establish a good root system before the spring. Evergreen shrubs will give you the same look all through the year, but there are quite a few deciduous shrubs that have interesting bark, berries or winter blossom to bring a little cheer through the winter.

Leaves

This is the month for autumn leaves – at first we gasp in delight at their golden gorgeousness and then clench our teeth (or worse) as they fall and clog ponds, lawns and borders. Raking up leaves is tedious, but just think of all the leaf mould you’ll make and the exercise you’ll get (unless you’d rather be freshwater swimming?).

If you can, make a separate heap for leaves (or fill a perforated black plastic bag and leave it behind the shed). Leaf mould does take longer to make than ordinary compost – up to 2-3 years, but it’s lovely stuff once it does; it’s known as ‘gardener’s gold’ (we’re easily pleased) and is highly prized as a component of potting compost, or as a fine grade mulch.

‘Musical plants’

I don’t know about you, but I’m never completely satisfied with the plants in my borders – every year they perform differently, depending on the weather, the general conditions and what they find themselves planted next to. Each season I have new favourites to find space for and a few boring ones that need relegating out of sight.

The good news is that this is the perfect time of year for moving plants around (I call it ‘musical plants’, although there’s never much music, but it has that feel to it and I’m always ready for tea at the end).

Most herbaceous perennials benefit from being lifted, divided and replanted every few years, either because they’ve formed big clumps and are invading their neighbours, or because they’re in need of rejuvenating – the oldest part of the plant stops flowering.

The general rule of thumb is to discard the centre of the plant and replant the younger, more vigorous sections. Next year, obviously, once the reshuffle’s complete and the right plants are in the right places, it will all look perfect…

The days may be getting shorter, and colder, but if the weather allows, we can still be lifting and dividing plants, admiring the beautiful dead and filling our hearts with late autumn colour. We can defy the cold and dark of the coming season for a little while longer and go out in a blaze of leafy glory. Rakes at the ready then, let’s get out there.

 

TEST The season of poetry and mellow wistfulness is in full swing and some of us are all muddy boots, hearty soups and ruddy complexions

The season of poetry and mellow wistfulness is in full swing and some of us are all muddy boots, hearty soups and ruddy complexions

TEST

I’ve heard that freshwater swimming is the cure for many forms of depression, but gardening is a good alternative if you want to stay fully dressed as the SAD season descends

  • words:

Go with the Flow

Sue Whigham shares some valuable new-to-gardening advice I’m sure that by now we should be used to the rain but I’m not entirely sure that we are. We had a dry, sunny day the other day and how everybody’s mood...

Farm Fables

Jane Howard gets to the bottom of why so many ponds have disappeared across the High Weald I have a new passion, almost an obsession, it’s about ponds. And there’s a distinct possibility I might become a bit of a...

Hedge Issues

Sue Whigham takes a meander along nature’s verdant and vital corridors Recently the BBC’s Today programme carried a feature about England’s hedgerows which created a lot of interest among listeners. On the strength of that, Martha Kearney interviewed one of...