I think I’ve become a ‘fair-weather’ gardener. Yesterday was grey and gloomy so stayed in the polytunnel and did some potting. Today was more or less wall to wall sunshine with very little wind so there was no question that I would work in the garden. Such a lot needs doing after giving it very little attention through the year. Its difficult to know where to start, and anyway I have a tendency to flit from one border to another. The 3 clumps of Molinia ‘Windspiel’ have not performed well this year and took up quite a lot of space so the decision was made to remove them. I tried with the fork and then a spade and made hardly any impression. Went off to fetch the pick axe just as Philip arrived and he did the manly thing and dug the grasses out being careful not to wield the axe when George was around. I now need to decide what to plant there.

Other parts of the garden were weeded and had bits cut back. Its possible to live with scruffy areas for only so long and then an overwhelming urge to tidy up or remove under-achieving plants creeps up on me. During the rest of the day the following were dug out: lots of self seeded polemonium, a shrubby potentilla, some Stipa tenuissima, evening primrose which had put itself in the wrong place and lots of weeds. Some compost was thrown onto the borders and, in the next few days, I might just get to do some planting. Its been almost impossible to do planting for most of this year because of the terribly dry season we’ve had. We don’t water the garden, there are not enough hours in the day plus we are on a water meter, also mains water is not the best way to get plants established. I’m a firm believer in autumn planting rather than doing it in the spring. The soil is still warm and there’s no need to water them for months on end as there would be after spring planting in a dry year.

We even had a few customers which was most acceptable.