Last month was all about the sunflowers and tomatoes finally delivering, and that theme has continued this month and while this update is still sunflower heavy it does contain a little more too. But sunflowers first…
At the start of the month at least the sunflowers were upright, at times this was solely because they’d been propped back up again using plant pots at their base to help them buffer the wind as much as they could. However, it wasn’t to last and in the end the sunflowers have spent most of the month casually draped across the closest bush, still flowering, still gorgeous, just lolling!
It was great to see the smaller sunflowers persevere though - and we’ve been enjoying their flowers throughout the month. As the month progressed they adjusted to their surroundings, and once again started to head towards the light. Given that the plants have found themselves a more sheltered position I’ve left them there, which I think has extended the time I get to enjoy them - so it’s a win from me, even if these must be the most unconventional sunflowers ever!
I must remember to collect some seeds for next year though, as they are a variety I’d grow again. I’m not sure exactly which they are as the seeds were passed to me from a neighbour of dad’s in Norfolk.
We’ve had plenty of wildlife in our garden this month too, some of which we’d expect and some not so much. For a couple of mornings we enjoyed watching this blackbird gather berries from our pyracantha - and it seemed they enjoyed it too, so I’m glad we were able to provide a good perch point.
It wasn’t long before we received some unexpected visitors, who spent most of the morning in our garden waddling about and making the most of the fallen crab apples. Google suggests they’re red legged partridges and most likely had escaped from a local shoot as they didn’t seem that savvy at all. Hopefully they found somewhere more suitable, as we’ve not seen them since - which I think is a good thing, as lovely as they were I wasn’t overly keen on adopting them. Perhaps they found a pear tree that was more to their liking than our tiny crab apple tree, who knows.
One of my challenges for this garden is not quite having the hiding spots yet for plants over the winter, many of our terracotta pots I’ll move under bushes or closer to the brick wall at the front of the house to give them as much shelter as I can, and that seemed to work fine last year. But it’s the more tender plants that I’m struggling with in the colder weather; I’ve brought the chilli plant in and that’s by the window in the utility room. It’s not ideal but I think it’ll fare better than outside.
My other challenge was the succulents, which are new to us in this garden. I didn’t want to bring them in as the pots aren’t indoor pots, but I knew they’d need some protection but would also need some light. Then it came to me they could quite easily be re-homed in our garage gym, I thought initially I’d just place them by the half-glazed doors.
With frost forecast (but thankfully not materialising) it was time to put my plan into action, but then I realised the ‘drip trays’ I’d bought for under our bikes could really earn their keep. Even better having the pots here don’t get in the way of accessing the bikes, and when they’re watered there’s no risk of having any pot leakage across the floor! Definitely an unintended bonus of having something a bit dull and functional.
I had two newer and much smaller succulents from our recent Open Studios visit and these are also in the garage in their old biscuit tin drip tray. I hadn’t thought to add plants to our garage gym, but these are really great additions even if they’re here just for the winter.
Outside the garage the small pot of wallflowers I bought earlier in the year looks a lot more healthy than they did during the warmer summer months, so I’m excited to watch them do their thing when the time comes. These are ‘Chelsea Jackets’ so should be a mix of pastel colours, let’s hope they know what they’re supposed to do!
Although the weather has been unseasonably warm the amount of sunlight is obviously much reduced, so it was time to pick the remaining green tomatoes. Some ripened, but most were resolutely staying green which I don’t mind. I also had quite a few from dad that were green and all of them have been put to good use and gone towards a green tomato chilli ketchup, which is one of my favourite ways to use green tomatoes - more on that soon.
And talking of unseasonably warm temperatures, right at the end of the month I noticed through the utility room window that our everlasting sweet peas which we brought from the old house have already started growing. There’s lush green growth about 8 inches high, which I really wouldn’t expect to see normally. That said, the pot is in a sheltered spot and not the best place for growing sweet peas as they’ve not really done anything much more than this since we’ve been here. In some ways I’m pleased to see they’re still going, but surprised to see them now - and all I hope is that when I’m ready to put them into their long term home they remember to grow and flower in a more usual timeframe. Fingers crossed, though they may have a fair while to wait!
