Post Comment Love 2-4 September

Welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’re here.

We had a glorious bank holiday weekend, meeting up with former work colleagues on the Friday, went out for a late lunch on the Sunday and caught up with gardening on the Monday - all very relaxed and worthwhile. Our grass appears to be getting greener each day, slowly recovering from the heatwaves though it’s still got a long way to go.

Like elsewhere our garden is confused. Yes, it’s September, but it’s not autumn yet is it? The trees aren’t yet shedding their leaves - though thankfully there will be a lot less to collect this year after all that tree work, and I’ve spotted some pale pink cyclamen flowering again, as well as a lone colchicum, the autumn crocus. It’s beautiful, but much earlier than we expected it.

An autumn crocus

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In search of veg

You know how it is when you’re a bit summer veg-ed out? I mean it’s been great to eat so many lush peppers, crisp courgettes, sweet sweetcorn and many and varied salads, which always taste better when the weather’s great, but I’m a bit summer veg-ed out. So feeling the need for something different, I decided to set out and try a new green grocers and to combine that with a walk to up my steps.

I even took the long way round and headed through Charlton Park. My plan was to stop off and explore Charlton House on the way back, but after being drawn towards the cafe and its elusive clientele I changed my plans.

The cafe in Charlton Park complete with painted Kings and Queens in the windows

The cafe wasn’t open sadly, but that’s a good reason to walk this way again surely? The path led me on towards Charlton House, a Jacobean building originally a residence for a nobleman associated with the Stuart royal family, then later a wartime hospital, then a museum and library and now a community centre. It’s also where we got our first and second Covid jabs during lockdown.

When we were there then we popped our heads around the garden gate, noting that there was a garden and most likely more there than we could see at a quick glance. It’s taken a while to get back there, and we were right. There is a lot more there and the Amnesty International Peace Garden opens daily.

A stone statue surrounded by purple flowering plants set in a grass border

I was quite taken with the sculpture and the ‘froth’ of plants that greets you as you enter the garden which aims to be ‘a place for quiet reflection and contemplation’ and which opened in 2006.

A wooden post painted white with black lettering - May Peace Prevail on Earth - also in unknown script

The paths continued to lead me through the garden, wandering around the beds. There’s plenty of places to stop and pause, and to sit and enjoy the space. There’s also signs throughout the garden explaining the watering strategy during the current drought, and which reiterate the importance of putting the right plant in the right space.

A handwritten sign explaining how new the garden is and how spot watering is happening as needed until established

Even though many of the plants are perhaps browner than they would usually be, there’s still colour and texture in the space along with some great trees.

circular pathways surround shaped beds and lead you through the garden, the trees add height and tranquility
looking down on the blue spiky spheres of the sea holly
brown and drying seedheads - possibly angelica or fennel
The centre of the garden with central bed, path around and a brick building in the background
A metal bench flanked by two wooden benches on the edge of one of the lawns
A small-medium rowan tree flowering in one of the beds flanking the centre of the garden

And while this is a fabulous space, it wasn’t getting me the veg I came out for. So while I could have stayed and enjoyed the space for much longer, I was off in search of veg. Inside the local green grocers I found more summer veg, but also the start of autumnal squashes. I left with more courgettes, sweetcorn, a cauliflower and an onion squash - and a resolve to seek out some new recipes and ways of making the most of the summer veg while it’s still around.

Looking back through the gate towards Charlton House with ivy over the bricked arch and the wrought iron gate open on the right hand side

And the bonus was, I’ve found a local garden and a cafe to come back and visit.

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The Garden Year: September 2022

Hello there and welcome back to my garden linky, which opens at the start of each month and stays open for the whole month - meaning you can link up at any time. You’re welcome to link any posts that have a garden theme - this could be your garden, the plants you’re growing or the gardens you visit, or anything in between - just so long as it’s related to gardening.

Plants in their prime this month

  • Red hot pokers

  • Sedum

  • Californian poppies

  • Echinaceas

  • Asters

What to do in the garden this month

  • Pick and enjoy autumn raspberries

  • Plant spring flowering bulbs

  • Divide herbaceous perennials

  • Collect seed - think of those free plants!

White roses against a metal pot and a backdrop of ivy
“TheGardenYear

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