I have put the garden to bed. It took its time to settle down. I picked raspberries in July and my last picking was the 8th November. I dug up all my gladioli, purely grown as cut flowers. They are now in the garage drying out. They joined the lilies, carefully removed in October and also drying out. However, as they come out, so others go back in. The daffodils in October, the tulips in November. The tulips flowered their heads off. I left them to wither and then carefully lifted the bulb and foliage. They were dried out and the poor ones composted.  Various other plants  can be re-located if they are not in their ideal place. The winter garden is less a place, more a sense of putting the garden on hold.

maintenance

My Victorian horticultural training was adamant that the following summer drove each day the previous autumn. Firstly, I cut the lawn edges neat and vertical, secondly, I weed and hoe everywhere. A screwdriver, or special tool, is used to pull dandelions out of the lawn.  I don’t have enough leaves so raked up some of my neighbours. I needed these to top-up a second compost heap with these. That was because I saw two hedgehogs by this heap. Are they nesting underneath? I have no idea but they now have a mass of fresh leaves. Me, the hedgehogs, and the environment, can live in harmony.

The Winter Garden

It is important to note that I am not advocating too much tidiness. Seed heads should remain and scruffy areas where insects can survive. A notable feature of autumn is how many seedlings arise. Being small, recognising the ones to save and the ones to hoe out takes experience. The forget-me-not (myosotis) seeds everywhere after you first introduce it. I transfer these into beds, or gaps, and they grow readily. They are ideal foils for tulips. Primulas are one of my favourite plants. They hate dry, warm conditions. However, they don’t mind being split and transferred to sunny beds over winter, because the damp and low sun is ideal. Whatever, after flowering in spring, they must be transferred back into the shade again.

Economy

To conclude, those forget-me-nots and primulas, plus brunnera, which love to seed everywhere, can save so much money. Re-cycling can include plants. Why not create spring feature beds, with forget-me-nots and primulas, each year. They cost nothing. The tulips and daffodils can be interplanted in autumn, and dried out after spring flowering. Every year from then on they cost nothing. Plants bought from the nursery are expensive, so buy only those that provide free seedlings.