Blogtober 2021 : Day 16

I hope you’ve had a lovely Saturday!  I’ve been out all day today at the opening of Stitch Station, the new yarn shop in Warrington, and although I’ve got plenty to tell you about it, I’m going to leave that for tomorrow.  Today, I’m going to show you all those garden photos I didn’t show you the other day instead 🙂

My plan was to cut a conifer hedge so that I could measure up the old veg boxes that are next to it as they need replacing.  My Dad built them for me not long after we moved in here and we’ve been here 18 years so I don’t think they owe me anything, but they are starting to fall to bits now.  I have recently been reading about organising your time around the “big rocks” in your schedule where the big rocks are the big tasks that you want to tackle, and I have realised that I am extremely good at identifying the big rocks … and then wanting to do them all at once.  So my plan previously would have been to cut the conifer hedge, measure the veg boxes, plant some Winter bedding plants, start clearing out another border and possibly even do some Autumn pruning – in the space of an hour and a half – which anybody can see is never going to happen, but it still didn’t stop me from thinking that I could and then getting cross when I couldn’t!  Not this time, though!  I decided I was just going to cut the hedge, and found that because I wasn’t rushing to do everything, I had time to pick the last of the raspberries and the tomatoes.

I even had time to get the shredder out so that I properly finished one job before starting on the next.

There are plenty of ladybirds around at the moment!

Well, I was very pleased with myself, not over-stretching myself, I can tell you!  I know, I know, you probably do this without even thinking about it but I am particularly good at over-estimating what I can do in the time that I have so this felt like a triumph to me 🙂

After that, I actually had time to walk around the garden to look at everything before I had to go and collect not so small daughter from school.  The leaves on the trees may not be changing much but the garden is definitely starting to take on a Autumn feel.

All those reds and oranges!  Oh, they’re just beautiful!

The witch hazel (Hamamelis) is looking fabulous this year with those vibrant orange leaves.  It’s just stunning.  The French marigolds (Tagetes) are looking amazing as well – I’ve never grown these before (I was given the seeds) and if I’m honest, I never fancied them because my Dad used to grow a variety of Tagetes in his greenhouse to keep the greenfly away from his tomatoes and they always used to smell a bit peculiar.  These, though, outside where I can’t smell them, are making me very happy!

There is still so much evening primrose around in my garden too.  I don’t know if it’s too late for the evening insects that love them at this time of the year but the plants are flourishing in the milder weather we’ve had recently.  All the marigolds (Calendula) too – I have planted so many of them over the years and collected the seed and planted them the next year that I have no idea if these were originally named varieties or not.  My favourites are always the original variety and those sweet daisy-like flowers fill me with joy every time I see them.

I’ll be planting more seeds next year!

I’ll leave you with photos of another favourite – lamb’s ears or Stachys byzantina.  As beautiful in the rain as when it’s dry, I always stop to stroke those soft, downy leaves – I can’t help myself!

I’ll see you tomorrow for tales of yarn and cake! 🙂