Along with the berries ripening on the rowan next door, I too am preparing myself for the long winter ahead. It's been a long summer in some ways, which has come now to an all-too-abrupt halt, and now begins autumn. It is sad to see plants being got rid of, beds cleared and weeds pulled, ready for the frost to break up the soil. There is so much to do! The last three days (amen for bank holidays) have been fruitfully used to do a big end-of-season clean up. The compost heap no longer lives where it used to, we have used our own gorgeous compost for the first time to fertilise the vegetable beds, and have moved, cleaned, heaved and evicted until we were exhausted. Had it not been for my beloved husband's dogged persistance - come bramble scratches, ant bites and copious amounts of mud - I wouldn't have got nearly as much done as I had envisioned. Thankfully he put up with stings, bites and scratches with good grace to achieve garden satisfaction (to me at least).

I would do before and after photos, but we didn't do the befores, just the afters. I finally planted the Philadelphus in the lawn and also the Prunus Incisa.

So without further ado, photos...



The ritual cleaning-of-the-pots, in preparation for February when I start planting again. My husband was elbow-deep in hot soda suds, whilst I was inside elbow-deep in ironing...



Some friends of ours got evicted, but have since found wonderful new homes... In the compost heap.



All but the potatoes were removed from the vegetable bed. We found some potatoes we had hitherto missed, and found muscles we didn't know we had!



My 'plant of the moment' the beautiful Myrtle [myrtus communis] (this one sp Tarentina) has just started flowering. All of the plant is edible except the roots (perhaps they are - I'm not sure), and is very aromatic. It's a half-hardy perennial shrub and can grow, in the right conditions, to be over 15feet in height. I know, I saw one in Cornwall. I've so far eaten every part of the plant (except the roots) which has an aromatic bitter taste. In the Med it's used to flavour coals in a similar way to hickory. It can be used to stuff meat like rosemary (and discarded at the end of cooking) and is good for you in general. We have two, the other was found in Glastonbury whilst on honeymoon - this one was in a garden centre near my mother - having sworn that I'd never find another one (there's a saying about two busses coming at once...).



There's my round up :-)