14th September 2025

Welcome,

With the lovely autumn weather continuing the garden is taking on a second life

In the Vegetable Garden the Box has been sprayed for Box Blight and this week will have a feed.

The sprouting broccoli in the frame has been supported for winter and should be ready to harvest by late winter. However, we have had a first pick already- your guess??

Squash and Pumpkin are rollocking away and salad crops and leeks are doing well. The Figs have finished but the grapes on the back wall are doing well. Variety- Lakemont, small but no pips and deliciously sweet.

Apples are having a good year, and the excess is either stored or mushed to make apple juice.

In the Asparagus bed beside the Moat Verbena and Apple of Peru came in with our compost and are currently in flower.

The “step over apples’ were scraping the ground and we have now raised their support posts. Now they are more climb over than step!!

In the Herb garden- nasturtiums, marigolds etc all need dead heading. Where they have gone to seed, I scrape the ground around them and distribute their seeds.

Leaves are falling and carpeting the Dell.  On the mounded old tree stump we have fuchsia flowering amongst the Epimediums.

Please tread carefully in the Dell as the emerging Cyclamen are difficult to spot.

With the departure of nesting birds, we are now able to proceed with hedge trimming within the daffodil area.

The Autumn border is slow to flower but Asters are in bud and the Sedum beginning to take on their autumn colour.

Schitsostylis ( both pink and white) gives bursts of colour to an otherwise green Water  Garden- but look back and note the different shades and textures of the plants growing there.

Flower heads are left on the Hydrangea as winter protection but we have dead headed Hemerocallis and Hosta in the Water Garden to save their energy from producing seed. The planting has been achieved by lifting and dividing and I shudder at the cost had they been bought individually?

The Moat is looking beautifully clear of algae- wonderful reflections

In the West Lawn along the wall the orange seed heads and unusual flowers of the Passion Flower are in full bloom.

Pink Anemone, Oleander and Sedum are joining the orange Dahlia, Cosmos and Zauschneria.

We have replaced our Ram with a pure Hebridean who seems to have settled in well with the sheep.

Moorhens must have had a second brood as there seem to be a lot in the garden- along with the Squirrels

Look out for the Hummingbird moth which has been seen amongst the Verbena in the gravel in the West Lawn and we still have some large Carp in the Moat -despite the Heron and Cormorant.

Stay healthy and good gardening

Lynda Tucker