Weekend gardener: rake it in
Weed seeds are continuing to germinate. These are easily removable when small with a quick hoe or even by rubbing a gloved hand over the soil. This method is particularly good around the base of plants such as roses and perennials which a wayward hoe movement could easily damage.
Leaves
With autumn upon us, it is time to gather leaves because left in bulk they can kill lawns, clog ponds and make paths slippery. Gathered, they can be made into leaf mould (an excellent component in seed and potting mix) or added to composts.
Make a leaf mould bin by inserting four stakes in the ground to create a metre by metre square. Wrap chicken wire around it, then fill with leaves. Or store the leaves in black plastic bags with plenty of holes poked through. Stash somewhere out of the way for about two years till a dark, crumbly soil has been formed.
Vigorously raking leaves off lawns has a double benefit – it stops them damaging the grass and removes some of the thatch which builds up on lawns.
Lime
Lime is best applied in autumn or winter to give it time to dissolve before spring planting and to avoid it coinciding with the application of nitrogen-rich fertilisers – usually a spring and summer task.
Many essential minerals, including phosphorus and magnesium, are not readily available to plants in acidic soils. To make them more alkaline lime is added – and presto, better flowering and fruiting results.
Lime lovers include fruit trees; vegetables, such as broad beans, peas, spinach, onions, garlic and brassicas; and ornamentals such as campanula, clematis, delphinium, lilac and salvia. Lime haters (aka acid-lovers) include azaleas, camellia, daphne, Japanese maples, pieris and rhododendrons; also blueberries, capsicums, potatoes and tomatoes.
Ornamentals
Traditionally it’s time to cut back perennials. Some gardeners prefer to let plants die back naturally, letting them gather nutrients from the soil for as long as possible. As well, some perennials have attractive seedheads which lend stark beauty to the winter garden. Ditto, ornamental grasses.
Lay compost over flower beds (going lightly over crowns of perennials), then tuck it all in with a thick layer of peastraw which will start to break down over winter, giving much-needed organic matter to the soil.
Plant more perennials
First there was Laura, a hairdresser and would-be actor. Then scores of women later, there is Frances, an attractive young management consultant…
Benedictus is a cunning writer. Consent does not initially lay all its cards on the table. A reader can only take what is given and create the links. It is a disturbing and frequently tense process.
Frances’ job is put on the line by an anonymous email which accuses her of wanting to poach her customers for when she hands in her notice, of arrogance, giving kickbacks, inflating her hours, and financial fraud. There is no evidence but the email itself. However, Frances is suspended until an investigation is complete.
But who wrote the email? Was it the man who obsessively follows her or has she personal enemies in the office? Slowly the foundations of her life begin to erode and it is all witnessed by her stalker who, seeing her cry in a cafe, cannot help but offer a moment of human consolation.
Consent is a tricky book. The reader makes deductions only to have them undercut. Benedictus presents us with Frances’ story, but is it really her story, or simply her stalker’s imagination of her story? While the reader considers these things, incidents pile up.
A drunken night of sex with a near stranger plays out into something completely different. An employee of Frances’ company dies in mysterious circumstances. Is it an accident or murder? Is she even safe from observation in her own bedroom?
Consent is a carefully crafted and completely chilling novel where all possibilities are open – until they suddenly snap closed.
– David Herkt