Time for a planting move-about
Mild weather has enabled us to get on with our everlengthening list of garden jobs. I’ve dug up and divided
perennials from a corner of the border in the back garden to make room for a selection of new plants. Once I’d started digging out goldenrod (solidago) I realised how it’d taken over and what a large space I had to fill. Asters and eupatorium have also been dug up and in their place I’ve planted echinacea ‘Magnus’, penstemon ‘Husker Red’, miscanthus ‘Morning Light’, while a hardy chrysanthemum has been moved forward. The autumn border in the orchard has been enlarged to accommodate the asters and eupatorium and I still have a tin bath full of goldenrod to rehome. I’ll ignore my husband’s comment that it would be easier to plant everything in the right place to start with!
The leaf bins have been emptied of lovely crumbly leaf mould, which has been used as a mulch on various borders. A start has been made on collecting this year’s leaves, always hard work and it takes weeks, but well worth it when you see the valuable resource they turn into.
Before clearing them I do take a moment to enjoy the display they make on the ground, particularly acer leaves. Hardy chrysanthemums are still providing colour around the garden, ‘Dulwich Pink’ being a real favourite. In the vegetable garden I’ve cleared away the runner bean plants and weeded and mulched the bed with sieved garden compost. As each bed is cleared I’ll cover it with weed-suppressing fabric to keep the weeds down. We also now have a new small flock of chickens in the orchard. I love to hear their contented clucking as I work in the garden.