Ode to summer

Was it just us or did the subtle scent of mists and mellow fruitfulness pervade the Genus garden a few days ago?  A cooler start to the day, a few fallen leaves, combine harvesters busy to the left, haymaking to the right, and a curling thread of smoke from our neighbours bonfire gave us the feeling that autumn, if not arrived, was certainly at the front gate.  That's not to say the garden has put on the brakes; the lawns are still growing, dahlias, Csmos, and Tithonia are still producing new flowers, and seeds in the vegetable garden are germinating well.

Before cutting the lawns we tidied up the grass-free circles under the fruit trees in the orchard, clipping the edges, weeding, and removing any windfalls.  (We take these to a local farm where they’re pressed for juice, pasteurised, and bottled).  The spinach we mentioned sowing last week has already germinated as have the wallfowers that we mentioned two weeks ago.  These have been covered with a very fine mesh to prevent attack from flea beetles which can still be active this time of year.

Later in the afternoon we continued dead-heading in the flower garden, tying in errant rose stems, and strengthening flower supports, and as our neighbour stirred his fire once more we were sure that we heard Keats’  "redbreast whistle from a garden croft, and gathering swallows twitter in the skies".  It seems autumn was through the gate and now heading up the drive.

Clothes in action today: Womens Eden Gardening Jersey in Charcoal