Is anyone else waiting impatiently for things to just die?

[gardening_gal]

My tunnel is looking sparse, the plants are all winding down now and are looking sorry for themselves. A number have stopped cropping and are yellow and withery (don't think that's a word but it's descriptive ) so they got binned, leaving clean spaces behind them.

I'm eyeing up what's left whilst secretly wishing they would all just cowp so I can get the tunnel cleaned out properly.

It's pitch black here at the back of 8pm these days (it felt like late November last night) and most days we have dull skies with occasional sun (having said that, it's sunny-ish today!), I'm not expecting the plants that are left to do much but as there are loads of green toms that look nowhere near fully grown let alone ready to ripen, I can't bring myself to get rid just yet, no matter how tatty the plant looks.

Do you eye things up on the passing and think how tidy your garden/tunnel/greenhouse would be if only certain plants would just die?

Or is it just me?

[Martin H]

It's not just you. At this time of year I start eagerly awaiting the first frost, the trigger for me to really get stuck in on clearing up.

[arpoet]

I clear stuff that need clearing and prepare the ground for next spring, but don't try and get too far in front. I dislike autumn for veg plots starts to look tired and although I know the first frost will sweeten kale and winter cabbages, it could also, if prolonged, put an end to the wonderful crop of beans.
I try and get every ounce of veg from my patch, no matter how sad the plants look.

[Kristen]

Lots in my veg plot starting to wind down ... but lots in the ornamental garden is gearing up

Dahlias fit to bust, as are some late flowering annuals like Nicotiana sylvestris and my Amaranthus, and also the Delphiniums which I cut right down (bravely I thought!) immediately after flowering, greedy for a second crop, and they now have flower stems just starting to open that are topping out at over 6'

My exotics look great from now until first frost too - massive leaves and height on Bananas, Paulownia, T. rex and the rest .... looks like a jungle in there at this time of the year

[alldigging]

Do you know marvel over the way plants die back? How the leaves change colour and dry and crisp at the edges, how colours mix from brightest green to shades of yellow orange and brown. A mixed palette of colours that blur the season through to the next.

[Noosner]

I know what you mean, GG - there's such satisfaction in getting a bed back and getting it cleared. I'm really enjoying clearing beds down at the allotment and putting in onions and green manure. But I had a few disasters earlier in the summer and had to replant a lot of things in my garden e.g. cosmos, sunflowers, peas, beans, carrots. They are all cropping/flowering now so my garden looks the best it has done all summer. So I'm praying that the first frost holds off for a while longer!

[Alison]

I never really clear things for a season as there's always new stuff to go in. Have spring cabbages, calabrese, chard and much more waiting in the wings to get planted out into the tunnel when the toms etc have finished. Usually there is some stuff coming to the end and some stuff just starting off, I quite like that balance of it all

[Scarlet]

Lots in my veg plot starting to wind down ... but lots in the ornamental garden is gearing up

Dahlias fit to bust, as are some late flowering annuals like Nicotiana sylvestris and my Amaranthus, and also the Delphiniums which I cut right down (bravely I thought!) immediately after flowering, greedy for a second crop, and they now have flower stems just starting to open that are topping out at over 6'

My exotics look great from now until first frost too - massive leaves and height on Bananas, Paulownia, T. rex and the rest .... looks like a jungle in there at this time of the year

Have you got any pics Kristen? I'm in the process of revamping one of my flower borders and I'm looking for some planting ideas for Autumn colour next year.

[Kristen]

Only got pictures of individual plants really - its hard to capture the whole border as all the plants just look small then ...


Amaranthus (Self sown)


Amaranthus (Self sown)


Dahlia - forgotten which one


Dahlia acapulco

[Kristen]

Dahlia Bishop of Llandaff

[Kristen]

and in the exotic border:


Musa sikkimensis - Taller than normally because of the mild winter




Tetrapanax papyrifer Rex - Monsteroursly big this year


Paulownia tomentosa - stooled each spring, its about 12' tall now.

[Martin H]

What a lovely garden. Absolutely worth all the time and effort you must have put into it!

I really must grow some more Dahlias next season...

[noviceveggrower]

Wow what a lovely garden. How long have you lived where you are to create such a garden?

[Kristen]

Thanks We've been here 8 years, still got a bit more to tame in the "creation" phase and then we can move to "maintenance". Much as I like playing with JCB's once or twice a year it would be nice to able to show friends round the garden without having to apologise for the half done bits!

I really must grow some more Dahlias next season...

In order to try to find some colours that I liked (I want "red" but Red seems to be used to describe anything from Orange to Cerise!, and I want them of a suitable height ... and a bit pointless to have two varieties that look pretty much identical ... good job I'm not fussy or anything!) so I made a short list and bought rooted cuttings, in the Spring, from the National Dahlia Collection - one of each. I planted them in the veg patch, measured their height, photographed the colour of the flowers, made notes ... and from that decided which ones to propagate the following spring. The original rooted cuttings worked out at £2.15 each, which I thought was good value

National Dahlia Collection

You could of course just buy a bunch, but for a large garden that is expensive and for me I have a bunch of stuff I propagated a year or two back, ready to make a border out of now ... and I'm taking cuttings of things now that I will then be able to plant in a year or two's time ... so having initially invested in propagation for a year or two its now a bit like a conveyor belt! Chuck some in one end, and deal with the ones that come out of the other end.

We're going to try to prepare and plant some sort of cloud pruned Box this year ... I raised 700 or so plants from cuttings 3 or 4 years ago, I also have 1,000 or so variegated Euonymous that I want to make some sort of knot-garden out of ... no idea where as yet! and I planted quite a lot of Hydrangeas, to make a woodland garden, last year, and have more cuttings coming on this year. This year I need to take cuttings of them all, in case any snuff it over winter as they are still rather small ...

I bought a dozen Lavender Hidcote plants this year, and got 50 or 60 cuttings off them ... more next year ... then hopefully the following year we can replant our Lavender hedge which is getting a bit woody (and I've gone off the Lavender Munstead that I bought cheap & cheerful from van Meuwen several years ago ...)

Planning to plant a White garden next Spring ... been growing perennials from seed for that this Summer ... and take cuttings of Portuguese Laurel this autumn as I want to plant a double-row Alley in a few years time ...

and so it goes on!

[Farmer_Gyles]

i was gonna say 'the ex wife', but then i realised you meant veggies ....