Winter is coming

The end of the year looms and the garden totters between portly lush exuberance that is now so top heavy that many plants are falling over after being buffeted by the wind. Things like the Dahlias are still going strong but they are so tall and many stems so weak that they snap easily. Those bananas and Colocasia’s that have escaped the wind are still looking so lush and tropical. Other more sensitive things like the Manihot started shedding their leaves early. The fuchsias, which I don’t have much luck with have only just started flowering… 

 I have never known a year where things have grown so tall….The Tithonia were all at about 6-7ft, I have an 8ft Ricinus, the Amicia is flowering strongly at 7ft. This was also the year I have had to do the least watering. In fact the opposite was true as things were so wet that I had to take the pots off the saucers and keep emptying out pots that had no drainage holes. 

 The ‘to do’ list for winter grows….compost heaps need emptying, and the war on a couple of very virulent bamboos is about to begin once my new mattock arrives…I haven’t yet taken in any of the tender things, probably leaving it till the last week in November/when frosts appear and for the first time will try having two pop up greenhouses to keep things safe. I also plan on digging up most of the dahlias, not to protect them from frost but from slugs and snails, and give them a head start. Lots to do!