november in the garden

 

Things are looking rather autumnal in the garden at the minute.

A couple of weeks ago I cut down the fennel. This is an enormous plant that grows taller than me each year, then falls over. The last few years I’ve been harvesting the seeds for fennel tea, although there are more than I manage to drink. I wonder whether fennel seed gin would work??The stalks are pretty sturdy looking, and I’ve used a couple of them to prop up other plants. I can add garden stakes to the list of things I’ve produced in my own garden.

I’ve been pondering what to do with the bit of garden outside the living room window. It’s the sunniest bit, and I often try, and usually fail, to grow some kind of veg in there. At the minute there’s a couple of fruit bushes (I think I harvested four raspberries this year), an enormous sage, a huge lemonbalm, a very dead tomato plant, and several small chive plants. Oh, and a large acer, which is just gorgeous, but which does rather overshadow everything else.

This bit is too big to reach across, so unless I’m going to walk on the soil, it needs something to stand on in the middle. I made a wiggly path, which you can just see in this photo from the bedroom window, but I still can’t reach everywhere, and you can’t see the path most of the time anyway. I woke up a few days with a vision in my head of a small lawn, with raised stone beds overflowing with flowers. Something a little like this or possibly some of these. I’m not entirely convinced I want to be cutting grass though. Perhaps something else between the beds? Woodchip? Or maybe a chamomile lawn? Or a thyme lawn? In fact, I’m quite taken with the idea of a purple lawn.

And are raised beds the answer? They might look a little tidier. And a little more interesting. And it might avoid all of the moisture being sucked from the soil by the acer. But would I build them from stone myself? That’s just asking for a homemade a slightly shoddy look (one which I’m not averse to, but slowly trying to get rid of in the front garden). Perhaps rectangular wooden beds are more suitable? I’m also not convinced about the willow hedge at the minute either. I know it took me ages to plant, and I actually paid for it (which is unusual for me!) but I’m not sure it works. Or maybe it’s just because it’s not properly established yet, and all the leaves are currently falling off. I won’t be making any rash decisions, but I’ll ponder over the coming months.

I wonder whether it just needs to be thicker around the seating area so I can eventually remove the screening?Perhaps something more like this? Easier to do now I’m growing my own willow!

How’s your garden looking right now? A little prettier than mine I hope!

Advertisement