October: thin pickings this month, but with maintenance and some sowing still to do. Time to take stock, to compost, dig winter ground before it’s too heavy. To collect leaf mould. Still time to sow winter lettuce and winter cabbage if you are OK with cloches. October is certain to bring frost so you need to decide about covering tender plants, though you can sow broad beans into November.
It is the start of the tougher time for animals so I will leave the sunflowers standing as the bees recede to be replaced by birds.
I will cut a few flower heads and hope it is robins not rats who get the benefit. Most flowers, though, will stay on the stem for a little longer. They had reached 3m tall by the end of September.
It’s time to work out which were the plants that worked best for you and to think where (or whether) you might grow them again next year. I have shifted some allegiances. I am now certain to stick with sweet peas, among the most beautiful things I’ve grown: a scented gateway into the garden. The Tagetes ‘Ildkongen’ (available if you search) were perfect, cascades of scarlet velvety blooms with a delicate fragrant leaf. They loved the long heat. The best they’ve ever been.
I’ve been trialling sowing by scattering, moving away from neat rows (at least for now). Broadcasting in patches rather than rills. I will report back. The dahlias are dying (again, the Bishops of Auckland and Llandaff were my star buys). The tomato pots are packed away. The geraniums and lobelia are exhausted, the peonies have been sticky for a while, but I will turn the window boxes, outside facing in for a bit, before searching out some winter inspiration.
I will weed the October plot a little, pick leaves and wander almost aimlessly. I will retreat like the land.
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