22 October 2017

Dorset Garden Diary - An Autumn of Wacky Weather

Evening everyone,

Hope your gardens have survived Storm Brian. Here a couple of plant pots were blown over, the insect shield across the greenhouse door came down and, thankfully, that was it. The fish are enjoying the high water level in the pond which is the closest it's been to the overhang

Unfortunately, I've not had much chance for gardening over the past couple of weeks and it's interesting to see what's been happening. The Webb's lettuce and spring onion seeds that I scattered  have grown

and the onions sets I planted three weeks ago are growing rapidly
am wondering if they're supposed to be growing this quick.

I cut back the dead wood on the pear tree (not sure I've done it right but I'll find out next year!) and I've been out a few times to rake the leaves off the grass (not the best job to do on a windy day) and put them in piles at the back of the flower beds for insects to over winter in.

The day before the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia were due to land I tidied up the pots etc at the side of the pottering shed - before
and after

a job that has been long overdue. It was a perfect autumn day and reminded me why I like this season...the light is mellow and the air is still balmy from the summer.

Last Monday the weather was weird. Early morning, the sky was a green-ish yellowy colour and the sun, when it could get through the flat blanket of cloud, was red. Then the wind dropped and it felt eerie and came over dark. Spooky. We found out later that Ophelia had brought us sand from the Sahara and smoke from fires in Spain and Portugal.

The rest of this week has been damp and misty and foggy and raining and windy. Thursday it rained so hard for a short time that water was running down the roads in rivers. Since Friday night it's been incredibly windy. It's hard to take a pic of the wind but I hope these convey how windy it's been.


I've put in more pond clear - the water is definitely clearer, and I cleared leaves out of the small cauldron pond.

Something has been burrowing through the gravel and under the back gate.
The photo doesn't show it clearly but it must be something quite big as the furrow is a good foot across and 6-8 inches deep Just goes to show, if something wants to get in you can't stop it. Wonder what it is??

Next door's bay tree is growing through the fence - that's useful!
the poppy seedlings will need re-potting this week
 
and the birds left me some raspberries - so kind!
 
I managed to get the garlic (French germidour) planted today, a job I've been meaning to do for over a week.
 
Well that's it...the weather for the coming week is changeable, getting warmer then getting colder. Have a good week and catch up next Sunday.
 
Regards,
 
DD
 
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