Autumn colours

The garden chairs and tables are stacked under the veranda once more, several pot plants moved to the greenhouse and the cupboards in my little garden house are chock-full with the vintage porcelain I kept on the shelf in my outdoor kitchen. 

It's still dark and misty when I arrive in the garden early Saturday morning. There is the faint noise of one of the highways in the distance, mingled with birdsong. It's wet too. When I walk across the lawn to the back of my garden house, my feet sink into the mud. I so hoped to cut the grass today, but alas....

My eldest daughter helped me to do the last garden chores. While I planted tulip and alium bulbs, she gave the hedge a final trimming. Like last year I mixed the bulbs and tossed them randomly onto the planting beds. Only six more months to go before I will see the result..... Can't wait.

Just before we left, I picked the last flowers: some dahlia's, zinnia's and even a lupine. I cut of the water supply, which always is a muddy job. You have to get rid of the ground water in the well first, before you can reach both valves. It's a bit scary too, because you never know what animal may be lurking at the bottom. I cannot tell you how relieved I was to find small insects only :-)

Now that autumn has arrived I can focus on my gardening books once more and make plans for next season. A German gardening book which inspires me very much is called: 'Besondere Frauen und ihre Gaerten'. Gallwey publishers kindly offered to give one of them to you. If you are interested, please have a look at my blog the coming weeks.

Wishing you a happy week ahead!

Love,

Madelief x