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

Dahlia love

L

Not many words today. Just some photo's of my allotment garden and dahlia's, which still flower abundantly.  I thought they would have wilted by now, because of the cold nights we had, but quite the contrary. I even spotted the flowers of two new varieties, but no 'Café au lait' so far.....

One of you asked me what the names are of the dahlia's that grow in my garden. The thing is, I often buy large bags of mixed tubbers. So I don't really know. With two exceptions: the burgundy white and red striped dahlia, which is called 'Tartan' and the fuchsia pink one, which is called 'night dream'.

It was my intention to shut off the main water supply to my outdoor kitchen today, but somehow I ended up pruning my New Dawn rose at the front of my garden house. I thought it would be fun, but it felt more like being in a fight :-). My hands and arms are covered in scratches and my cardigan did not survive, but the job is done. Next time I will plant some bulbs..... Much easier!

Have a great week!

Love,

Madelief x

Fiery reds and yellows

Sorry for posting late. I had a busy week and couldn't find the time to write earlier.

The garden is slowly changing colour. There are more fiery reds and yellows around. The first leaves are falling. When I walk across my garden path, I hear the crunching noise of the hazelnuts that have fallen from the tree under my feet. My face is wet from the spider's webs. Although I am on the lookout, I always walk straight through them. In my garden house I have a quick glance in the mirror first, to see if I didn't take any spiders with me. I don't mind the small ones, but in autumn they seem to get bigger and bigger. The idea of having one of those creepy crawlies in my hair or worse my shirt, fills me with horror :-)
  
It's the time of year to get the garden ready for winter too. Sweet friends gave me a helping hand. We had the most perfect weather. Not too hot or cold and with lots of sunshine. We cut the hedge behind the greenhouse, which is quite high and too dangerous to do on my own. We cleared out the weeds at the back of the garden, we evened the garden path and pruned one of the big trees. It was a long day and a hell of a job, but so rewarding.

I can focus on the fun things now: pick the last dahlia's before I lift them, plant some tulip bulbs and prune my climbing roses. 

Is your garden ready for winter yet?

Have a lovely autumn week!

Love,

Madelief x