My Garden Journal October

I began my October journal entries by writing about the signs of autumn and I noted that, “October really does feel like autumn with changes in leaf colours on shrubs, trees and a few perennials. Fungi are another indicator that autumn has definitely arrived in the garden.”

I then shared a gallery of photos taken in the garden.

On the next page I featured another autumn happening which we look forward to so much even though it is a busy time for a while. “This is the time of year when plants are thinking ahead and ensuring their genes carry on in the form of new plants by setting seeds either as simple seeds or as seeds hidden inside fruits or nuts. These can be apples, elderberries or seed pods on trees such as Cercis siliquastrum or chestnuts.”

Below I put photos of fruits and seeds.

Next up was another of my 30 second sketches, the subject being a leaf and berries of an Hypericum.

On the opposite page I featured persicarias, where I wrote, “Persicaria amplexicorus varieties are really strong perennials for autumn when they show us the wide varieties with flowers of different shades of purple, red and pink with tints of orange and other sunset shades.”

Here are some of our persicarias currently flowering in our garden.

Another painting took up the next page, a watercolour of a short length of a branch off a Cercis siliquastrum on which grew two different lichen and a pair of seed pods.

On the penultimate page for October I shared a look at gardening tasks for October. I wrote, “The weather remans good enough to garden almost any day we want to, except for a couple of days when another named storm, Storm Amy, came to attempt to blow us away. Luckily there was no damage to the garden or gardeners.”

Picking apples has kept us very busy after bumper crops.

We have taken rose cuttings and put bubble wrap up to insulate the glasshouse. Ian our garden help has tidied up some of our climbing roses.

The final page for October showed how our shed was progressing. Here I wrote, “Mid-month and the shed has moved on well. We now have a recycled tile roof and part of the cladding fixed to the outside, even though our four-legged foreman slept through part of the time.”

We have reached the end of my journal for October. The clocks change this weekend meaning we gain an hour’s sleep. Then we can see what November brings.