5 Things Friday - My Dream garden

I am joining Amy this week for five on Friday. Thanks Amy!

I am sorry to say that apart from admiring the beautiful autumn trees on a misty, early 2hr drive through the Cotswolds one morning with a colleague, I have failed to be present and enjoy or even find, the beauty in this busy, busy week.  Must try harder!

But I have been having very strong yearnings for a garden of my own this week. I have studied with the RHS and in the past have had and adored my own garden, even being self-sufficient for a time in veg and soft fruit. But life takes various turns, and although my professional career is in a good place (finally!) I don't have the time or money (yet!) for a garden of my own. I have had an allotment recently, but gave it up to study. Although this was a wrench, there is nothing sadder than a neglected allotment. I miss the rolling of the seasons and the connection to the earth so much.

So, my 5 this week are the 5 things I would be doing in the garden of my dreams this week, if I had one!

1. Composting!

My heart breaks to be throwing away veggie peelings. I know how amazing homemade compost can be for a garden and I love the concept of recycling in your back garden.

One day I will have a set of huge compost bins so that I can turn the compost regularly and get the mix between woody and nitrogenous grass clippings just right.

2. Leaf Mould

I can't walk past all of these lovely fibrous leaves without fighting the urge to rake them all up, store them in net sacks or a chicken-wire bin and turn them into precious leaf-mould! It can be sieved with topsoil to form potting compost, added as a mulch to enrich the soil...so many uses, and here these leaves are, just turning to mush in the rain!

 

3. Flicking through the Seed Catalogue

Not spending, obviously as it is No-Spend November! But that lovely winter job of circling what you want to grow next year and dreaming about fragrant tomatoes warmed by the sun and nice fat cabbage heads. I almost always used to grow more than I could possibly fit in, and have to re-home all of the refugees with neighbouring plot-holders and on Freecycle. I must still be on the mailing list, so will have a wistful flick through one evening soon.

4. The Autumn Tidy Up - Or Not

It is really satisfying having a good chop back of dead seed heads - although not in this garden - my parents', down the road. They let me take up the turf last summer and re-plant in the style of dutch designer Piet Oudolf. It is 'naturalistic' - that is, perennials and grasses crowded together and intermingled and because varieties are selected which look good when they are dead, you just leave them over the winter. They are all quite architectural seed-heads and stand up well to wind and rain. The idea is that it looks just as nice in the winter, covered in frost, as it does in the late summer.

5. Chooks

This time of year is usually a great time to give the henhouse a clean out ready for winter. I always kept chickens when I had my smallholding and one day I would love to again.