The Beginning of the End of the Year

 

Coneflowers in the front borders

It’s started to feel like autumn here at Betley Court Gardens, even although the days – when they are sunny - are quite balmy. I can almost feel the tilt of the Earth’s northern hemisphere away from the sun’s warmth. The leaves of the lime trees, always amongst the first to unfurl in the spring, are beginning to crisp at the edges, a sure sign winter is on its way.

A field mushroom erupts in the lawn

As if to confirm autumn’s arrival, Shane’s spotted some beautiful, huge field mushrooms that have erupted on the lawn, and fungi fruiting forms are springing up wherever wood rots under the surface of the soil. It’s a good year for berries too. The damson tree on the way to the old potting shed droops under the weight of ripe fruits. We’ll have to make a point of grabbing a bagful, to make damson gin up for Christmas (Nigel has a fool proof recipe that is a hit with his sisters-in-law!). I know you’re supposed to wait till the first frosts come before picking them, but we cheat, harvest what we need and bung them in the freezer until we need them. Apparently, the freezing process helps break the skins, helping the tasty flavours bleed into the gin. I don’t think it matters if mother nature, or artificial methods are used – the gin’s non-the-wiser.

Another fungus marks the approach of autumn

Around the gardens there’s a sense of rounding projects off. The long path’s restoration has made huge progress, and Shane and Melvyn’s hard work is showing results, with the new metal edging restoring the clean, tramline edges to the way they were a hundred years ago. We should be able to plant bulbs and grass seed during autumn, so that the banks of the path are settled in by the time we open to the public.

The long path under restoration

Shane’s also reseeded the paddock paths where the grass was killed back, during the dam restoration work. Hopefully it will take while the soil is still warm. Dan and George, the young builders are making good progress on the new garage wall, and have done a lovely job of matching the Staffordshire blue and Cheshire red bricks to the existing walls.

The reclaimed Staffordshire blue and Cheshire red brick on Dan and George's wall

I’ve spent the day deadheading flowers on the formal part of the gardens. Deadheading is a really old gardening custom requiring patience and a decent pair of secateurs. Its not just about tidying up the flowers as the blooms fade. It a time-honoured way of persuading a plant to push out more flowers, rather than going to seed. Our dahlias, for instance, will keep producing flowers until the harder frosts cut them down around November time. Annoyingly, I’ve managed to lose my best pair of secateurs this week. I suspect I’ve left them in a bucket and emptied them into the green bin, or a compost pile. Many, many secateurs have been lost this way during my gardening life, although quite often, they eventually turn up in the pockets of a coat I haven’t worn in a while. The one pair I haven’t been able to lose are an old set, that have lost their comfortable padded grips. They are also the ones that always seem to work loose at the screws requiring frequent adjusting. Never-the-less, whenever I misplace a better pair, these wonky secateurs are ready and waiting at the bottom of the tool bag, like the proverbial bad penny.

The formal flowerbeds in their autumn colours

The sense of rounding off extends to the main house too, with clearance work drawing to a close. The final enormous skip has left, for the time being at least, and there’s a definite pause as we await the outcome of the latest planning application.

A painted lady butterfly basking in the autumn sun

Andy, the graphics designer from A Spark, A Flame , A Fire returned this week, this time with his family in tow, to film some footage for the new website. He left with an armful of assorted vegetation, which I understand will be transformed into more cyanotype images for the guide map we commissioned from him. We’re very excited to see the finished results. Another project edging towards completion.

Things are heading in the right direction. Such a contrast to this time last year! Long may it continue!

All best wishes

Ladybird Su