What to say about Lynn from Speechless, Mostly, from whom I nicked this month's calendar image? She's just lovely, and funny, and she sends me emails that make me snort with laughter. I think she's fab.Is it Autumn already? Really? Fantastic. I love Autumn in the garden. I know just what I'm doing.
I always miss Spring. I'm too late for it, and even if I manage to plan any seeds in time my seedlings all die, and it's hotter than I thought, earlier than I expected, and everything is full of weeds.
In Summer I stare at my garden helplessly through the rain as the greenery inches towards the sky like the forest in Sleeping Beauty.
But in Autumn I'm in control. I'm cutting stuff down and tidying up. With blades.
I don't have to feel guilty about what didn't grow. In the compost it goes!
I can buy mulch! And pat it down all over the place like a carpet!
I can make half-arsed attempts to propagate things that will be so far dead by next Spring I will have forgotten what they were even supposed to be! So it won't matter!
I can plant wallflowers! I love wallflowers. I have bought two trays, and put them in. Remember this year's wallflowers? Next year will be different, for no other reason than Because I Say So. Also bulbs, which I fling around with no real thought for how deep they need to be, and then get annoyed when my wondrous show of daffs fails to materialise.
I can move things! I always move things in Autumn. I'm constantly convinced that if I just move this shrub/ aquilegia/ bunch of whatever-the-hell-it-is over there, then next year over here will look less insane.
Also, I have signed up to some email thing or other that tells me what I should be doing every week, so there's no way it can possibly go wrong next year.
Oh, this year. It's so last year already.
I love Lynn too. Her emails make my day.
ReplyDeleteWhat is this miraculous expert gardener email of which you speak? Are you sure you haven't just got Alan Titchmarsh tucked away in your shed?
Sarah Raven keeps sending me email. It's really very kind of her but I think she has mistaken me for an organised person who also happens to own a greenhouse.
Hurray for Lynn who was Blogless and then Wordless and is now (hopefully, temporarily) Computerless. Just imagine how dull, how colourless the Blog world would be without the rainbows and the balloons and the cheerful smiles and the wonderful emails.
ReplyDeleteI shudder at the thought of you with blades.
ReplyDeleteI do concur with your mulching, though. I am a mulcher. When I mulch, I am at peace.
Yes, Lynn is a burst of sunshine. She's like her own summer garden...overflowing with color and life. I don't like the idea of her writing emails to other people, though. She should spend her time writing only to me. (I will forward on bits and pieces to others here and there when I have the time.)
I am now wondering what you'll write about me when it's my turn. Please make it inspiring. And joyous. Also, uplifting. I'd like my story to bring hope to others. Also jubliation.
Thank you.
JUBILATION!!!!
ReplyDeleteI think DC is hobnobbing with the gardening stars. Emails from Sarah Raven? Sheesh!
ReplyDeleteYou sound thoroughly know-what-your-doing-y in the green dept to me. You mulch? You propagate? You move stuff? Bl**dy marvellous. Now tell me, how do I get rid of the triffid they call ground elder? It has strangled some of my nice green things, the barstool. I think it calls for poison.
BTW I saw a variegated ground elder FOR SALE in my local garden centre. It was called Spreadus like the swine flu-us (or something). The label read 'vigorous ground cover'. They might as well have stuck a label on a great white shark saying 'May be slightly bitey'.
ReplyDeleteHang on, Lynn only writes to ME! What is going on here?
ReplyDeleteMmmmmmm, blades......
(you said "arsed". I'm going to tell my mum).
You mean I'm not the only one who forgets they planted things and then exclaims later if it manages to survive? Unfortunately I kill my kids plants as freely as my own. "Sorry Honey, I thought it was a weed."
ReplyDelete1. I love Lynn's picture (and Lynn), but I've also enjoyed the pictures of the Lattes romping through the woods. You can't go wrong with pictures of tiny children on woodland paths. I don't know why.
ReplyDelete2. Gosh -- fall is the season when I just can't do anything. I really ought to plant things for spring, compost things, put in a stupid new lawn, but it's just too hot and I don't feel like it. I think it's a California thing -- since we don't really have any winter to speak of you don't have that satisfying end of the year stuff which then results in you being able to ignore the garden for a few months. Also, for some reason Sept. and Oct. are ridiculously hot -- which is just plain wrong. I have some issues with California and the way it runs its weather. Also, it is not cold enough for peonies or decent apples.
3. I probably have other complaints, but maybe I'll save them for another day.
4. I do like your wallflowers, though.
5. Have you thought about a sculpture garden?
Oh! Oh! Oh! I can't take it! I'm too hormonal for this kind of thing!! You're all reducing me to a quivering heap of blubbery.
ReplyDelete(I'm a little worried, tho, because a stranger might get the impression that all I do all day is write sparkling emails.)
Thank you, CL & Co. Oh, and I think you need to photoshop that delightful pic of Littlest in the Woods onto my autumn photo. Little English girl scampering past the small-town midwestern American African Methodist Episcopal church on her way to the YMCA. HA! Classic.
Thanks for the introduction to Lynn, who is brand new to me.
ReplyDeleteOh, and when you write your post about me, remember that unforgettable has two t's. People always get that one wrong.
Ah! You garden the way we do!
ReplyDeleteYou are my kind of garderner. My lovely neighbour has tried to turn me into a different kind of gardener. She gives me 'cuttings' (??) and splits her plants to give me a bit. I kill them.
ReplyDeleteHello, you have the most gorgeous site here and I had to leave this comment for you ! Your posts are lovely and you have interesting pictures. It's all perfect so thank you for sharing them all and best wishes....
ReplyDeleteAlso, for some reason Sept. and Oct. are ridiculously hot -- which is just plain wrong. I have some issues with California and the way it runs its weather. Also, it is not cold enough for peonies or decent apples.
ReplyDelete