Devonshire October November 16

Season's End
Nigel Jones discusses this ephemeral time in the garden
Autumn always catches me out, one minute
you're enjoying walking round the garden in
shorts, the next you're reaching for something
warmer. It seems the change in temperature and
shortening of the evening appear from nowhere.
I suppose this reminds us that our lovely English
summer has come to an end, and nowhere is
this more evident than in your garden. For me,
one of the plants that I always look forward to
enjoying are Dahlias. They really get going in
mid summer, delivering fantastically luminous
colour of many hue, catching the sunlight and
seeming almost to vibrate with colour. What's
great about them is they really hang on into
autumn and when many other flowers have given
up the ghost, dahlias are still there, cheering
up the garden. Squashes and pumpkins are
also great to be seen, bright splashes of orange,
yellow, heavily variegated greens, and all equally
lovely. Depending on your garden, it is possible
to leave dahlia tubers in the soil, but my own
experience tells me that it's not really practical,
especially with clay soils and an abundant slug
population. I've always found gardening is a
great way to slow the year down, each growing
triumph marks a point in time and brings us
back to our roots, so-to-speak. Those tubers
will need raising within the next few weeks and
then you can get on with next season's prep.
What's On in Devon?
hubcast
.co.u k
91