Garden Diary: October 2021

Self seeded gourds in their weird and wonderful autumn shells – every one mysteriously different, and perfectly timed for Halloween smiles. For the next few months, these oddities are the only type of ‘ornament’ I’d want gracing our living room!

Then they will be returned to the compost heap, and no doubt give us more surprises next year… Fur coated leaves will emerge through the spring coating of mulch. Tendrils will reach out & magically balance these oddities as they chaotically scramble over plants and along paths. They will again have to be kept in check as they threaten to suffocate nearby plants, extending their clinging stalks with a speed that makes total sense of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk!’

Alexander Smith:

“In the entire circle of the year, there are no days so delightful as those of a fine October.”

It’s getting chilli – but these bright bombs will keep us hot in all manner of dishes through the winter!

Jane Hirshfield:

“The heat of autumn is different from the heat of summer. One ripens the apples, the other turns them to cider.”

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Among other vegetables and fruit, we have been lucky enough to have grown enormous crops of beans, cabbage and marrow this year; many from seeds saved from last year’s crop & all grown in nothing but home made compost. Gosh, those worms are busy!

• French beans: purple x 22lb
• French beans: green x 19lb
• Runner beans: x 20lb
• Cabbage (pointed / butterball / savoy) x 14
• Marrow (average 6lb each) x 42

Bonaro W. Overstreet:

“October is a symphony of permanence and change.”

George Elliot:

“Come, said the leaves to the wind one day. Come o’er the meadows and we will play. Put on your dress, scarlet & gold, for summer is gone and the days grow cold.”

Dodinsky:

“I hope I can be the autumn leaf, who looked at the sky and lived. And when it was time to leave, gracefully it knew life was a gift.”