October’s mellow days – garden diary

I would like to say October’s garden diary was full of golden mellow days but two gales scorched through the gardens this month in quick succession, reorganising our carefully planned gardening schedule into one long raking session.

This October we’ve had time to finish clearing the hedge in the Italian Garden and resurface the car park, so join me again, to look around the garden this October, as the garden balances gently between blowsy autumn fruition and the spare winter sleep that will see the structure of the garden shine once more in winter days’ light.

October’s Atlantic storms and golden days

The first brisk blow of autumn was the remnants of a distant hurricane and the second one was the inheritance of an Atlantic weather bomb within days of each other. Each gust brought with it its own brand of destruction and a perfect storm of palm leaves hurtling across our lawns to be patiently cleared up. Yet on other days the beautiful golden light of autumn lent a little bit of magic to the garden.

October’s landscaping projects – Car parks and garden paths

As the removal of the redundant hedge in the Italian Garden has reached its completion, we’ve also been busy resurfacing the car park. The fresh silvery white Cornish granite chippings have brought the rhythmical line of box balls that encase the entrance, back to prominence again, along with the flanking row of Date Palms.

Deciding how much gravel to order is always a negotiation – I had favoured ordering ten tons, while Charles blanched at the idea of shovelling such a huge amount and wanted five and the lady at the quarry helpfully suggested that the lorry would take eleven………… so we compromised and ordered eight tons – a nice round figure that provided exercise for our afternoons for over a week. Luckily, there was just enough left over to add to the new paths in this year’s project garden and as autumn runs its course the next stage of its development is taking shape.

For my garden project I have always had in mind creating a white cobbled sun in the central pathway to set off the pivotal Olive tree.  But as I searched high and low the only colour on offer was beige North sea cobbles until that is we visited Solo building supplies in Long Rock and hey presto! Shiny white cobbles!

I’ve drawn the design on a napkin so it is very nearly real – this is something I’ve found works for me and even my kitchen originated from a sketch on an M&S food box.  Anyway  as soon as the B&B becomes a little bit less busy we will learn if the plan can  become reality and find out if we master the art of laying cobbles?

The October Garden Diary Photo Album

I hope you’e enjoyed my first autumn garden diary but if summer still lingers in your heart try my September roundup of our Summer days at Ednovean Farm