This week’s garden delights include the changing of the seasons, a bumper harvest, rainbow weather, and planning ahead.

A success this year is that we’ve beaten the squirrels and managed to harvest some of the hazelnuts. I’m planning to put them into a pesto with sage and cheddar. I harvested the hazelnuts in mid August while they were still green, and dried them indoors, which was an effective way to actually get some nuts from this tree for the first time in the 7 years we’ve been in this garden!

It’s been a bumper harvest for fruits and nuts, while other crops have been a disaster. Here in Somerset the apple harvest has been exceptional, and the cider makers had to start harvesting weeks earlier than usual, and set up additional capacity to cope.

I thought maybe this summer was also a mast year for oak – and so I checked, and it seems to be so, according to Country Life.

Mast years happen every 5 to 10 years or so, and its a phenomenon where all of the trees go into overdrive and produce many more seeds than they usually would. No one knows exactly how the trees plan it, or why it happens when it does, but it’s thought to be a way to increase the chances of new trees growing. Oaks produce fewer acorns for a few years to reduce the numbers of acorn eating critters in the area. And then, when the conditions are right, all the trees in the forest produce a massive quantity of seeds, there are fewer creatures to eat them, and so more chance of the acorns growing into mighty oaks..

I gathered a handful of acorns at Tapeley Park garden when we had a few days away on the Dorset coast for my lovely husbands birthday. I’ll pop them into pots and see how they do. Tapeley Park is a beautiful Italianate style garden with a permaculture walled veg garden, owned by the Christie Devon estate, who also own a nice little auction house and Glyndebourne opera. I’m sure they can spare a few acorns.

In our (much less posh) garden my late summer favourites are the old friends like cosmos and busy lizzie, brightening up the pots and borders. We’ve had a lot of rain lately, and the garden has drunk it up and gone green again.

In the horsey border, under the trees, there are loads of apples and hazels for the squirrels to enjoy. We’re not good at harvesting or storing apples – and this variety is nice, but not very tasty, so a lot of them get nibbled by nature.

We’re seriously considering removing or reducing the red apple tree, to give more space to the hazel and elder and open up a bit of light to this area. Removing a tree feels like very big choice so we’re thinking on it carefully. We get loads of yummy apples from the other apple tree, and we might like the space here more than the fruit…

While in Devon, we chatted with a gardener at Hartland Abbey, who was pruning an enormous wisteria. She said it had taken three times more work than usual to keep it in check this year. Incidentally, the walled garden at Hartland is the most magical space, we were surrounded by roses and cosmos and butterflies in one of the most enchanting and charming gardens I’ve seen in a long while.

Back at home, since the recent rain, the wisteria’s efforts to reach beyond its pergola prison have intensified. And it’s a shame that wisteria pods are inedible, cos we’ve got lots of them.

In the past, my success with plug plants by post has been pretty variable, but the latest attempt looks good so far. We got a selection of perennials with geum, aquilegia, lemon balm and bugle weed, which arrived as miniscule miniplugs. In mid August they were about 2cm tall, and a few weeks later they are two or three times bigger. I’m hoping this will be a cheaper and more sustainable way to fill up a few pots and borders next year.

Speaking of next year, my wonderful husband has planted out a hundred or so bulbs, including daffodils, tulips and anemones. So with a bit of luck next spring will be very colourful.

I’ve lost count of the garden highlights, but want to share one more holiday snap from Appledore in Devon. We had got absolutely soaked – twice! – during the heavy rain on our adventures, and then the sun returned and gave us a rainbow.

Well, that’s quite enough rambling from me. To enjoy more informed and well structured garden blogs, please visit Garden Ruminations where bloggers share their Six on Saturday stories of highlights from their gardens…

Have a lovely week

J xx