After a simply stunning spring and summer the days are shortening and the temperatures falling.

This year has been different but very enjoyable in the garden. Time to experiment and witness surprises. Certainly in the autumn garden the biggest surprise has been the Rudbeckia and the very late flowering zinnias.

The vegetable garden is now focusing on the winter. A few courgette but mainly sprouts and cabbages

The old herb garden is a little overgrown but I’ve enjoyed the abundance of colours through the year

Chillis are ripening as are the last of the tomatoes. Having experimented with different varieties certainly the red cherry, manzano, and tigerella have been exceptional this year.

The sun has been shining and the flowers blossoming. Too hot to do much more than sit and enjoy the garden. A very pleasant surprise is the Rudbeckias which I have never grown before. The varied bright yellow and orange blooms brighten the August garden.

The ‘old herb garden’ is now totally transformed. A little overcrowded but full of colour. Even the sweat peas have started to bloom at the back of the plot. Pleasant surprises re the Astilbe, transferred from the overgrown patch at the top of the garden, and the Japanese Anemone, self seeded in my mum’s garden.

In the vegetable patch the rust of the potatoes have been dug up and replaced by cabbages and cauliflowers. Small yellow courgette ‘soleil’ are slowly growing.

Fortunately there is plenty of shade on the bottom patio to get away from the scorching heat.

The garden has changed with the onset of summer. In the vegetable garden lettuce, spinach, chard and peas are being harvested. The onions are starting to swell and will soon be ready to harvest.

It has been interesting to watch the different tomato varieties grow and ripen at different rates. First came the lovely red cherries, small and sweet. Next the much larger tigerella with their distinctive stripes. And now the San Marzano – an Italian plum variety. Similarly with the chilli plants the Apache are flowering freely and producing many fruits whilst the Tabasco develop at a much slower pace and have just come into bud.

The sunflowers have brought joy to the patio area.

The old herb garden is also evolving slowly. The first blackcurrants on the bush, sweat peas, zinnias and sweet Williams starting to bloom.

There also has been a very welcome crop of redcurrants from three bushes I cut back during the winter.

A strange surprise was what I think are berries on the olive.

So now I await the Japanese anemones to come into bloom. A little wild under the apple tree this year.

The strawberry plants produced and are still producing strawberries. The little runners have successfully rooted, so mor strawberries next year.

And finally the yellow courgette ‘Firenze’ is starting to flower and produce fruits.

The garden is really starting to spring into life, but there is a need for caution as despite some warm days the nights are still chilly.

The onions in the vegetable patch certainly enjoyed Saturday’s rain. Potatoes are also starting to sprout.

And the lettuce and spinach in the greenhouse should be ready to eat pretty soon.

The herb garden is now relocated to the warm steps of the conservatory and the old herb garden still being transformed.

The rhododendrons are just starting to bloom, adding colour to the shadier parts of the garden.

The pelargoniums having overwintered indoors are spending their days outside. On the patio the tubs and pots are still blooming with their winter plants.

Fortunately the Apple blossom survived the recent frost.

In an earlier blog I was tidying around the Acer. The Acer now is thriving, however there appears to be far too many astilbes so the next task will be divide them.

The past couple of weeks have been busy in the garden.

The lawn had its first mow and the moss problem in the shady border needed some work. Raking and aerating the affected area should improve the situation.

Now the soil is starting to warm up it is time to start planting in the vegetable patch. Onions, peas, lettuce, sprouts and spinach have all been started off in the shelter of the greenhouse.

The first batch of onions and peas have been planted out. Lettuce have been thinned out and some have gone into pots on the patio, whilst others remain in the greenhouse.

To protect from birds I made netting from recycled fruit nets.

The garden is springing into life, with blossom budding and spring bulbs blooming.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks in the Strines garden. The days are getting warmer an staying light much longer. This is the start of a very busy time.

Having cleaned and cleared the greenhouse at the start of the month it is now the perfect place to start hardening off one of the half hardy annuals before planting out next month as well as sowing salad leaves, spinach and peas. I’ve also put some of the onion sets in seed trays to give them a head start before planting out once the soil warms up.

Around the garden there is still plenty to do. Weeds are springing into life just like the ‘wanted’ plants. March is a great time to reflect in the garden, enjoying some old favourites but making decisions to remove old plants which have become too big for a small garden and cut back trees and shrubs. A rule I have followed for almost 30 years, since working with Jack Swann at the Granada Arboretum, is that most trees survive a pruning of up to a third. So the deadwood on the lonicera has been removed. The time to make drastic action to reduce the amount of shade in the north facing border with the removal of an overgrown conifer from the top of the garden. The old herb garden is starting to gain some structure with the addition of ornamental grass – Acornus Ogon, a dwarf photinia ‘little red robin’ and anemometer ‘Harmony Pearl’.