Autumn is setting in

I just love the colouring of the leaves on this Tree Spinach and it is such an excellent value annual herb. As I posted earlier in the year it starts off with the most gorgeous mauve/purple leaves which mature to a deep green and it puts on growth so quickly - my plants have reached 6 feet tall and they are only in 12" pots! The flowers are not particularly impressive (although they look set to make plenty of seeds for next year) and the autumn leaf colour is spectacular.

There is still no sign of the tadpoles but a friend has suggested that they might be hibernating in the silt. This seems a little early to me but fingers crossed. I'll keep an eye on the water feature over winter to make sure it doesn't dry out or freeze over.

The Hebe and Lavender cuttings I took a couple of months back have all rooted: an excellent result. I don't use rooting powder, I just pop three or four cuttings around the edge of a three and a half inch pot and water them in. I only need one lavender so I've given the others away. I'll keep the rest of the plants in the greenhouse over winter.

I've planted up six containers of spring bulbs so far. Two have white and yellow Emperor Tulips with Wallflowers I grew from seed earlier in the year, one has Narcissi Tete a Tete and Tulip Pieter De Leur (scarlet and Lily shaped) and three contain Narcissi Jet Fire. I'm very careful when I plant my bulbs in pots to ensure that they are well drained. I start with a good covering of crocks in the bottom, add a couple of handfuls of Perlite to the compost and sit the bulbs on a thin layer of sharp sand.

The seeds of Dianthus 'Siberian Blues' I sowed about a week ago are starting to germinate. I'll prick them out when they are large enough then move them to the greenhouse until late spring. I'm sure there are plenty of other things I should be sowing now so I'll have to have a rummage through the seed boxes.

Georgie