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Monthly Archives: November 2017

November, a month of change.

30 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by muddygardenerblog in Autumn, Instagram review, Monthly report, November, Winter

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Happy November! #leaves #autumn #garden #leafpile

A post shared by Charlotte (@cjbee827) on Nov 1, 2017 at 1:31am PDT

It’s hard to believe, as I sit here with snow falling in the freezing night sky, that at the beginning of the month the leaves were still showing autumn colours, both on and off the trees, and there were some late flowers in the borders. It really has been a month of change, illustrated perfectly by my instagram photos.

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I tried to take pictures of fireworks but they are all of the streaky kind so here are some grasses at a customer's garden this week. They are kind of fireworky!

A post shared by Charlotte (@cjbee827) on Nov 5, 2017 at 2:44pm PST

Autumn is a good time for grasses, the more showy flowers have faded and the low light seems to bring out all the golden and bronzy colours. On a misty morning they look stunning decorated in a myriad of sparkling dewdrops.

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Sunshine through the Phormium leaves on a frosty morning. Yesterday.

A post shared by Charlotte (@cjbee827) on Nov 7, 2017 at 3:29pm PST

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbJbDvWjz68/my

Right at the beginning of November we had the first frost, you can just see it on the grass in the background. Frosty mornings led to bright sunny days and I still couldn’t really believe that winter was on the way. See First frost!

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Japanese anenome still flowering last week.

A post shared by Charlotte (@cjbee827) on Nov 10, 2017 at 11:28am PST

Then it warmed up a bit, well no frosts anyway, and flowers continued to bloom.

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And this is today, in a momentary burst of sunshine. #garden #gardening #sunshine #november #echinops #globethistle #stillflowering

A post shared by Charlotte (@cjbee827) on Nov 14, 2017 at 3:13pm PST

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This was out yesterday! #poppy #november #garden #gardening #flowers #autumn #remembrance

A post shared by Charlotte (@cjbee827) on Nov 14, 2017 at 3:06pm PST

Really not sure what this poppy was doing out in November but it shows how (relatively) warm it was.

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Echinacea #echinacea still in flower min November.

A post shared by Charlotte (@cjbee827) on Nov 16, 2017 at 2:59pm PST

This Echinacea was coming to an end but still looking beautiful in the cloudy but mild, middle of the month. And a bit wet by the looks of it.

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Proper frosty start! This should see the last of those leaves fall to the ground for the grand finale 🍁🍁🍂🍂🍁🍂🍁🍃

A post shared by Charlotte (@cjbee827) on Nov 17, 2017 at 12:40am PST

At this point there were still lots of leaves on the trees and lots of colour and it felt very much like autumn. I  started to think about what I could move and divide before the soil got too cold,  and cutting back and raking leaves were the main jobs in the garden.

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Today in the garden, warm but blowy hence the blurry photos. Hollyhocks and salvia flowering late, grasses in the sunshine. Fatsia. Viburnum bodnatense Dawn signalling the onset of the next season. Not necessarily in that order! #garden #gardening #flowers #autumn

A post shared by Charlotte (@cjbee827) on Nov 22, 2017 at 2:19pm PST

Hollyhocks hanging on til the last, but look at those shadows. If you want to see the rest of the photos on that list check out my instagram feed!

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Autumn last week.

A post shared by Charlotte (@cjbee827) on Nov 28, 2017 at 2:45pm PST

This was taken on the 23rd November, the last week where I actually warmed up as I worked. I love those soft colours.

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Cornus midwinter fire (probably)

A post shared by Charlotte (@cjbee827) on Nov 30, 2017 at 3:11pm PST

One week later, this week, wind from the north, no leaves left after a windy few days, but still a bit of colour. And two hats, two hoods to keep my ears warm.

DSCN1978

The east coast of Suffolk got quite a bit of snow today, 30th November, but we only got enough to settle this evening, hence the poor picture, but showing the transition from autumn at the beginning of the month to proper winter at the end.

First frost!

08 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by muddygardenerblog in Autumn, Flowers, November, Vegetables

≈ 3 Comments

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Chard in the frost

We had the first proper frost here in Suffolk this week and it took me by surprise  Only the day before I was planting out some broad bean plants and taking cuttings from a rescued houseplant in my polytunnel. It’s one of those small ones by Gardman but it serves me well.

So, after scrolling through an instagram feed full of ‘first frost’ pictures I headed out myself to check on my poor, unsuspecting plants – and to take photos!

The sweet peas, which I had put out of the polytunnel, to harden off, ha ha, seemed to be fine and the cuttings inside were luckily in the propagator and also ok I think. They will need to be relocated to a windowsill very soon.

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At my first garden, in the still open greenhouse plants still looking green. Sorrel seedlings, ✅, Salad leaves in the greenhouse bed, ✅.

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The broad beans, which I planted in September also nice and perky.

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What I am really hoping is that the caterpillars, which have decimated the cavalo for the second time this year, are not ok!

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Some dahlias are still flowering.

Moving on to the borders, it seemed a good time to lift the dahlias and tuck them up for the winter. They are now all in the greenhouse beds where the tomatoes were. The greenhouse is on the side of a brick building and I think that this makes a difference in keeping the soil above freezing. The bricks heat up in the day time, even with a small amount of sunshine, and radiate it back at night like a storage heater. I also keep the soil completely dry. This has worked well the last few years although we haven’t had any prolonged cold weather for some years now.

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Dahlias in their winter bed (I will cut them down).

This is really a bit of a luxury. At my next garden I dug up the tubers, cut them right back and put them in a large pot filled with old compost from empty summer pots. They are now in the shed although if it gets really cold, below zero for several days, I will move them to the garage. Obviously there were a lot less tubers just 3 plants.

My dahlias at home are mostly still outside and will have to take their chances until I have time to sort them out. I have a few more this year and am considering borrowing a bit of greenhouse space from the first customer.

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