Autumn is associated with scooping up leaves and tidying up.  Apart from planting bulbs and spreading compost many gardeners do not regard November as a month for productive gardening.  However, if the rain holds off, it is the perfect time to plant new trees and shrubs, divide and re-plant perennials and move plants to new homes.  The ground is moist so new plants do not dry out like they do in the summer and the soil easy to dig and is still quite warm.  The plants have time to establish before winter sets in and they are ready to put on a spurt of growth as soon as the weather warms up in spring.

So having got ahead with our own tidying up, we have managed to do some 'real' gardening this autumn.   You can get a lot done in a couple of hours here and there, grabbed between rain storms.  There has been plenty of sunshine during the last couple of weeks which helps the psychology along although it has definitely been gardening gloves weather.  There is a real nip in the air and by 3.30 pm, the light starts to fade and mugs of tea and a nice warm Aga become increasingly attractive.

Doc has filled a huge builders bag with leaves and next year we should be rewarded with rich leaf mould.  He planted a new damson tree called Merryweather, to compliment the Shopshire Prune he planted last year.   It will take a few years before they produce fruit so we are praying the old damson trees keep on providing until then.  Doc also spent an afternoon weeding the grass in the rhubarb bed, lifting the rhubarb crowns and splitting them as he went along.  He finished the bed off with a couple of bags of manure and hopefully the rhubarb will be pinker and frutier next year.   

Berberis thunbergii Atropurpurea escapes relocation - too many thorns!

Meanwhile, I have been re-shaping the ornamental borders and beds.   My grandmother was a rare character, full of gusto, spirit and independence.  (Okay, she was a battle axe!) In her defence, my granddad was a trawler man so she had a lot on her plate, bringing up my Dad and uncle on her own most of the time.  Anyway, she was a serial ‘flitter’ which means she moved house a lot.  I think I have inherited her ‘flitting’ gene because when shrubs and perennials see me coming, they groan and start packing their suitcases.

I never seem to be able to plant up a border or bed and it grow on successfully just as I planned it.  Every season, I have to move this, that and the other.   And it isn’t finished there.   No sooner have I got everything in place, than everything is overgrown and needs moving again!  I find it very frustrating (and time consuming) that I cannot seem to achieve the planting scheme I have in my head, first time round.   Does anyone else have this problem, I wonder?  I cannot imagine that professional garden designers faff around like I do.  They would soon go out of business!