The rains have come and it is amazing how the garden has greened up but never the less leaves are turning colour, falling and the seasonal change is in full swing.

We are still pleased with the abundance of colour particularly with the dahlias et al on the cutting garden as you wander past the growing sign. No spoiler alert here, work it out for yourself. There is a combination of good fortune and “clever design”  with the Red Orach acting as a divider, the pink Cosmos and the Cleome doing a pink on pink thing and the Verbena bonariensis doing its own thing but with the strong contrasting purple. Lupins are having another go at flowering and the nasturtiums have finally got going and rambling with intent. The pumpkins are trying to escape over the cut back Leucanthemums.

Wander onto the Ellerton terrace for a view toward the South East. Can you spot Thomas Telford’s engineering masterpiece of the Shropshire Union Canal powering across the opposite side of the valley to us? The Tropaeolum tuberosa are the unusual nasturtiums sprawling up the stick obelisks, the globe artichokes flowered exceptionally but then seem to have gone on strike since, though we have enough tarragon to keep Shropshire in Béarnaise sauce never mind Goldstone.

We have picked approx. 500kgs of apples which are pressed, pasteurised, bottled and back here to accompany breakfast.( It is available to purchase and definitely has no funny business in it other than our own apples).

The two-kitchen garden “Squares” are almost under control and producing abundantly. The delineation with marigolds and tagetes was a quick expedient planted in May to give definition between the vegetables and paths but watch this space because we love the look and the feedback has been wonderful particularly with the tagetes in the lunch time salads. In the opposite “Square”  the exotic large slightly furry leaves clumps are Yacon,  a dahlia like edible tuber from South America. The sloes are ripening and will be picked in the next week or so which we will immediately freeze and then steep in gin and sugar. This will be a first Sloe gin production for a couple of years and hopefully will have us in Sloe gin for Christmas Day and into the new year. Happy days.

For lawn aficionados, the reality is that we have had a shocker of a year, setting out with the best of intentions we spiked in  April and put on Iron sulphate to tackle the winter moss but it was too late to scarify because the drought had started, the over seeding with fine grasses came to nought with virtually total no germination. We fed a couple of times which immediately meant the forecasted rain didn’t show up but now the latent nitrogen  has spurred the grass into patchy explosive growth.  Hey Ho the joys but we will start this autumn with similar enthusiasm and hopefully a green sward will ensue for 2026.

John Cushing 16th September 2025.