Stephanie's Garden Blog

The runner beans and the French beans have been cut down and the foliage sent to the compost heap. Both the pea and bean frames have been taken down and completely cleared of any plant debris and put away for another next year.

Finding that perfect gift can be tricky, but if you are looking for a gardening gift for a greenfingered family member or friend, our range of gifts for gardeners will give you some great inspiration and ideas for the perfect present.

This week we have given the greenhouse a good clean and tidy so it's ready for the less hardy plants to be overwintered and for some autumn seed sowing.

There's no escaping the fact that in the garden, a large part of the autumn is spent clearing up fallen leaves, but there's an upside to all your hard work - leaf mould.

Well the week started with the clean up from last weeks gales and heavy rain, there were pine needles, branches and leaves everywhere. Armed with my wheelbarrow, spring tine rake and garden vac the gardens have now started to look much tidier. I never realised how deadly an unopened pine cone could be until I stood on one and found myself sliding to where I didn?t want to be.

The start of this week was still unseasonably warm and dry so regular watering continued in the Kitchen Garden and the greenhouse, but the end of the week saw the arrival of gale force winds that have wreaked havoc! The garden is full of leaves but they will remain until next week as another possible storm is coming on Sunday with some more much needed rain, even now the ground is still very dry when you dig down just a few inches.

My husband and I have used black aluminium poles and slot and lock fittings to make a bespoke raised curved pond cover to protect from herons. We would love these photos to be on the website to show the versatility of the fittings.

Well Autumn has well and truly got its foot in the door. The night temperature has dropped rapidly and with the cooler evenings also comes that familiar smell of logs burning on the wood burner resumes.

Last week was certainly a week of a mixture of weather. Monday was another warm, dry day and being able to get into the shade was wonderful but the lavender bushes all needed their Autumn trim. When you have quite a few the use of a petrol hedge trimmer is brilliant, remembering to take the new growth right down to where the old wood is, so next year you will get good healthy growth and flowers.