Autumn’s Golden Embrace
As the crisp autumn air sets in and the light takes on a magical golden hue, Hannah Bryce of Minnow and Wolf Flowers invites us to relish the final burst of life in the garden. Hannah dives into the beauty of the season, offering insights for both savoring the harvest and preparing for spring’s return.
As the weather shifts in early autumn the light becomes golden and magical, making you want to get outside and into the garden. While the temperature feels much cooler, the vegetable garden is at its most productive and flower beds shine brightly throwing out lots of warm displays of colour.
September and October are months of harvest. As a flower farmer I cherish the dahlias, sunflowers and cosmos before the first frost arrives and bid farewell to the roses as they turn from beautiful blooms to sculptural hips for the winter.
My flower farm is enjoying one last burst of life with hedgerows full of berries tasting so incredibly sweet and heritage squash filling out nicely in the pumpkin patch.
Now is the time to pick tomatoes to make sauces to freeze and enjoy over the winter. It’s also a great time to forage seasonal fruit for jams and desserts.
Although the days are getting shorter there are lots of jobs to do in the garden from ordering spring bulbs to plant out over the next two months to weeding, mulching, sowing hardy seeds and chitting ranunculus corms.
At the moment I am sowing hardy perennials gooseneck loosestrife, toadflax, larkspur and culver’s root. October will be all about the sweet peas and sowing them into root trainers to keep in the polytunnel over winter.
Bare roots such as peonies and roses are ideal to plant out now before the ground gets hard. Bare roots are considerably cheaper to buy plus they establish more quickly than those grown in pots because a larger surface area of the root system is in direct contact with your garden soil.
Before the ground freezes, plant winter bedding in gaps in your border along with spring bulbs such as hyacinths, iris and alliums. Tulips can wait until late autumn as the soil needs to have cooled off from the summer season before you plant them outside. I like to plant out my tulips from mid November.
Planting bulbs such as snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils in the lawn is a really beautiful way to enjoy a meadow of spring flowers in your garden for years to come. They will multiply each year offering a brilliant food source for pollinators and will look fabulous too!
There is so much inspiration to take from autumn and the change of season. It’s often a last-minute dash to get everything done before winter sets in but remember to enjoy the little things too like the leaves throwing out a rainbow of warm colours and tiny cobwebs sparkling on seed heads.
Text - Hannah Bryce
Minnow and Wolf Flowers
www.minnowandwolf.com