It's ‘ooh', ‘aaah' time in the garden right now as the landscape is on fire for autumn. Sometimes autumn creeps in by stealth, not this year. Cold, crisp, clear nights and bang the garden is suddenly like a box of favourite fireworks. Every turned corner brings a new explosion of reds, yellows, golds and greens.
Not only is it the sheer majesty of the colours but the smells too. Just brushing past a Katsura tree is like diving straight into a caramel pudding and believe me that's a sensory overload combination for gardeners who at this time of year are putting on a winter layer always thinking of food. Not a tea break goes by without a new recipes. Chestnut and mushroom roulade, baked apples, jams and chutneys, baked marrow, pickled beetroot, baked veg, stop, stop. Food obsessions only made more extreme by having to clear early morning leaves outside of Betty's restaurant with wafts of cooking and the sight of early morning tea and toast.
The only way around gastronomic compulsion is to to do other things so the gardens east team, in best Blue Peter tradition, are getting ready to dress up our area with some spooky projects.'Welly' bats have been made from old wellington boots then hung on black elastic. Black pipe cleaners make fantastic spiders and pumpkins will be carved.
With all the sensory overload of autumn I'll need break in deepest Wales in a weeks time. I will be carrying on the tradition of taking two very large pumpkins with me to be scooped, carved and lit to stand guard outside the cottage door to ward away mischievous spirits.
Malcolm Dewar
Gardener, Gardens East Team