Mmm, autumn always seems like the start of the gardeners year - new bulbs, lots of pruning, cuttings for overwintering, harvest, ladling on compost and planting the new bare root fruits, roses and shrubs. After a truly bizarre rainless summer, the allotment has turned sere and brown much earlier than usual. Rudbeckias, dahlias and heleniums and asters had an attenuated show - I always struggle with these prairie type beauties on my sandy soil but one must have them. This year, not even emergency hosing was going to prolong the luminous late summer show of golds, bronzes and purples so I turned my face to the gravel garden which never fails to thrive. Melissa, how I love spanish broom - yep, Spartium junceum can be a thug but what a gorgeous fragrant and elegant one. They twist and bend, making fantastically gnarly shapes and grow huge and fat in East Anglia. Cytisus also grows to shocking tree size, as does Tamarix. Desperate savage pruning has been done. even though the shrubs in question are less than 6 years old, they are eating the shed. A glorious stipa gigantea, planted so carefully to filter the low evening sun, has been overshadowed one one side and totally mugged by a giant acanthus on the other. In truth, the entire gravel garden has to be redone, lifting the remnants of the old membrane (which utterly failed to prevent the millions of verbena, centranthus, ox-eye daisies, althea and eryngiums from seeding with total abandon) and replacing plants which should never have been placed there (legion - Dieramas, Schizostylus, echinaceas - embarrassing how clueless I was to plant these moisture lovers in gravel!!!)Then there are the plants which clearly love it but are far too keen - helianthemums, nepetas, salvias, hebes - small cushions are ground swallowing mounds. Apart from lots of lavender - I have hedges of L Hidcote - the deepest blue, I do not have as many silver plants as I would like. A colony of pulsatilla does well with summer silky seedheads. Santolina and a lone artemisia (Powis Castle - another huge thing). Would like to try astelia and also celmisias. A plant grown much by Ingrid, and a revelation to me, was Limonium - violetta, I have and it looks terrific with eryngiums and stipa tenuissima. Stachys or Phlomis have, so far, failed to touch my heart and I have done verbascums to death. Still throwing out flowers is the modest Zauschneria, looking good with the last of the escholzias, Salvia greggii and microphylla are flowering profusely and unstoppable. Also, pushing out another cycle of flowers - a lovelu silver leafed mound of erodium chrysantha (might be good for you, Melissa, it is a lovely thing). However, much of this is happening out of my sight since I am woefully stuck at home in a kitchen which resembles Entebbe. A simple flooring job turned into armageddon - the massively heavy cast-iron and enamel sink is upside down on the sofa, the old washing machine has been drug to the tip and a new (to me) one has arrived - although the sink issue means it is still in the middle of the kitchen. Am running out of knickers and socks - may have to be a slut and turn them inside out since the whole water system is now only usable with a lot of fiddling about with stopcocks. In a moment of frenzy, I thought we may as well go the whole way and ripped off great swathes of old painted wallpaper - which of course, came off really easily....on one wall - the rest seems as though it was cemented in position. The ingrates (offspring) have absented themselves for large amounts of time yet still manage to materialise at sensitive (shouty, sweary) moments and chip in with ludicrous suggestions (we could put speakers in the new sink cupboards, why don't we have an indoor hammock?)Estimates of finishing time have gone from 'around a week' to 'in time for Christmas'. We are eating a lot of 'bread based snacks' - although the rate of jam consumption is worrying as I was definately slack this year, using the virusey raspberries as an excuse to cut down on all the 'earth mother' nonsense I had somehow got myself into(what was I thinking?) May be forced onto chocolate spread - sweetheart can have marmalade (shudder). Even so, it has been a spectacular tomato year (no rain - no blight)- have had kilos and kilos from 40 plants. I now have wrists of iron from poking hundreds of tomatoes through a sieve. The first bareroots will be arriving soon so I will have every reason to flee the kitchen chaos.

Ciao all- Ok, I think I've got all of this straight, but I wanted to put it all in one place so I have it for tomorrow. These are my trades as I know them: With Wildflower: Giving: golden raspberries, red rubin basil, strawberries, peppers Getting: peonies, asparagus With Thehills: Giving: golden raspberries, +/- strawberries Getting: purple/blue iris, 2 year rooted red currants, blue queen salvia With HomeMommy: Giving: heirloom tomatoes, strawberries Getting: double decker coneflower, mini rose, +/- blue/purple clematis With Skraps: Giving: heirloom sauce tomatoes, I'm not the one with the datura swirl..I can't grow daturas because I have pets and a young child. Have a look at all the other stuff I'm bringing because heirloom tomatoes were all I had from your wants list. Getting: Anna Bell hydrangea, +/- bleeding hearts, +/- lady's mantle, +/- pink columbine With Sunita: Giving: yellow yarrow, pink soapwort, +/- purple violets Getting: we hadn't discussed a trade and I've totally forgotten what you're bringing, so I'll have to look that up and ask you in a follow-up post. The +/- things are either me being confused or a trade not confirmed, so any of you who are trading with me and you see a +/- thingie next to the stuff I either asked about or we both did, just confirm if that's what you want or if it's cool that I get what I asked for. Does that make sense? Sheesh, I'm getting more confused as I write this!

I hope it's not harmful, it's a pretty moth. Doesn't look like the sphinx moths I've seen around here (those are the ones whose caterpillars eat tomatoes), but I have no idea what it is. Sounds like all your stuff is on the right track. It's been a tough year for peppers I think, with too much chill and not enough sun. They are hard to grow if you don't have a full-on southern exposure for them. I am surprised at your troubles with radishes! I know they can have some pest problems, but I've always thought of them as fairly easy, reliable little veggies. Anyway, sounds like you're really working hard on your flowers and veggies both! I admire your energy.

It's been yet another unbelievably loooooooong and excedingly tiring day, moving things to our new, infinitely more spacious, wonderful home. Waaaayyyy surprised I'm still even awake! Here's a listing of Terry's thoroughly fab, generous/wonderful box contents: "Lucious Lilac" tea candles - Mmmmm,...scentsational! A deliciously scented candle in a jar. Garden gloves with polychromatic flowers - Definitely Elly's. :) Tin of "Before and After" mint candies--Peppermint and Cinnamon - Since the candies are sugar free and I'm diabetic,...the contents are mine! Elly can have the 3-D lips tin. Ordinarily I'm big on saving useful tins, but in this case I'll make an exception. :) Elf/Gnome pot percher - Kewlest! Shultz "Multi Cote" time release plant food - Yeah, baby! Feed the plants that feed us! Rooster themed kitchen towel - Perfect! Not collecting, but we're're never the less a rooster oriented family, overall, since El's sister, Sharla, consistently enters a rooster in the "National Rooster Crow Championship" contest, held in our neighboring city of Rogue River. 4 oz tin of "Harvey & Son" Spiced Plum herbal tea - Saving this for when we're all moved in to our new digs. Smallish "Spring" birdhouse & "Welcome" metal flower decorations. Resin seed-n-gardening hats plant poker decorations. A wonderful "Father's Love Letter" Christian mini-poster." A "Come Away My Beloved:" Christian devotional book, featuring numerous KJV Scripture selections, by Frances J. Roberts (1.4 million copies sold as of 2002) - Terry, we thank you so much and I especially appreciate the large print! :) A wonderful, informative, 3D-ish homemade flower card! Reeeally nicely done! Plants, etc.: Allium moly luteum (aka Golden Garlic) - 20 bulbs Nandina Domestica bush Mixed Iris rhizomes - Love purdy surprizes! Pink Yarrow (Achillea millefolium rosea) Rose Campion (Lychnis coronaria) Planted all in large containers at our new residence. Extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeme apologies for taking this long to post,...but lately, with all we've been doing (often well into evening hours), as soon as I'm able to finally kick back and relax, can't help it but I just crash-out. - Nearly there this evening as it is. Haven't moved in 23 years. Oy! You better believe we'll be doing a yard sale!! :) Bless you, your entire family, and major thanks, Terry!! :) - Darrin, Elly and Roy