Autumn Bounty
- gardengateproject
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Season of Change
There’s a special moment each year when the air shifts, the sunlight mellows, and the unmistakable aroma of browning leaves drifts in on the breeze. Autumn has arrived. In the garden, summer’s exuberance is waning: dahlias and cosmos, once dazzling with their colour and energy, are now giving their last performances. Yet even as one season slows, another quickens. September brings a different kind of abundance—quieter, perhaps, but no less joyful.
Autumn has its own palette, gentler but deeply evocative. White ivy-leaved cyclamen nestle like jewels beneath the fruit trees, their delicate petals unfurling beside fallen leaves. Michaelmas daisies offer clouds of purple that keep pollinators busy at the tail end of summer. Sedums, with their dusky, rosy heads, along with fading buddleia panicles, draw in butterflies for a final nectar feast.
To make the most of what’s available, Rachel and Mel have been selecting and arranging flowers and grasses that most appeal to create contrasting arrangements, one big and bold and the other light and airy. Using chicken wire in the vases to support the displays, they’ve been delighted with the beautiful results.
The kitchen garden is brimming and we’ve been enjoying decorating our homemade focaccia. The tomatoes, having basked in August warmth, are now at their juiciest—perfect for slow roasting with a drizzle of olive oil, or slicing fresh into salads with basil before the first frosts arrive. Sweetcorn cobs are sugar-rich; picked and lightly steamed or roasted on the barbecue, they remind us why homegrown is always worth the effort. Courgettes, if not picked regularly, can quickly become marrows—ideal for stuffing with rice, herbs, and cheese. Our few precious melons are ripening—a triumph of patience and sunshine—and will hopefully be ready for the table soon.
Elsewhere, the beans keep producing, especially runner beans and French beans, which are best picked young and tender. Pumpkins and squashes are colouring up, their skins hardening for storing through winter. And on our hop vines, the papery green cones are almost ready for harvest, filling the air with that unmistakable bitter-sweet scent. A small handful tossed into a simmering stew adds a surprising depth of flavour.
The rhythms of wildlife follow the season too. Butterflies, bees, and hoverflies are still about on warm days, feasting on late flowers, but their numbers dwindle as the nights cool. Spiders spin glistening webs between stems, catching the morning dew. Hedgehogs are busy feeding before hibernation, while robins are finding their winter song. The compost heap buzzes with life as fallen leaves and fading plants become food and shelter for countless small creatures.
September Jobs
September is a busy month for gardeners. There’s still time to sow hardy annuals like cornflowers and nigella for early colour next year. Dozens of summer-sown perennial wallflower seedlings have been potted up by Alvin. Spring bulbs—daffodils, crocus, alliums—should go in now, though tulips are best left until November. Divide herbaceous perennials that have outgrown their space, and lift and store tender bulbs such as gladioli or begonias before the frosts. Trim hedges for the last time, tidy borders, and clear away any diseased leaves from roses or fruit trees. In the vegetable garden, keep harvesting beans, courgettes, and tomatoes to encourage continued cropping, and think about planting garlic and overwintering onions in a sunny well-drained spot for next year’s harvest.
Community Creativity
Beyond the soil, September brings new energy to creative projects too. In the art cabin, local artist Rachelle Francis is returning with her new Mind to Stitch cloth book workshops. Developing the idea of the illustrated doodling books she brought along before, these encourage our members to experiment with embroidered and sewn-in additions to decorate and embellish them—reminding us that the garden is not only a source of food and flowers but also a wellspring of inspiration.
Our members are also busy working with clay, making imaginative and characterful cane toppers and an array of mushrooms, with support from our friends at Clayspace Studios where the work is fired. Along with lavender bags filled from our herb garden and other goods, these will be available at our forthcoming Falling Leaves Autumn Open Day where we look forward to seeing you.
For now, we pause to enjoy this in-between time—the richness of late harvest, the fading but still vibrant blooms, and the sense of change in the air. Autumn may be a season of endings, but at the Garden Gate Project it always feels like a beginning too.
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