Garden Diary – It’s time to get those spring bulbs planted!

As we move into October, it is definitely bulb planting season! It’s so easy to forget, but you know you’ll be sorry next spring if you do!

I actually put it on my phone calendar with an alert to remind me, which is something I do more and more these days.

Time just goes so quickly and before you know it, all the nice bulbs are sold out and quite honestly it’s too cold to be out there sorting all your pots out.

So I’m pleased to say that I’ve bought all of my spring bulbs for next year, well, unless I get tempted on the entrance to a shop. They do it on purpose, they know us gardeners can’t walk past a stand selling bulbs or plants. It’s like putting sweets by the till!

There are still quite a few things flowering which is good for the wildlife as well as me. I had a ‘painted lady’ butterfly last week, the first I’d seen this year. I’ve been really pleased with the amount of butterflies in the garden, but I was so disappointed to read that the big butterfly count showed disappointing results. We all need to plant more butterfly friendly plants.

The ladybirds on the other hand are booming and we seem to be having a bit of a plaque. Even Jo Whiley has been mentioning it on her radio 2 show each night when we are making dinner. Not surprising though as she is a big gardener herself.

I keep finding my ladybirds with so many other insects and my ‘painted lady was the next to find a little red friend.

I hope ‘Amy’ the first named storm of the year hasn’t blown them all away, it certainly had us rushing outside Thursday night to gather as many apples as possible. We were worried that they’d all be blown off and bruised.

It has been an amazing apple harvest country wide, which makes no sense to me when we’ve had so little rain!

In the end, the storm wasn’t too bad here, not like the unfortunate people in Scotland.

Three plants flowering particularly well are my pink aster ‘patricia ballard’ and a pink salvia, bought on impulse in B&Q years ago when my car was being serviced and I went for a walk. Gosh, every plant has a story! Anyway I don’t know the name of it, but it flowers for months, which is just the kind of plant I love.

The third is yet another flower from a friend, a lovely yellow Helianthus. It was just a small piece I planted and then of course forgot all about it until it came up, three times bigger than I’d put into the ground. I think this happy yellow plant is going to be spread all around the garden in the near future.

Monday 29th September 2025

Happy Monday 🌿💕🌸🌿💕🌿

Aster ‘patricia ballard’ #magentamonday #pinkflowers #BloomScrolling

Tuesday 30th September 2025

Time to get planting crocus bulbs for that first splash of colour for you next March 🌿💜💛💜💛🌿 Also providing our little friends with early food 🐝🌿

#tuesdayblue #springbulbs #crocus #bees #BloomScrolling

Wednesday 1st October 2025

I was sad & surprised to read that the big butterfly count this year shows a continuing decline in numbers.

I’ve had many more butterflies this summer, here’s my latest visitor ‘Painted Lady’ 🦋🦋🦋

Remember, if you want butterflies, you need caterpillars 🐛

#WildlifeWednesday #butterflies #butterfly

Thursday 2nd October 2025

I feel like everywhere I look in the garden I find another ladybird 🐞 Even the ‘painted lady’ had to share the rim of this pot 🦋🐞🪴

Plant for wildlife & you’ll never be alone in your garden 🐞🦋🐞 #insectthursday #wildlifephotography #wildlife

Friday 3rd October 2025

The Salvias don’t care that it’s October 🌿💕💕💕💕🌿 they’ll go on until the frost, ❄️ unless they get blown away today!

Baton down the hatches & stay safe everyone 🌸

#FlowersOnFriday #pinkfriday #pinkflowers #bloomscrolling

Guess what we were doing last night?
Yes, getting those apples picked before they are blown off by today’s wind and bruised 🍏🍎🍏🍎🍏🍎💨

What a fabulous apple harvest it’s been this year!

The good ones will keep & the rest will become apple cake, pie, crumble! 😋

#appleharvest #kitchengarden #growyourown #fruit #fruittrees

Saturday 4th October 2025

Still rather windy here, but not too bad. I snapped these six yesterday, so no guarantee they’re still standing today 💕💜💕#SixOnSaturday #pinkflowers #BloomScrolling

Sunday 5th October 2025

I only planted a small piece of this Helianthus last year off a friend, & I’ve been amazed how it’s bulked up already 🌼💛🌼💛🌼 #SundayYellow #YellowSunday #yellowflowers #BloomScrolling