As fast as I am sweeping up the leaves, they are still falling, but I feel I have to get out there every few days to at least try to stay on top of them. Thank goodness we have had a few days without any rain, it makes it so much easier if the leaves are dry.
I keep telling myself that sweeping up is good for the waistline, but I haven’t seen any improvement so far!
This area is all done now, these last few leaves are already stacked in a corner of the woodland.
Someone needs to comb their hair!
I’ll try to get these leaves swept up this afternoon.
This is the circular lawn at the side, looking up to the pond. The grass here is so wet as it has underground streams running underneath, as if all our rain wasn’t enough! hopefully Neil will get these leaves up when he comes this weekend.
Usually the horse chestnut leaves are the first to drop, but this time there are still plenty left.
My tall orange Acer still has a few leaves left, but they are rapidly falling.
The tall ancient oaks still have a long way to go, lots more to come down and be swept up!
Acer Osakazuki doesn’t have many leaves left, what there are seem to be freeze dried. All the brown bits, that I thought were dried leaves, are loads of little seeds. I have planted a few and will wait to see what turns up, will they have the wonderful colour of their parent maybe?
The woodland, I will get all these leaves swept up and a new mulch of leafmould put down before it is snowdrop time.
Looking the other way, rusty pheasant is still on guard duty watching over where the snakeshead fritillaries are.
But I must be careful when I come to rake the leaves up here as the snowdrops are already showing, these are Little John and will soon be in flower.
The same goes for Faringdon Double, these were in flower the first week of December last year.
Back ache made me come back inside eventually, I have cleared a lot of the leaves, maybe I will hopefully get the gravel at the back done tomorrow. I love all our huge ancient trees and the newer smaller ones, but they do cause a lot of work at this time of year. Are you busy raking loads of leaves up too?
You really do have your work cut out for you Pauline! And snowdrops appearing already… do you ever get a break? Tomorrow I will return to the UK for a little break visiting friends and relatives so I hope the rain stays away!
Gardening never really stops here Denise, I will be sweeping up leaves until christmas and my first few snowdrops will be out by then along with my first narcissus! I hope the weather behaves for you and that you enjoy your visit.
That is the one disadvantage of having trees! The autumn colours and then watching everything leaf out in spring is consolation, but I know how you feel about having backache. Keep on raking Pauline! 😉
I really do love my trees Cathy, just not at this time of year! It is raining this morning, so no sweeping to be done, the back can recover, ready for the next time!
there are no trees in my mini garden Pauline – the potted magnolia lost all its leaves some time ago. I remember how beautiful your garden is but cannot manage gardening any more, with my knees! x
I manage to garden in spite of all my aching limbs and muscles Rosemarie, by just doing a little at a time. This time of year though means lots more effort has to be put into it. I will stay here as long as possible as we made the garden here together and I’m not ready to leave it yet.
Sorting leaves is an endless job, it takes months to sort all ours. The oak leaves are a lovely yellow this year and still waiting to fall. Lovely to see your snowdrops coming through.xxx
I will still be sweeping at Christmas Dina, so a lot more work to do yet. What I need is an east wind to blow the leaves out of my garden! The oaks here too have turned yellow instead of their usual brown, I wonder why? Snowdrop Faringdon Double is showing its flower already, not open yet, but looking up to the sky like a penguin!
Oh, Pauline, what a huge job that must be to rake up all those leaves. Hope the weather cooperates so you can make swift work of it. What is taking over your garden bench in that second photograph? Love its texture.
It is a big job, this used to be the undergardeners job but I now share it with Neil who comes to help once a week. The weather isn’t cooperating I’m afraid, we are having torrential rain each day, everywhere is sodden and the patio is flooded. The plant behind my bench is Euphorbia melliferra and I forgot to cut it back after it flowered in the spring, it has a wonderful honey perfume, but it has rather taken over, I must deal with it.
Hi Pauline, I know the feeling! Lou and I, plus a teen from our church, spent a good chunk of the day raking leaves. It was a perfect fall day, and I enjoyed it. But the leaves were falling about as fast as I raked them. The joys of living amidst the trees!
I think the last of our horse chestnut leaves came down today, they were so thick on the lawn, you couldn’t see any grass so I had to get them up! I love the trees the rest of the year and I love the leaf mould that I make from the leaves, the snowdrops and hellebores really love it, so it is worth while.