Summer has definitely ended, finds GINA PARKINSON as she looks about her garden.

IT HAS been a strange start to October this year, with record temperatures in many parts of the country as September left us. The garden feels quite odd, too hot to do anything strenuous but with russet leaves falling at the slightest breeze.

Whatever the temperature, summer has gone and autumn is most definitely here, as herbaceous plants die back and deciduous shrubs and trees start to lose their foliage with a last flaming show.

The soil is beginning to be lost under a scattering of dried foliage and we have already had to sweep the drive of leaves that have piled against the wall and covered a small hedge of euonymus I am trying to encourage.

The road to the front of our house is lined with huge trees; a massive lime stands on the grass outside our house.

In spring the air is filled with the perfume from its flowers, summer sees a covering of cool green and in autumn come the wonderful colours that greet us from afar.

It is too early yet for these autumnal hues, they will come in a few weeks, but the leaves have begun to drop and whirl in the wind into corners and crannies until I tire of them and venture out with a brush.

Weekend catch-up

WITH falling leaves in mind, it is a good idea to get ahead and construct a leaf bin.

It is a simple job, just drive four strong posts into the ground in a square shape and fasten chicken wire around them to create an enclosure.

The size will depend on the room available and the amount of foliage expected to be collected but the leaves rot down very quickly, so don’t worry if the first sweeping fills the bin straight away.

There is no need for a lid, rain will help with the rotting process and within 18 months or so the leaves will have turned to rich, dark leaf mould that can be used as mulch in the garden.

In the veg patch

THE beds in the veg patch are emptying and we have pulled up the remains of the sweetcorn and many of the runner beans. After a runner bean glut, I decided not to grow them again; they were too easy to germinate and we ended up with more than a dozen healthy plants, despite giving many more away.

I should think half that amount would be more than enough for a family and we have been swamped with produce none of us like very much.

The beans were delicious eaten when a few inches long, but that window was brief, and if left even a short while longer they went stringy and large within days.

Feeling disappointed, I began to dismantle the canes only to find the numerous remaining pods had filled with fat, white beans rather like butterbeans. So they have been picked and emptied of their beans which have been blanched, popped out of their tough skin and frozen in batches.

Some have been made into a delicious salad, coated in a garlicky tomato sauce. And a few plants have been left so we can collect and dry more beans to sow next year.

Note to self, only sow six....

Gardening news

THE Community Kids Allotment had its most successful season in its eight years this spring and summer, which culminated in it being awarded gold for the young people’s category of Yorkshire in Bloom. They also won several awards for their produce at Fulford Show and York Organic Show.

With the end of the season approaching, the allotment is being put to bed for winter as members harvest the last of their produce and begin to plan for their return next spring by planting garlic, onion sets and sowing green manure.

The Community Kids Allotment closes for the year at Hallowe’en and the sessions will restart in March, 2012. Anyone interested in joining can contact Angela Johnson at angela3147@hotmail.com or phone 01904 654357.

Gardening talk

Askham Bryan College (ABC) Gardening Club will host a talk entitled The Forgotten Season – Autumn by Nigel Colborn on Tuesday.

Nigel Colborn is a former presenter on Gardeners’ World, was a regular panellist on Gardeners’ Question Time and is a journalist, lecturer and author. The talk will start at 7.30pm and will be held at the Conference Hall at Askham Bryan College.

Tickets are free to ABC Gardening Club members and £7.50 on the door for non-members.

TV and radio

Sunday

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Bob Flowerdew, Pippa Greenwood, Christine Walkden and chairman Peter Gibbs are in Buckinghamshire, where they help gardeners from Stoke Poges. The gardening weather forecast is at 2.40pm. (Repeated from Friday).

Friday

3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Bob Flowerdew, Anne Swithinbank, Matthew Wilson and chairman Eric Robson answer questions from an audience in Wiltshire. (Repeated on Sunday at 2pm).

8pm, BBC2, Gardeners’ World. Monty Don plans for summer with a sweet pea experiment and also plants daffodils and anemones for spring colour.

Carol Klein recommends varieties for an autumn display in the garden. There is also a trip to Warwickshire to look at a collection of heritage vegetables.