September.

The children are back at school and suddenly, the traffic is back too. There’s a distinct chill in the morning air and, if we had any doubt at all, the garden is telling us that Summer is over.

We’ve been tidying up here and there, the shrubs have been cut back and it no longer looks quite so wild and overgrown.

Our containers haven’t really flourished this year, partly due to the poor choice of plants available in the lockdown, but periods of high temperatures followed by torrential rain just didn’t seem to allow the petunias and co. to put on their best show. I needed no persuasion to pull them out and replant with some Autumn colour, though one or two pelargoniums might get a bit more t.l.c. to get them through the winter. We’ll see.

I usually have something colourful on the outdoor table too and this year found a couple of New Guinea impatiens in Waitrose, when we couldn’t really buy plants anywhere else. They have sulked more or less all Summer long, maybe producing one or two flowers which quickly became rain-soaked and fell off (sticking to the table!) Suddenly, however, they are coming into their own and several huge flowers are now appearing, each one getting on for 3” across. They can stay on the table until the frost gets them, I imagine - but should I take cuttings?

There are little patches of colour here and there in the garden too. These little cyclamen come up year after year and are always a delight.

Best of all was the colour in the oven, though, where vegetables were roasting above a chicken.

I can’t be the only one to feel that Summer didn’t really happen this year, did it?