September Gardening Newsletter From Jane Follis

WHAT a change in the weather! At least it has meant less of the manual watering. My garden certainly looks a bit more luscious, though the vegetables have been very disappointing.
I pulled my onions last week and they are about half their normal size. The broccoli went to seed and the French beans struggled to do anything. I am hoping the Brussel Sprouts, Courgettes and Runner Beans will yield a better crop. The plants, on the other
hand, have continued to give pleasure. Some of them, such as Rosa ?New Dawn?, Helenium ?Moerheim Beauty?and Nepeta x faassinii are now in bloom again.
The Phlox, Hibiscus, Penstemon and Rudbeckia ‘Herbstonee’ are giving a wonderful display of colour.

I always feel rather sad at this time of year, knowing I will soon have to cut the perennials down and put my garden to bed. I know I mentioned it last month, and sorry to be a bore, but for those of you with newly planted gardens I strongly recommend
you mark the plants with a stick when you cut them down. They will then be easily identified in the spring when you are out there weeding and getting the garden ready for spring.
If any of you are interested in help during the busy period of September/October, just let me know and I can arrange for one of the girls, or boys, to come out and give you a hand.
I had a fascinating day judging the New Homes Garden Award at the Museum of Garden History in Lambeth. There were entries from developers, landscapers and designers and it really highlighted the enormous chasm there is between our industries.
I was judging with a fellow designer and the Chairman of the Landscape Institute and sometimes it was hard to give more than 10 marks out of 100!! We weren?t being mean, we were just astounded at the poor design and quality of the build.

I have been approached to join the Society of Garden Designers? Council and after this experience I think I might. It will be time consuming, but if I can promote good design and practice from a
higher height, then I think it will be worth it.
I am off to sunnier climes from 29th August to 7th September, but if any of you need anything just leave a message on the answerphone or send an email and I promise to deal with it when I get back.

SEASONAL RECIPE
COURGETTE SIDE DISH
This is something I concocted when I was a student with very limited funds and now I use it to keep on top of gluts of courgettes and tomatoes:

1 ? 2 Courgettes 4 tomatoes, skinned
1 onion
Roux (butter and flour)
Milk
Cheese
Skin the courgettes and cut into 1? cubes and place in an oven proof dish. Chop the tomatoes and mix up with the courgette.
Chop the onion and fry in the butter until soft but not too brown.
Add flour and cook for a minute or two before adding the milk to form a b