Motivation - how do you get it in September?

Clay soil dry and cracked. The usual suspects are hanging on in quiet desperation. Annuals on the patio in first class ( plenty of water).
Even the michaelmas daisies look thirsty ( I dislike them so fair enough).
No point going to the garden centre. If a plant is going to die, it might as well do it at someone else's expense but if you don't buy anything, the GC might not be there next year.
It's got to the stage where I've even bought house plants!

 

I just see this time of year as a rundown on the growing season, not much to do until the autumn jobs start.
Never been motivated at this time of year to do much more than water pots and keep things going as long as possible until the weather wrecks everything.

 

I only go to my local garden centre for a Coffee and Cheese Scone

 

Bulbs! I don't buy them yet, but enjoy browsing catalogues and websites, planning outdoor stuff and indoors forced thingies.

I also sow biennal and perennial seeds now, and rummage through the seed box to see if anything can be started now to lessen the spring hassle. Emptied veg bed will get some lettuce and perhaps radishes and quick carrots in to see if we can get anything before the winter kicks in.

Now it's also the time to buy solar lights as many garden sections in supermarkets are clearing them out. The nights are getting darker so the lights are at their best in the still warm weather.

...and yes, houseplants

 

@sellert ! Can't be doing with tulips. A week or two of plastic -looking flowers and weeks of dying leaves that you mustn't chop. Same with alliums but maybe more than a couple of weeks. I like daffodils so long as they don't look like used tissues

 

Me too @pete

 

I'm starting to think about ordering bulbs and seeds for next year, what to plant out and where in the autumn assuming it rains.
What is going to need pruning soon.

 

Yes, I'm not really doing Tulips anymore either, they are wonderful until the first rain/ hailstorm/ breeze wrecks them in about a day or two

Alliums are different, this autumn I'm going all out with them as I have a new garden, giants, mediums, drumsticks.... hello! I like them dried better than in bloom, the shape is just so pleasing.

I have Narcissus Minnow already planted here and there after JParker's offer of 15 bulbs for about £1.99 last year, they were smashing in pots inside and outside last winter.

Hyachints are an unavoidable genetic hazard, there's no Christmas without their scent

Those tiny, hardy "Botanical" Tulips are interesting, I might try again to convince them that North East England clay soil is wonderful for them to thrive in.

 

I find that walking around garden centres at this time of year cheers me up. Their stock generally looks like it’s been forced in a glasshouse, keeling over and on its last legs. On returning home my garden looks better, even though it’s also declining .

 

I'm a bit wary of daffodil bulbs. I'm particularly fond of Thalia.. I bought a load. They weren't cheap and they weren't Thalia. They were horriible dirty yellow spiky used tissue things.

 

Thanks for a timely reminder, one and all! It's time to dwell on bulbs!

My rose bed is looking fantastic this year, and is still full of promise with loads more buds to bloom, but in winter and early Spring it's just a load of bare brown spiky sticks poking up through a load of bare brown unspiky wood chippings. I can't plant directly into the soil between the roses because it'll give free rein to all the weeds, hence the bark, so I've bought 4 shallow round galvanised planters, not very big, and I'm going to plant them up possibly with aconites, snowdrops, crocus and téte a tétes to position hither and yon between the bare boring brownness of it all. It'll look a bit 'spotty-dotty' but at least it'll give a welcome splash of vibrancy to what's an otherwise very dull space.

Any other suggestions for low-growing bulbs more than welcome. Muscari? Squills?

 

August? Sitting here and waiting for rain. Everything looks so sad, trees are suffering for some time and it got worse in August.
I was at that stage in July when I was almost giving up. But then, I looked at the plants and they kept going. So, I bought seeds and that gave me motivation to keep going. Almost everything germinated.
Last weekend I supported our local garden centre and spent money on a few plants, hoping to get the rain they forecast.
Have done all jobs that need to be done in autumn apart from the bird house.

 

I bought "Sylvestris" to plant in the front garden last autumn. Flowered at the end of March and was really pretty.


Hoping they will have multiplied for next year. Makes me very sad to see the lushness in that picture and compare to the current conditions.

Also these peony-flowered tulips were gorgeous and lasted for ages. I think we were lucky in the flowering period with very little severe weather.
This was taken in April.

 

I don't really have any problem with motivation at this time of year. I've been able to do a lot more this year because of the drier weather, which has been a real bonus, as I was making a lot of changes. It's been too hot for me at times, but that's been offset by the many dry days for getting things done.
I've already bought seed for next year, so I can look at those and maybe sow some of them soon, rather than waiting until spring. I have lots of bulbs, as I got plenty last year, and they've been in plastic pots over summer, tucked away, so I can put those in the fancier pots once the annuals finish.
Then - plenty of planning time for more projects to keep me busy next year....