Autumn days and my thoughts on composting

It is a lovely October so far in this part of the country and I am trying to savour every minute that I can. Above is a 'Magical revolution' hydrangea, slowly taking on some autumnal shades.

This is the colour of the sky recently.

The perennial sunflowers are still going strong, but you can see how much more shade this area gets now.

The sunlight on the miscanthus flower heads is always so beautiful.

The asters are also still doing well - this is Symphotrichum Novae-angliae Mrs S T Wright (she will always be an Aster to me!).

More gorgeous miscanthus heads...

...and again.

In other news, I have emptied my compost bin and sieved the compost.  Those of you who are gardeners will no doubt be familiar with the whole compost making process and how to achieve the best results.  

I had a few bad years, because although I thought I understood the process, it needed some tweaking.  However,  I think it is now working well.   I have a plastic 'Dalek' shaped bin and you have to remove the whole bin to get at the compost.  I left it for two years, thinking all would be well, only to find it really wasn't. The compost had condensed into a solid mass  and there were no worms to be seen.  I emptied it out and started again, this time adding a layer of paper and egg boxes in between the kitchen scraps.  I also started to turn the heap a couple of times over the year.  Adding the paper layers and turning the compost have made the difference.  The resulting compost is now lovely and soft, crumbly with an earthy smell.

Having sieved the compost this time,  I shall refine my additions to the bin further.  While tea leaves rot down beautifully, tea bags don't.  Egg shells take a while too, but the pieces that are left in are small and will rot down and also provide some air.  Some compostable plastics take a long time to rot down.  I am not  adding citrus as the worms don't like it.  Potato peelings need to be added in small amounts as sometimes they have a habit of sprouting.  

It has been a real learning process but I am so happy with what nature and those clever worms have given me.  The compost will be added to peat free multipurpose compost for planting and potting on and as a mulch around some plants.  

Ornamental Grasses - a round of applause!

This is one of my favourite flowering plants at the moment - Miscanthus sinensis 'Kleine Fontane' which has such tactile flower heads that I can't help stroking them as I squeeze past. I am considering getting another one of these, or something similar, to plant in the border, as they are so gorgeous. I like the rustling effect of the leaves too. This particular grass is very well behaved and flowers every year. I had to pot it on this year, as initially it was in a smaller pot and had stems half the size that they are in the photo. Once potted on, you could almost hear the sigh of relief and it rewarded me by growing and flowering so well. The other good thing about it is that it is relatively transparent, so doesn't block the view through to other plants.

Let's hear it for ornamental grasses!