Mourning summer’s end

Autumn’s coming. It feels unmistakable now - the rain, the colder mornings, the change in the light when the sun shines. For weeks, there have been subtle signs - the ripening berries, the seedheads, the slight chill in the air - but the transition has suddenly accelerated since the heatwave finished last week. Mirroring what happens as winter gives way to spring, the change is like a stone rolling down a hill - beginning slowly, then gaining pace as we move closer to the equinox.

The leaves are turning orange already, and in the garden, while the flowers on the hollyhocks are hanging on, deep burgundy, their leaves are yellowing. The pumpkins on the allotment are the same - the fruits are huge, rather misshapen, but the vegetation is already dying off. I’ll need to harvest them soon to store for Halloween.

Summer feels so fleeting, and as it comes to an end I feel the familiar twinge of something like sadness, a sense of loss, resistance - it’s too soon, I’m not ready, where did summer go?

But yet, as the rain pours down outside, there’s also a comfort in putting on cosy clothes and snuggling up on the sofa to watch a film. My mind wanders - thoughts of knitting by the fire, autumn walks, and the taste of roast parsnips and pumpkin soup.

I think September can be a conflicted time for many of us. There’s that new school year feeling and sense of new beginnings, but also a sense of nature slowing down as we head towards the darker part of the year, and a feeling that we want to do the same. Personally I’ve never felt a huge boost of energy around this time, more an echo of the anxiety and confusion of starting a new school, new class or taking on new responsibilities, as well as that pull inward that is hard to ignore.

As we reach the end of the main growing season, I’m also mourning the plants that didn’t make it - the sweetcorn that didn’t ripen, the late planting of lettuce that never germinated, and the sweetpeas that failed to flower at all. The drought conditions and multiple heatwaves here in the UK have meant a hard year for vegetable growers (and is a clear sign of things to come) but no season is perfect and every year brings its challenges, so whether this was any harder than other years I’m not sure.

Other plants have survived, but had a disappointing crop. Like my courgettes - after expecting a glut, it never arrived, and the plants stopped producing much fruit at all. Probably due to insufficient water: while I did water regularly during the heatwaves, I made a conscious decision to reduce the frequency, to encourage the plants to adapt, but perhaps the courgettes didn’t.

My strawberries weren’t abundant either. In late spring, I moved the plants out of their old, slightly rotten raised bed to try and avoid them being eaten by woodlice, but this seemed to shock the plants (it was still on the colder side at night) and while they recovered, I do think this affected the harvest.

On the other hand, my root crops have done well this year. The parsnips are looking good for the autumn, and my carrots have been the best ever, masses of them, perfectly formed, grown in stacked motorbike tyres. They’re finished now, but I’ve left some in situ, with the aim of saving the seeds next year. I do need to find somewhere else to grow them though, replicating the shape of the tyres, as apparently chemicals can leach from the rubber into the soil after a year or so. Possibly those big plastic trugs, which I already have plenty of in my garden.

The onions have been good too, and are now hanging from my front room ceiling to use over winter. The tomatoes have ripened well in their grobags (unlike last year), and we’re harvesting them regularly. Potatoes have also been a standout success - we’ve only just finished eating the first earlies, and in the garden we still have many bags and buckets full of maincrops to eat up over the next few weeks (or harvest and store for winter).

All in all, it’s been a mixed season - and as always, the failures bring home the privilege we ‘hobby gardeners’ hold. While we may dream of self-sufficiency (or some version of this) the truth is we always have the option of buying veg to supplement what we grow ourselves, something many growers around the world may not have.

As summer continues its transition into early autumn, and my daughter and I return to work and school, I’ll be doing my best to embrace this new season, rather than resisting it. I’m feeling the need to get the house tidied up as we spend more time inside, and I’m looking forward to finishing the socks I’m knitting for my mum’s birthday. There will be pumpkins to harvest soon, and parsnips and leeks before too long. Chestnuts to harvest, fungi to spot in the woods, and cosy evenings by the fire. I’ve got more dry stone walling planned - I’m taking my qualification course this autumn, and will be doing lots of practice days to hone my skills.

How are you feeling as summer comes to a close?