Another day, another storm. Another sleepless night as strange noises feed unease. Of course, these issues are insignificant compared with what some people are enduring; a reason why I have found it difficult to write a post lately.

But this is a gardening blog. Wet conditions have prevented most of my attempts to do anything meaningful in the garden for several weeks. Even walking over the lawn is destructive, leaving brown footprints as I squelch from one bed to another. It is best to keep off the soil when it is so saturated. Moats around the flower beds are becoming permanent. I have bought some drainage pipes to alleviate the situation but I need it to dry out so I can install them.

But relentless low-pressure systems barreling across the country mean not just wind and rain but the ameliorating effect of Atlantic winds and a freedom from frost. This has meant that late-flowering plants and tender perennials have continued to bloom and they give welcome and surprising splashes of colour here and there. Some of the tender salvias hardly pay their way in summer and I often wonder if they are worth the space but I am pleased to see them right now. They don’t always get the chance to look so good, if early autumn frosts cut them short, but this year they have succeeded in doing what they are capable of.

The chrysanthemums are stubbornly tardy and it is tempting to give up on them but as October slips into November they pay their rent and then some. My favourite remains ‘Mei Kyo’. I do not know how old it actually is but it was brought to the UK by Will Ingwersen from Japan in the 1950s. I used to have several of these ‘miniature Korean’ chrysanthemums which all have small, button flowers and the yellow one I now have, which accidentally got planted here, is unnamed.

But inclement weather has forced me into the greenhouse – though not on stormy days – and the cuttings have been nurtured with unusual care.

They are mostly in the mini-greenhouse within the greenhouse where I have a little heat, provided by a heat mat. Some pelargoniums and others are in the main body of the greenhouse but a few of each are kept here, just in case it gets very cold. Even more precious plants have at least one cutting kept in the conservatory. The conservatory is not ideal because it is a bit darker and I am determined that it remain a ‘garden room’ rather than a potting shed, but I would hate to lose plants that have been years in the obtaining.

In the cold part of the greenhouse the sweet peas are sown. I half-heartedly grew them as cordons this summer and they were very popular for flowers sales at the gate so I have invested in some exhibition varieties for next summer with a wide colour range and chosen for scent. I am determined to grow them properly and have them sown. As usual, it was difficult to choose and I managed to narrow it down to 25 varieties. I have sown just 4 pots of each, hoping that I get three plants of each.

I had to sow some a bit early, for work photos, and these are now growing well, perhaps too well, and it will be tricky to hold these back for planting out in March.

When I open the greenhouse on mild days the cat likes to wander in and sit on the top shelf, with the best views of the garden. I have had to move some pots so she can sit there without walking across the pots. But at least she may prevent mice which are the biggest enemy of autumn-sown sweet peas.

autumn weather, chrysanthemum mei kyo, sowing sweet peas, sweet peas