My only operational garden at the moment is the tiny strip out the front of my house, between the house and the little hedge by the footpath. In spring I planted it with everything I could squeeze in - 2 tomatoes, beans, sugar snap peas, capsicum, 2 types of basil, 2 types of thyme, radishes (didn't do at all well though), Lebanese cucumber, apple cucumber, lettuces. Looked gorgeous for a while. Then everything grew, and it looked abundant and luscious..
Now it is autumn, and it looks .. well .. autumny. All the beans and peas have finished, the 'wild' stuff is taking over. You can still see a couple of tomatoes. Things are starting to die back. And flower. And go to seed. So, this is how a garden looks, for real, in autumn. Wouldn't win any House and Garden shows. People on a garden tour would not be impressed. If I had uppity neighbours (I don't, my neighbours are lovely) they would be leaning over the fence tutting. I think that autumn messiness is all part of nature's cycles, part of setting seeds in the ground for next year.
One of the most prolific 'weeds' I have in my front garden is this pretty flower. It arrived on its own probably 20 years ago, and has never left, reliably pops up every autumn. It is a native NZ hibiscus, quite small and very lovely. An excellent reason not to weed until it has finished flowering.
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