Well, it's been a gorgeous autumn weekend, and time to take stock in the garden. Lots of pruning, weeding, digging and moving. A hard pruning session sometimes means sacrificing some leaves and flowers the following year, and having to look at bare, naked wood for a while, but needs must, and in the longer term the benefits of all that hard work will become obvious.

It is a time for reflection and decision making. There is that plant in the corner that you love dearly, and have tried to nurture. But now, in autumn, you know that it was planted in the wrong place, and it will never reach its full potential. If it's not too late, move it to another spot. If it's suffered too much damage you might have to bite the bullet and decide that it's time to give up on it.

But why, what went wrong? Sometimes you make a mistake, and the plant is too strong and vigorous for its situation, and tiny, more delicate plants are suffering under its shadow. You can try to keep it contained by vigorous pruning but you lose the benefit of its full glory in trying to maintain its shape. The work involved will be never ending, and other parts of the garden may even get neglected in the process as you run out of time to manage it all.

Sometimes it just fails to thrive because it is too dark, or too dry, too hot, too cold, too crowded - there could be any number of reasons why it's just not going to happen. Wrong time, wrong place - move on. Remember: Tend to the things that you know will survive. You will still see those favourite plants, they're not gone forever, just growing elsewhere.

There is much to do in the garden. I may not be around quite as much.