Autumn is very nearly upon us and a lot of people have been asking me whether there are still jobs to do in the garden. My answer is that there are always jobs to do in the garden!
So far I've been harvesting - which I must admit is my favourite job! I've collected all the potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes. There's still plenty of chillies to pick and to store them I have been pickling, freezing and drying them. The tomatoes were starting to show signs of blight so I picked as much as I could. To avoid waste I made several jars of passata out of the ripe tomatoes and chutney out of the green ones.
There's still more to come as there's grapes, runner beans, marrows and beetroots to be picked. However, I hate it when there's a lull in the harvest so I've been sowing more to get as much as possible all year round.
I've bought garlic as well as a winter cropping potato, harvested plenty of cucumbers and there's sorrel there for soup, while a friend has donated some young leeks that I will plant in the garden.
One thing that I'm trying out this year that's new for me is potatoes that should be ready for Christmas. These are Maris Peer and I sowed them in the garden in the first week of September. So far they have grown really quickly and I'm earthing them up already. I purchased these from a local garden centre along with Japanese onions. Meanwhile over at Wilkos, I bought a bag of mixed onions and garlic, which should overwinter and be ready for harvesting next year.
With the potatoes, I prepared the beds in the same way I did for my early and maincrop, adding a little fresh compost for nutrients. I used the same area as the previous potatoes were grown in. When these will be harvested, I'll plan to grow potatoes somewhere else. As it's been warm and dry, I've made sure that I've been watering. The onion sets have gone out next to the potatoes.
I've been lucky enough to have been given some young leeks as someone I know needed to thin them out and offered me some. I haven't popped them in the soil yet but I'm hoping to get some time during the week.
From seed potatoes with a few shoots to strong, quick growing plants in just a couple of weeks!
Meanwhile, my husband enjoys making wine, beer and sloe gin so now's been a good time to pick sloes. I grow sloes in the back garden so we don't have to go far to find these. It's been a good crop this year but we only pick enough for a litre or two of homemade sloe gin. The remainder of the berries are left for the birds to pick.
Sloes make the best gin flavour!
The harder work has been cleaning out the greenhouse and polytunnel. There's been diseases and pests, so I'm having to be careful with what I do with all the garden waste. It's better to burn anything that has disease. If it were to go on the compost heap then I would only be helping the diseases spread easily next year. Pests and diseases don't rot down and disappear. They'll hide out until nest year. Other than that I'll be washing the greenhouse, along with washing all the pots so that they'll be pest and disease free too.
Other than that I've been cooking like mad in the kitchen, storing away as much as possible. I've been writing down recipes and taking plenty of photos so that I can share some of my dishes with you. Watch this space for some food ideas very soon!
In the meantime, keep safe, keep busy and remember there's still a lot to do outdoors!
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