Urban Escape

Well, it’s finally cooled down a bit so I’ve started the autumn digging. I’ve knocked down a couple of raised beds too. They were rotten and I’ve already replaced one of them with a new, treated bed.  The contents have been scattered about as a top dressing and the wood itself is all piled up waiting for bonfire night.

How to get rid of your old raised beds

There’s not a great deal in the garden now but greens, mostly kale, but I’ve still got a few over wintering crops to sow.

I’ve cleaned the toms out of the greenhouse and will give that a good cleaning one weekend, then get something wintering in the borders.

Well the calendar says it’s October, but the greenhouse autovent is wide open, the flowers are, well flowering again and the garden doesn’t know what the heck it’s doing.

Anyway, I’ve just picked my first pumpkin, made a load of apple puree to freeze and knocked up a batch of wine from all the left over fruits from last autumn (been cleaning out the freezer).

Cabbages are still going strong, as are the toms and peppers. I actually have some sprouts this year too.

I just wish it wuld cool down a bit so I can get the autumn digging started. I just can’t do digging in this heat.

Despite the odd warm spell, it’s starting to feel quite autumnal, nights are drawing in and it’s beginning to seem like the season is coming to an end.

The chooks are moulting now, the beans are all but done, squashes are ripening and the blight has taken the last of the tomatoes.

Moulting chooks. Not many eggs but they still eat like locusts.

Squashes are still flowering.

 

Comfrey. Great for compost, plant food and even for eating.

Courgette, cucumbers, tomatoes (quick before the blight finishes them all).

I’ve just harvested the apples too, five dozen bramleys and a couple of hundred pippins, from just two trees. I’ve enough eaters to last for ages and a big bucket of misshapes and scabbies to have a go at making some cider.

I’ll be spending the weekend making pies and apple puree to freeze.

I’ve even being eating autumn raspberries.

The blight that appeared last month has got worse. I’ve had to pull up all the outdoor tomatoes. I won’t bother planting outside next year, I never seem to get any ripe toms anyway, just a lot of chutney.

On the other hand the toms in the greenhouse are doing fine, as are the peppers and chillies and, thankfully, it’s mushrooming time again.

Just harvested the first of this year’s tomatoes and peppers. I made a lovely pasta sauce with them.

Unfortunately I found the first signs of blight in the greenhouse too, even though the door has been left open for weeks, and spent a half hour chopping out manky bits and disposing of them. No sign of it outdoors thankfully.

Also picked a few flowers:

Not bad for an afternoon’s work. A huge turnip, runners, peas and baby carrots. And a great harvest from the beer tree.

The elderflower champers is definitely ready. It announced this itself in grand style by exploding all over the shed. Thankfully I put it in plastic bottles so there was only a big puddle to mop up.

The bottle that went pop exploded with such force it actually melted!

Glad I wasn’t in there when it went.

I’ve been a bit too busy to post much recently, but I’m still here and the plot is doing well. The tomatoes are growing nicely, the brassicas are doing better than they have ever done and I’m picking salad stuff, onions, beans and spuds like they’re going out of fashion.

It’s been odd weather for the past few weeks. First hot, then cold, then wet and then dry. It’s either been to wet to garden of just too hot.

Still, things are growing at last. The garlic looks about ready to lift, and some of the spuds. We’ve been eating turnips and salad for a while now. But the dwarf beans are still very dwarflike and the outdoors tomatoes don’t seem to be doing much.

In the greenhouse the toms are looking better and the brassicas all seem to be doing well. I’ve had a good harvest of black currents, strawberries and gooseberries too.