Wednesday 12 November 2014

End of season

It's the end of the line for a lot of the produce now. The courgettes finished at the end of October - there were still new flowers, but all the tiny courgettelets were rotting in the damp weather. This week I pulled the remaining carrots. The carrots had been at their best about six weeks ago, with no need for peeling, so next time I shall harvest earlier.

Last of the carrots and tomatoes
Last of the carrots and tomatoes
In the veg garden, it's pretty much down to the brassica family now, plus leeks and Swiss chard. I sowed Aquadulce broad beans today - let's see how they cope with the winter.

The Christmas Brussels
The Christmas Brussels
Spring cabbage
Spring cabbage
As much kale as any heart could desire
As much kale as any heart could desire
Enormous Swede Marians
Enormous Swede Marians
Swiss chard and the garlic's already coming up
Swiss chard and the garlic's already coming up
It's definitely time for a bit of a tidy-up, but we're already delighted that we can put the fork in almost anywhere without hitting stones or gigantic weed roots. Talking about weeding, I invested in a Cape Cod weeder - what a marvellous hand tool that is. Superfast weeding and great for removing docks.

Chopped down artichoke
Chopped down artichoke
I cut down the globe artichoke plants for the winter. Now I just need to gather a whole lot of bracken for their winter cover. Can't wait to have a full artichoke harvest!
The beds are starting to empty out
The beds are starting to empty out
Still some autumn raspberries
Still some autumn raspberries
The raspberries are the last of our fruit and are holding out surprisingly well. Soon the canes will all have to be cut down as well.

Two things that are just coming into season are fish boxes and sea weed. The stormy weather has deposited a lot of both on our beach. The sea weed will go into our compost, after a rinse, and be mulch for our blueberries. Maybe we'll also make some liquid fertiliser in one of the rain barrels. As for the fish boxes, there is no end of their use in the garden.

Sea weed for the garden
Sea weed for the garden
First bottle of carrot wine to be opened tonight!







4 comments:

  1. Looks grand. Congratulations on a wildly successful first season as homesteaders.

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  2. You have a beach?! Amazing! Quite jealous of your sprouts too, mine are a long long way off :(

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  3. Well, there is a beach at the end of our track and since there is usually nobody else on it, we've come to regard it as 'our' beach! It might not be a bad thing to have the sprouts ready later in the winter. I'm going to be running out of some things (onions! carrots!) by the end of the year already.

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  4. Thanks, Marc. Hope you can come and visit next year and sample our hedgerow wines!

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