Maggies Blog October 2010

As the days shorten, another year seems to be slipping through our fingers. The rate of growth of everything has slowed down, which gives me a chance to catch up with the weeds!

The fruit is swelling on the trees and is ready for harvesting. Once again i have reached for my Planto Harvesting Bag. It can be carries with the handles, worn over one shoulder, or round the waist (which leaves both hands free for picking). This means the fruit can be cropped in perfect condition as it is not bruised. Once the fruit is gathered it can be washed in the the bag, due to the lightweight mesh construction.

Earlier this year someone gave me some canes of autumn fruiting raspberries. I am delighted with them, they are producing beautiful large berries, which are darker red than the earlier varieties. Once these have finished fruiting, they need chopping down to the ground as they fruit on new wood, unlike my other variety which fruits on year old stock.

This year I grew my carrots next to the mint. To discourage carrot root fly, each time I harvested some carrots, I also chopped some mint down, and scattered the leaves around the rows of remaining carrots. It does seem to have worked, because the carrots are free of the dreaded fly.

I am not planting much this time of year, although, as in previous years, I still grow winter lettuce in the greenhouse. I just plant a few at a time, usually the 'cut and come again' variety, at two week intervals, which means I always have a steady supply of salad leaves.

I have again purchased my autumn bedding in the form of plug plants. They have been planted into trays and are in the greenhouse waiting to replace the summer bedding once that has finished. The summer pots look a bit sorry for themselves so I will be changing them over very soon now.

As soon as we get the first real frost I will be bringing my hostas (which are in pots) into the cold greenhouse. I prefer to bring as much as I can under glass just to be on the safe side. Most things do not need much water, just an occasional drink to keep them 'ticking over' until next spring.

Happy Gardening!!