It seems hard to believe that it is the 1 November tomorrow. The garden is reflecting the change in season. Leaves are falling from the fruit trees. The asparagus ferns are turning brown and many of the beds that were filled with luscious green plants during the summer are now bare soil.
There's lots of delicious foods still to look forward to though. The first of the early purple sprouting broccoli (Rudolph) is ready and the kale, chard and white sprouting broccoli are still flourishing - despite a visit from a flock of sheep who escaped from a nearby field, last weekend! And the the brussel sprouts are fattening up nicely on their stalks. Roots wise there are swedes, carrots, jerusalem artichokes, celeriac, parsnips and a few beetroot left. Plus there's the pumpkins and squashes that I harvested a few weeks ago. Kept on a cool shelf, these will store through the winter.
I've made a start at preparing the garden for winter, but there's still plenty of jobs left to do:
Cut down the asparagus ferns.
Protect the globe artichoke crowns with a layer of straw.
Cut down the french bean plants, leaving the roots in the ground to fix the nitrogen in the soil for the next crop.
Weed and mulch the paths.
Fix glue bands around fruit trees.
Check the ties on the fruit trees.
Plus anything else that I've forgotten here ...
