Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

With autumn well and truly upon us jobs in the garden and the vegetable patch become fewer and much of my time on the plot recently has been as much about tidying-up and clearing away as anything else. I have four compost bins and try to add as much as I can from what I am clearing from the greenhouse, vegetable patch and flower beds to these at this time of year; if you don’t have compost bins I thoroughly recommend getting at least one. With my four bins I can produce two or three hundred litres of compost in a year, great for simply spreading around the garden or for use in potting mixes and with the price of store-bought compost rising constantly at the moment, you can save yourself a tidy couple bob at the same time. As I am clearing the greenhouse I am also preparing it to store the more tender plants over winter; the seven Agapanthus I have in pots will go in there for the colder months for example. Talking of Agapanthus, any regular reader may recall I mentioned I had sown som...

My tomatoes have been cropping particularly well of late so I have been busy in the kitchen making BBQ sauce and Tomato Ketchup; the 'Super Sauce' variety supplying fruit of 1½lb each regularly. I am no Jamie Oliver but I haven’t given anyone food poisoning yet. I am not the tidiest of chefs and chopping up 7½lb or so of ‘Bloody Butcher’ tomatoes, my kitchen resembled a crime scene at one point but I now have several bottles of both sauces tucked away in the cupboard waiting to be used over the coming months. More will be made before summer ends.  September can bring some warm sunny days and there is plenty to be getting on with in the garden in the late summer sun. As well as continuing to harvest various vegetables and deadhead plants such as my Agapanthus I am starting to think about next spring and what bulbs I want to plant. Over the coming weeks it is the ideal time to be planting spring bulbs such as Crocus, Daffodils, Hyacinths, Bluebells and Tulips in pots and borders....