“My favourite poem is the one that starts '' because it actually tells you something” Groucho Marx.
It’s been colder and wetter the last couple of weeks, so the garden is beginning to change. Although it’s is still very colourful with sunflowers, geraniums and lobelia, some plants are beginning to fade and die off now. So we’ve been pulling up finished plants and deadheading a lot in the last couple of weeks. But rather than throwing seed heads away, I have been drying them ready for sowing next year. As you can see, we plan to have a lot of marigolds in 2019!
The veg garden too is past its best now too and I’ve started to pull up the plants that have finished. The French beans have done really well this year. But the dry weather hasn’t suited the runner beans at all. However I’ve used what we had left this week to make some runner bean pickle. It’s a mustard based pickle which I first tried making last year. It’s great with a ploughman’s. As long as you like the flavour of English mustard that is.
The mini red tomatoes have done well and have given us a regular supply over the last month or two. Small kids love picking them as they are so sweet. The other tomatoes are still changing colour too, but it will soon be time for them to finish. So I’ll be making green tomato chutney in a week or so, but need some more jars. So if anyone has small jars (half pound ones or smaller) please bring them along to the garden on a Fri morning when volunteers meet up.
Our chilli peppers have done really well and are turning red. We grew these for the first time this year and they seem to have liked our summer as we have lots of peppers on each plant. Apparently the red ones are hotter than the green. So I might just stick with green ones for now. I’m going to pick and freeze some to keep me going until next year.
We are reusing the emptied veg tubs for autumn/winter veg. We already have leeks, cabbage and parsnips that have been growing throughout the summer. I’ve been growing broccoli and kale plants from seed and planted them this week. Unfortunately I dropped the pots and the labels fell out. So I’m not sure which is which and I may have mixed them up. Hopefully they will grow well enough for me to tell the difference soon.
The Blooming Old Gardener
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