Clairesallotment's Blog

Autumn is upon us and some of the plants are coming to an end. Now is the time to start harvesting your winter squashes and pumpkins. Here’s how mine got on this year.

Not quite sure why I look so scary and toothless in this picture…..

Lottie and Dottie would be proud. Click HERE to buy the book. So you can grow some next year.

It’s that time of year when you can start to harvest some of your brassicas. They’ve been growing really well all summer and your managed to keep the birds and most of the butterflies at bay. So now you get your reward.

Harvesting them is very easy, so let me show you how I harvest mine….

Remember to check for any caterpillars that managed to get through, it just takes a couple of minutes, but is worth the extra effort.

“How’s everything getting on in the greenhouse?” I hear you cry…..

Well let’s have a look shall we…..

It’s that wonderful time of year when you get to harvest your wonderful, warm, sweet tomatoes. Whether you are growing them in a greenhouse or out in the garden, they will taste amazing!!

Here’s how I harvest mine….

Please don’t cry it’s only onions….

Now the tops have gone all droopy it’s time to harvest my onions. Considering as they went in very late they’ve not done too bad….

Now is that time of year when we start to harvest our potatoes. Freshly harvested and cooked potatoes have so much flavour, it makes you realise how flavourless the ones in the shops are.

Here’s how I’m harvesting mine this year.

I hope you enjoy tasting your freshly dug up potatoes, just add a little butter and a sprinkling of fresh herbs to hot new potatoes….yum!

It time for me to harvest my garlic, and it’s very easy to do. Make sure that you dry the bulbs for at least a month before storing otherwise they may go mouldy. If you want to store them in a fabric sack, or be fancy and tie them up in a fancy plait it’s up to you.

Here’s how I harvest mine.

It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally started to put some bits in the fruit bed. The other 3 beds are full of veggies which are growing so well. The fruit bed is still only half full with soil, I need to orders another 5 tons, but that’ll have to wait until pay day. But I’ve started to get some of the plants in, and all the others ready. All my fruit bushes have temporarily been in pots for for about 18 months now, and some are looking better than others. I’m hoping that once they’re in the ground, they’ll come back to life and be happy again. If not, I’ll have to buy some more. Still I got my rhubarb in today. I know it’s technically a vegetable, but it always grows in the fruit section. I’ve also got my Goji bush in, and hopefully it’ll come back to life now it has more room. It’s quite a resilient plant, so hopefully it’ll recover.

I also had a good sort and tidy up, and put a load of trays and plant pots away that I’d finished with, and now they’re all back in the garage. It’s surprising how you end up with a collection of pots and trays. It’s always the last thing you remember to do is put them away at the end of the day. It’s always good to have a tidy up, I do try to tidy as I go, but sometimes it just doesn’t work.

My cucurbits are growing really well, and we’ve had loads of courgettes so far. My favourite way at the moment to cook them is to cut them into medium sized chunks, and sauté them with onions, garlic, salt and pepper and a few chilli flakes. Very tasty. I’ve got loads more coming, so I’m really pleased.

I also noticed that my pumpkins are also producing fruits. Yes they’re small, but they’ve still got a lot of time to grow really big and fat. I’m not expecting any record breaking sizes this year, but as long as we get some I’ll be happy.

A good day all in all, and the garden is slowly getting there. Still loads more to do, but I’ve got plenty of time.