welcome to my little suburban oasis, filled with flowers,fruit trees and vegetables

Sunday 31 October 2010

picked this week

some really small runner beans when I was clearing the plants before frost on Tuesday night. - that's all!!

Thursday 21 October 2010

picked this week

seem to have been picking a surprising amount from the garden this week.

a last courgette from the cold frame
runner beans
enormous (for us) leek
broccoli side shoots - surprised how well these keep re-growing

no photos though as the camera is broken and gone to hopefully be repaired

Wednesday 20 October 2010

frost

frost last night. properly cold with white sparkly frost over roads and fields this morning. rushed out late in the dark to adjust the fleece over the runner beans and it seems to be paying off - picked some beans again today and smaller ones look ok.
also covered the chinese cabbage - I'm not sure if that will stand frost at all but it's not very big yet so better safe than sorry - and moved the winter density and red salad bowl lettuce to the greenhouse as the drop down plastic flap on the front of the Sten unit has deteriorated and cracked up over summer.

Sunday 17 October 2010

picked this week

frost forecast again last night so picking some last summer flowers while I can






runner beans - dashed out and covered the plants with fleece last night and everything looks OK today








picked the very last cucumber

Tuesday 12 October 2010

next year's veg

trays of cabbage, Advantage and Oppenham Flower of Spring, and cauliflower, All Year Round, in the Sten house. also set winter density and red salad bowl lettuce last week - quite mild still and too many slugs/snails in the greenhouse, so leaving these in the sheltered but open air Sten house.


planting out larger cabbage, Classic (?), to crop over winter hopefully
also set broad bean seed and a dozen winter onions

Sunday 10 October 2010

picked this week

more runner beans again - not so very many this week, only a couple of meals-worth



still picking rocket from the garden but now have small lettuce and spinach leaves in the greenhouse





....and some rather sad looking chilli plants with fruits still ripening


also lifted another cabbage, a Savoy this time, which should have been ready late last winter

Wednesday 6 October 2010

brain fade

forgot to add runner beans, cabbage, a small cucumber and rocket to the 'picked this week' entry. Not all that many beans but pleased to see some still growing. the cucumber was quite a surprise as I hadn't realised any were still growing - found it and a smaller one growing low down only just off the floor. have a new batch of rocket growing from self-set seeds - might try leaving all the run-to-seed flower heads and see how much grows.

Monday 4 October 2010

picked this week

not strictly speaking 'picked this week' but have just got round to string up the onions in the garage with little ones left over for pickling



cleared out the pumpkin/pea row and found these 3 strange half-grown pumpkins





three more baby aubergines

and the last of the green tomatoes

Sunday 3 October 2010

Flowers in October

taken in a brief spell of dry weather last week.









nasturtiuma and calendulas still flowering among the more Autumnal flowers - michaelmas daisies and kaffir lilies
















the morning glories have started to flower at last - but are white instead of blue and look rather like bindweed