What to do in your garden this month

Summer seems a distant memory already as the skies have gone grey and the wind has picked up!  We had been enjoying a lovely early autumn with clear skies, gentle temperatures and virtually no rainfall until quite recently.  The low rainfall didn't help much - I have been watering courgettes to keep them producing along with keeping the beetroot and jerusalem artichokes well watered to make sure I get some sizeable roots in a few weeks time.  However, the sunshine has brought on the tomatoes a treat - they just keep on going and ripening (which is pretty unusual at this time of year - I have a lot of recipes for "green" tomatoes from previous years!).

Now is the time to bring in the last of the summer harvest.  Lift any potatoes that may still be out there before the frost comes, dry them and store healthy tubers in the dark in sacks (not plastic!).  Squash and pumpkin can be dried now and brought in for winter storage.  I did have lots but they are delicious so I don't have too many left now to store.  Apples and Pears too should be stored soon - some varieties go through until October but some, like my apple "Scrumptious", went over in August.

You can still plant out ready for yet more crops - garlic, broad beans, carrots, calabrese and cauliflowers can all be planted now for early crops next year, but use fleece to protect the young seedlings through the winter.  I also like to sow spinach, hardy lettuce and oriental greens now for winter cropping if the weather is mild enough.  If the weather does turn cold then protect the plants and they will give you the very earliest crops next year.  I sow lots of spinach - it always seems that you need armfuls of the stuff to make even the smallest bit of cooked spinach!

Remember to make the most of all of your harvest - windfalls can be cooked and frozen, and leftover fruit and veg can always be made into chutneys or soups for longer storage.

Jane