It's almost the end of September and our weather has been a strange mix of chilly nights, warm days, some dreary non-stop wet days and some days with quite a bit of sunshine between heavy and prolonged or short and sharp showers. The dogs and Ginger started to get their Winter coats then the weather turned mild, so now they are moulting them right off again meaning the hoover is seeing lots of action at the moment.
When I'm not hoovering up enough fur to knit a whole new pet with I'm out in the tunnels, tidying, weeding and picking things for our meals. We still have lots and I mean LOTS of Kale, lots of Spinach and as you can see from this photo the last few tomatoes are still clinging onto the plants.
Normally I would have stripped the plants of their last few green fruits and used them for chutney but with the warm weather they are slowly and surely turning red on the plants so I am leaving them in situ as we munch our way through cabbages from the veggie patch and broccoli from the polytunnel.
As well as all the veggies mentioned above we have the last of the salad leaves, lots of beetroot waiting to be harvested from both tunnels and large spring onions that I am using in soups., The last of the cucumbers have been affected by the colder nights and gone over a bit, so they are being fed to the chickens as a daily treat along with all the trimmings and outer leaves from things I harvest for us.
Today saw me planning ahead and planting for next year, with 80 red and 80 white onion sets being planted in the net tunnel. I was going to get the Garlic cloves planted in there too but the rain came and I retired to the house instead.
In other news ... I came across this little chap in the bottom of an empty bucket the other day. I had no idea how long the poor thing had been there so once tipped out I gave him a drink of rainwater on a leaf.
He seemed to enjoy it.
Black beetles are a gardeners friend eating all the little bugs and critters that would damage our vegetables and plants, so it was nice to do one a favour for once.
Sue xx
I didn't know that about black beetles! I always take care not to step on them anyway but now I'll take extra care :) Your poly tunnel looks fantastic, green and full of yummy organic veggies. When I come back, I want to come back as one of your chickens LOL
ReplyDeleteI am SO impressed with the tidiness of your polytunnel Sue! We used to have one on a community garden I was part of and it was always entirely full of half full compost bags, leftover pots etc. I dread to think what mine will be like when I have sole charge of one. I'll look to you for inspiration!
ReplyDeleteThat polytunnel is an absolute credit to you Sue.
ReplyDeleteRe your last posting - I watched Jamie's 5 and thought some of his recipes were fantastic. I am determined not to buy another cookery book but some really did tempt me to crack up.
Your garden is a joy to look at. All the lovely food. I am so impressed with polytunnels and the way you use them.
ReplyDeleteLove the small beetle.
cheers, parsnip
That is a seriously attractive indoor garden--orderly and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI love that you gave the beetle a drink. I have done the same with bugs I find indoors, especially if they're not active. I figure it can't hurt and it might be the difference between life and death for them.