It has been a week of clearing and getting the garden ready for winter. The Runner Beans and French Beans have been cleared and the last of the sweetcorn picked, with all the stalks going to the compost heap. The cauliflower plants have been removed as they had bolted, all leaf and no sign of a cauliflower. The greenhouse is now being cleared, the tomatoes have stopped producing flowers and the remaining tomatoes are not ripening. The peppers are still growing so they will be left for a while longer. The aubergines have flowers but as I remember from last year, they came to nothing so they will also be heading to the compost heap.
As the kitchen garden vegetable plots become empty this gives us the opportunity to empty out the Slot and Slide Compost Bin. We have 2 so this one has been left and occasionally turned, this is done so any fresh material goes to the bottom where it is hottest and where it will break down. This is now ready for spreading over the vegetable and garden beds. We have decided this year that this empty bin is going to be filled with leaves instead of garden and vegetable waste as we have now got a HotBin Composter for that. Hopefully after a year we should be rewarded with lovely golden leaf mulch.
Thankfully we have not had to water this week as there has been plenty of rain, if not a bit too much over the weekend which caused some localised flooding. The deluge replenished all the water butts which will be used for watering over the coming months.
Elsewhere in the garden it is the time of year for pruning and cutting back of dead leaves and plants. The massive job of leaf clearing has begun as the bad weather also bought strong winds. Once raked into piles, we love the Heavy Duty Hand Leaf Grabs, a really simple but effective product that makes leaf clearing that bit more enjoyable!
