Harvest time

It is a busy ole time. Crops to harvest, hedgerow fossicking to do and making of preserves to say nothing of winter digging and general cleaning up of the plot. I have even looked at my back garden yet. The Green house is full a Tomatoes, all green, green tomato chutney anyone?

I harvested the remaining Sweet Corn yesterday and the outdoor Cucumber as well as the butternut squash. I bagged a couple of handfulls of Carrots and a nice head a cabbage. I got another Red cabbage for pickling. H has promise Lancashire hotpot which which you can not have without pickled red cabbage. It is a rule. I dug up the Caulis. The curds where really small, about the size of the your fist. They will go for Piccalilli. I cleaned the weeds up as a cleared the cauli. Slowly but surely the cabbage bed is being turned over. This bed is the root bed next year so it is due for a deep dig in the spring. The rain which weathermen promised, started on cue which put an end to Saturdays outdoor activities.

I got to the lottie early on Sunday. The morning was beautiful and it continued to be sunny and hot all day. Pete, my lottie neighbour, was there before me. He had got a bonfire going so I got a chance to burn off off the rubbish that is too tough or seedy for the compost bin. I even got rid of a couple manky pallets and other combustible bits and pieces. I managed to plant out the Savoy cabbage seedling which became very leggy from sitting in the greenhouse too long. I took down the bean frame and stowed the poles for the winter. I considered the "X" frame an improvement over the traditional "A" frame or wigwam so I will be doing that again next year. I think I will try proper bean/pea trench this winter to see if I can improve the crop. This year was all rush so I just threw the seeds in the ground and left them to it. I did not even have the time do proper pea sticks and the yield suffered. However if a I can catch the mice they should be quite porky having stuffed themselves with my Broad Beans and Peas. The Pumpkin are looking magnificent. Let hope nothing happens to them before the end of the month.

Now that the Bean patch is cleared I can see the Grape vines clearly. They look great. They must be at least six feet tall. I have to read my books to work out how to prune them to train them along the wires. No rush though, they have not died back yet. I will better able to see the stems once the leaves have fallen.

There have been developments at the lottie which is like having a weight taken off my shoulders. Still lots to do before Christmas. Most of which I dare not speak about in case I jinx it.

I got back later from the lottie and had to go straight out. I missed lunch so it was a good job I had had a big breakfast. I found a Butcher in Swadlincote that make very good Black Pudding. It is made with course cut fat which makes a very pleasant addition to my Sunday morning breakfast plate.