The Last Days of Autumn

It is hard to believe that the year has finished, Christmas is becoming a distant memory and we are already at the start of 2019. We have been so busy that 2018 year appears to have disappeared in a haze. Sadly during October my Aunt died and therefore much of the month was dedicated to her funeral and looking after my Uncle. In between trips away there were a few things going on around the smallholding so here's a quick catch up on October and November, the final flurries of Autumn.

At the start of the October the peppers plants were all beginning to look like they were approaching the end of productivity. I decided to take all the fruits off before we lost them to frost and mould. We now have a huge bag of chopped peppers in the freezer which we can use during the winter to add to stews, bolognaise etc.

 

 A couple of years ago we hired a wood chipper to get rid of a lot of the sticks around the woods and at the same time create some paths. Four days of wood chipping nearly did us in so, we saved our pennies and this year we bought our own. The wood chipper runs off the tractor and the main benefit is the ability to do short stints at a time depending on the weather. We tried to complete some of the paths but they look a little like zebra crossings so there is definitely more work to do there.

The 'White' garden also got the chipper treatment and looked wonderful, even on the first day when the path was only just emerging.

By the end of the next day the path through the 'White' garden was almost finished and seemed to set the whole area off really well.

I always get a bit fed up with the tomato plants at the end of the season and they look so straggly and messy. It's around this time that I remove all the fruit, whether they are ripe or not and remove all the plants.

With all these tomatoes it was time to get the chutney on, a tomato chutney and a green tomato chutney. Unfortunately when the second lot was nearing completion we sat down to eat and it caught the bottom of the pan. The chutney tastes fine but I'm not sure my gorgeous jam pan will ever quite be the same again. I've tried to clean with a combination of heat, water, white vinegar and a lot of elbow grease. It's almost clean but it's in the naughty corner until I can face it again in the new year.

The latest Clematis in the 'White' garden decided to show us that it should be there and we had one very large bloom.

This was Actaea, we bought a couple to put in the 'White' garden. Although the foliage has a chocolate brown tinge, the flowers are beautiful spikes of tiny white flowers.

The weather during October wasn't too bad although I always find the early afternoons are depressing as we approach winter.

This was a lovely little Rudbeckia which mum gave me. There were lots of little plants in the pot so we planted one in the woods. This was it merrily flowering away, the day before the deer found it!!

Sometimes when the nights begin draw in there is nothing better than cuddling down in front of the toasty fire.

We had quite a lot of geraniums in the garden so thought we may be able to pot them up, pop them in the greenhouse and see if we could save them over the winter. I also managed to sow some seeds, Nigella, Cornflower, Calendula, Cowslip, Ragged Robin and Red Campion.

All the dahlias were brought in for the winter, along with the lavender and on the right hand side are some cuttings I took from my Aunt's garden.

On the deer war front again we bought some larger and sturdier tree protection for the orchard. The fruit trees were quite badly damaged in the summer so we're hoping that this may give them a chance next year.

The orchard looked quite tidy with the new mulch mats and tree protectors on. Fingers crossed for a bumper harvest next year.

M cut and stacked some logs from our woods, they'll be ready for use next year once they have dried out.

I also got out and about, collecting, breaking and stacking sticks for kindling. You might be able to guess, but M stacked the ones on the left and mine are on the right 😂

At the beginning of October M suggested another spot of strimming. It had been so mild that the weeds and grass were still growing so I'm glad we made the effort.

I managed to complete the 'White' garden in one day which gave me room to plant out some of the Delphiniums and Foxgloves I had grown from seeds. I was hoping they would get some roots out before the temperatures dropped too much.

August Delights

August disappeared in a flurry of activity. I spent a large part of the month away with mum helping to look after another family member so poor M was left to fend for himself and look after the homestead.

When I was home it was harvesting time and there was plenty, especially from the tomato plants. The yield from the polytunnel plants was pretty poor but due to the long sunny days and higher temperatures we had bucket loads from the greenhouse.

The first batch of tomato and chorizo soup was made from our own tomatoes, chorizo, onions and garlic, it felt amazing that it was made from all our own produce.

Another batch of tomatoes made it into 7 containers of passata for the freezer to be used up during the winter months.

The Jalapenos were the best yet and these large juicy chilli were destined for the freezer in the form of Jalapeno Poppers.

I tried making these a few years ago after sampling them in a restaurant. The recipe has changed ever so slightly but is basically the same. The Jalapenos are sliced in half then the seeds are removed just in case they are particularly hot. The halves are then filled with a garlic and herb cream cheese mixed with a little finely grated cheddar.

The chillies are then rolled in plain flour, egg and breadcrumbs. After open freezing they are boxed for future use. Before eating we just pop a few in the oven for about 15-20mins. They are soooo yummy but we have learned from experience that it can be a little like Russian Roulette as to whether you get a hot one or not!!!

On recommendation I bought the National Trust Book of Scones during the summer and while I was away M had a go at cheese scones. I didn't get to sample them but he did say they were very tasty.

   

M did an amazing job harvesting all the onions and oh did we have a bumper harvest.

   

Centurion                                                Hercules

     

Sturon                                                       Red Baron

Now if they are stored well they should last through the winter. Failing that I think it might be a good idea to slice and dice the best ones then open freeze them before bagging them up. It's a good job we like and use a lot of onions; perhaps I should have a go at making some Onion soup.

More Hot and Sunny Days - July

Sitting here on a dull, drizzly, wet and windy day the wonderful warm and sunny summer days seem a very long time ago. August disappeared in a flurry and now I find I've got all of July and August to catch up on. So, taking one month at a time, this was July:

The wonderful warm and sunny weather from May and June continued right on into July. While we loved wearing shorts again (probably the first time in 3 years) and spending so much time outside we found it was quite a task to keep up with all the watering. Indeed we sometimes had to water twice a day. It had never seemed possible that we could empty our 6 water butts but yes, they ran dry.


The polytunnel was difficult to keep watered sufficiently as the daytime temperatures soared to 40⁰C. Whether it was the increased temperatures, our more managed watering schedule or a combination of the two, we have had quite a few successes with (of course) the occasional failure.

While the greens, spinach, chard and kale have grown superbly, our young lettuce, spring onions and rocket struggled to germinate in the heat and those which did grow bolted and went to seed before we could harvest them.


The majority of the tomatoes have absolutely loved the heat and sunshine. The plants in the growbags were growing strong with one main stem and all side shoots removed. Sadly the tomato plants in the green canvas pots (on the left) struggled. It appeared that they dried out really quickly in the heat and I was slow to realise that watering once a day was insufficient. For the first time ever we had some Blossom End Rot which we believed was due to the extremes of temperature and lack of water to allow the plant to take up calcium. I managed to increase the watering schedule and in the end only two plants were really badly affected.


As expected, the Sweet Peppers and Jalapenos also thrived in the heat and sunshine producing a mass of flowers and tiny fruits growing quickly. Again I was extremely careful that they had plenty of ventilation and didn't dry out. I was especially pleased that the Jalapeno we had nurtured indoors during the winter had beautiful green leaves and signs of flowers appearing.


I was feeling quite proud of our healthy looking little pepper plants and couldn't wait to see some fruits growing.


The first potato harvest was the Extra Earlies. It was a small crop but so tasty boiled, or as mash and occasionally chips.

We noticed a increase in deer activity during July, they were getting closer to the house, mooching around the yard eating flowers and quite happily lying at the back of the midden. Although it was lovely to see them, especially with their new foal, we hadn't quite been prepared for the damage they could wreak.

   

We didn't just have to contend with the weather conditions but also the extreme pruning by the local wildlife.

We set up the camera just to check why all the fruit trees seemed to be suffering and to identify the culprits. Unfortunately I couldn't get all the video to download but this video from June made it pretty clear who was to blame!!!


We were able to keep the baths watered throughout the hot days and enjoyed some early carrots. I was so impressed that the purple ones grew, they were all extremely tasty, much better than any shop bought carrots.


This dahlia was a cheap plant bought in the sale section of a garden centre a few years ago. It spent the winter in the greenhouse before going outside in June. I was thrilled to see some large blooms appear in the bright sunshine.

In previous years we had seen this clematis growing up a tree in the garden but this year it obviously enjoyed the warm dry summer and produced the most beautiful display of deep red/crimson flowers.


In fact the flowers around the garden survived the drought and all the pots and troughs were overflowing with colour.


The best thing about July is the start of harvesting, this was a little meagre offering to begin with but brimming full of flavour and colour!

  

Sometimes it seemed like we were in the midst of a continual game of ready steady cook. We would go and collect the fruit and veg ready for picking and then try to design dinner around the ingredients. Not always a successful combination, we were certainly doing well in our quest for 5-a-day fruit and veg.


We were blessed with another few cycle rides and days out at the seaside, it was just a shame I developed a cycling shorts/t-shirt tan.


Halfway through July we decided to cut our losses and harvest the rest of the garlic. Sadly the early onset of summer must have coincided with the main growth period and with a serious lack of water the bulbs failed to swell as we had hoped. There were lots of garlic bulbs but they were extremely small. Thankfully they were flavoursome but I doubt they will see us through the winter. Still we'll have another go next year.


I took another photo from the gate so we could compare the changes in the orchard throughout the growing season. The trees from this angle looked quite healthy despite the hard dry ground.

Our little fig tree entered it's second season and decided to fruit. Sadly it split due to the heat and irregular watering but we are hoping for even more next year.


By the end of July the main veg bed was starting to look quite full with the onions flourishing and only a few starting to produce seed heads.


We had planted 2 different varieties of broad beans, one red and the other a dwarf green. They were both gorgeous and so we'll probably do both again next year. The brassicas on the far side of the beans were pushing up their netting so we had to take that off and keep a close eye on any caterpillar activity.


After the harvesting of the early potatoes this part of the main veg bed was starting to look a bit empty but the peas (foreground) and the French beans continued to grow well. That was until the deer decided they liked the taste of peas. Unfortunately we lost a lot of our produce to them, time for a rethink for next year.


The garden looked great with the grass freshly cut and the flowerbed edges trimmed. It was wonderful that we managed to sit and relax and enjoy the flowers and nature around us. One big bonus of the dry weather was the lack of midges, one thing I was not going to complain about.


Finally a delightful flower to finish off. Our Hemerocallis finally flowered this year, in fact it produced at least 4 large stunning blooms, such a beautiful sight after it's poor performance last year. It may seem like a long time ago but we had a glorious summer with much to be thankful for.