3rd November 2022

Welcome to our Winter diary

After a warm October the weather is definitely getting colder and the rain very welcome after our 8 week drought in the summer.

The vegetable garden still has carrots, beetroot, spinach and chard. We have picked all the butternut squash but the asparagus ferns are still green. The asparagus beds are about 15 years old so a new bed has been prepared for a variety new to us-Gijnlim, which arrives this week. We have 12 plants and this new bed will eventually replace the existing one.

The runner beans are still producing- but too tough to eat, and the kale will be our new harvest. Apples have cropped heavily this year and we have made and frozen gallons of apple juice plus storing some. Tomatoes are still good but in error some were picked and I have made jars of green tomato chutney.

The autumn has been very warm and the foliage not as spectacular as most autumns but we still have dahlia and cosmos in flower and the odd rose. The nerines along the garden wall have been fantastic and the passionflower is still in full bloom.

We have had a big tidy of the iris bed and it produced enough spare rhizomes for 4 times its length. We have some very special iris but overtime they have become mixed up. I have found some spare ground and we have planted most of the spares and it will be a challenge trying to select the colours and put them in blocks. Don’t hold your breath!

All pots have now been moved to the Greenhouse and we are busy with hedges, clearing away leaves and cutting back where we can.

The swans all left but we have had 2 cygnets return back to the moat. We are in a danger area for bird flu but so far we have seen no signs. Squirrels however, are everywhere, and the moles are definitely back.

Stay healthy and good gardening

Lynda Tucker