Kitchen Garden October 2023

If you love growing your own food, you'll surely love the autumn. Harvesting is at its peak, and we are busy picking and processing all those wonderful crops that will help to feed us through the winter. It's when we reap the benefits from all that weeding, watering and tending to our plots during the earlier part of the year, and I'm even including the marrowsized courgettes I just discovered hidden in the undergrowth! It's also a time to start thinking about the year ahead – what worked for you last season, what didn't and what you might like to grow in 2024. Always an enjoyable exercise over a hot cuppa. In this issue Stephanie Hafferty looks at some cheap and simple ways to store your produce while for those…

STORE SUPPORTS Take down and store supports once climbing crops like beans are finished. Remove any bits of string and foliage and store away neatly – you'll be grateful you did so next spring! COMPOST TRENCH Prepare compost trenches where you will be planting beans or squash next season. Dig a trench, fill with kitchen scraps then backfill with soil to rot down over winter. CUT CABBAGES Harvest and enjoy cabbages as they reach a usable size. Cut the main head of leaves then make an incision into the stump to stimulate a second cut of smaller leaves. PLANT SALADS Finish planting hardy salads early in the month. Cover with cloches once it gets colder to keep them growing for longer. After a winter lull they will give lots of…

JOBS FOR THE MONTH CLEAR OLD CROPS Cooler temperatures and poorer light levels mean that any remaining tomatoes will struggle to ripen on the plant. Instead, gather the stragglers and bring them indoors where the extra warmth should hurry things along. Leave tomatoes out on the countertop with a ripe banana or two. Bananas release ethylene, a gas that helps to speed ripening along. Any stubbornly green tomatoes that remain can always be turned into chutney. Disentangle tomato and cucumber vines from any twine then pull them up and add to the compost heap. Cleared beds can then be planted with winter salads or improved with their own sowing of green manure. Alternatively, top up beds with an inch layer of organic matter to recharge the soil ready for next…

WISE WORDS “What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it.” (Charles Dudley Warner, American writer) “Have you viewed us on YouTube yet?” POTATOES, BROCCOLI AND CHILLIES Steve always plants some early potatoes in bags in March as he doesn't have enough space to plant sufficient in the ground for his needs. They stopped growing some time ago, but with the tops removed and the compost dry, they store well in a sheltered spot or greenhouse. These are ‘Charlotte’. As the shampoo ads tell you – just rinse and go! Emma sowed some broccoli raab ‘60 day’ in cell trays. Apparently this produces its ‘broccoli’ flower heads as quickly as 60 days from sowing. What she didn't expect was them to flower in six…

PINE CONE BIRD FEEDERS Hi! I'm Belle and I'm here every month to share lots of fun activities for you to do at home, on your own or with your family The birds start getting extra hungry at this time of year, as the weather begins to cool and food resources in the wild begin to reduce. We can help them to stay energised and warm by making them feeders full of food. Using pine cones and all natural ingredients is great for birds and us, as it means they are super healthy and also won't damage the environment. They are also super fun and messy to make! YOU WILL NEED: ■ Collected pine cones ■ Twine or string – cut into single pieces of about 20cm long ■ Mixing…

UK SEES RED! The wildlife charity, Butterfly Conservation, has revealed a huge surge in sightings of the red admiral, with people throughout the country reporting seeing the butterfly while taking part in Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count. Although a familiar butterfly across the UK and found in all types of habitat, somewhat surprisingly it is a migrant species, travelling from North Africa and continental Europe. However, in recent years, scientists are seeing an indication that numbers have increased, and that the species is now overwintering in the UK, particularly in the South of England. With temperatures increasing, the red admiral's need to return to its southerly winter habitat is reducing, which means it is possible there will be a greater number of the species spending the winter in the UK.…