My Tiny Plot

Is it me, or is this Autumn really, really mild? I don’t usually have Cos Lettuce still standing in the garden at this time of year. Even my Calendula is STILL going. There has been no sign of frost whatsoever and the last of my Tomatoes are still ripening, albeit very slowly.

I’m a bit perturbed to be honest. Anyone else experiencing the everlasting season? What have you still got that you aught not to have?

I’ve been reading The Wonderful Weekend Book, by Elspeth Thompson. It’s full of great ideas on simple, feel-good type things that you might want to do at the weekend, like writing letters, having a real fire and baking bread. I think you’d go a bit mad if you did all of the things that Elspeth suggests - after all Homebase do do quite a nice line in chocolate croissants. But one thing she suggested did catch my eye - ‘create a nature table’.

Why not? So when the rain cleared we donned our wellies and off we went. Where I live is quite rural so, we didn’t have to go far before we started to find lots of natury type stuff. We found leaves of every Autumn colour, spiky horsechestnuts, acorns, feathers and even mushrooms. We had great fun.

What I realised is that all this stuff had been on the floor every time we’d been on a walk recently, I just hadn’t bothered to pick it up or even notice it really. And when you bring it indoors it takes on a whole different look.

We took it all back home and ‘played’ with it for a while. I even tried to identify some of the leaves but soon realised that I couldn’t and turned to Google to help me out - very smart that Google.

We arranged our stuff on a tray and put it on the window-ledge. The next day however, our nature table didn’t look so great. The leaves had shrivelled up and some little grub-like things had come out of the mushroom. Hmmm… Oh well, still a wholesome activity.

After getting over my grumpiness and admitting that the season is well and truly over I decided to cheer myself up my watching the ‘October’ episode of A Victorian Kitchen Garden. Harry looked a bit despondent too as he watched the temperature fall and stored his Apples in his (albeit totally fab) fruit store.

Then he turned to sowing. He talked about how at this time of year he would sow some Winter hardy Cauliflower. From that sowing he would be able to create a succession of Cauliflower come early Summer next year. Once the seedlings were strong enough he would pot them up, put one batch in his heated greenhouse, one in his coldframe and the others would go outside to battle the Winter weather.

The different treatment of the seedlings would either bring them on, or knock them back accordingly and therefore create a succession. The added benefit is that by over-wintering them you reduce the risk of them being attacked by pests. By the time the Spring pests arrive your Caulis will be big, strapping plants getting ready for harvest. In theory they should be able to withstand the average attack (in theory).

So, I’m taking Harry’s advice. The first thing to go in my coldframe will be Avalanche, a Winter-hardy variety of Cauliflower.

My coldframe is finished and ready for some Winter action. Only five months late but hey one can’t have everything. I had hoped to be growing Melon in there this year but it just wasn’t done in time. Firstly, it wasn’t built so Under Gardener took care of that. Then there was no frame on it, so same builder took care of that. And then it wasn’t angle-ground into a nice slopey-slope, so builder took care of that. And then it wasn’t weatherproofed, and so I took care of that. But now, well now it’s finished. Hmmm…now what can I put in there?

Here’s the work in progress shots:

Step One:

I based the design on the coldframes I saw at The Lost Gardens of Heligan. First, choose some nice bricks and start building. We had some handmade bricks left over from our garden redesign. Use a string line and a spirit level like proper builders do otherwise it will be wonky. We used ready-made motar. It was fine.

Make the back of your coldframe higher than the front. Not too steep, just one or two bricks higher. This is to let in as much light as possible.

Start making the frame for the top. It’s basically three window panes stuck together. We watched the builder do this. Pretty skilled work actually. I think it would be a good idea to get the pros in for this bit - like we did.

Then the frame is fixed to a baton that runs across the back wall of the coldframe. This acts as the lid and can be opened and closed. He also used an angle-grinder to make the brick sides of the coldframe completely flush. Don’t try this at home kids - eye protection at the ready!

The frame was then glazed - in our case with perspex since we’ve got a little un’. And maybe you can see in the photo the glazing ‘runs’ off the edge to let the water run off and avoid rotting the frame. All very neat.

So there you have it. How to build a Victorian-esque coldframe! All I have in there at the moment are some Strawberry plants and an ailing Chilli.

Don’t forget to pot up some Parsley for Winter. Just dig up a few roots and pop them up in pots. Snip off half of the leaves so that they have chance to spring back and put them in your cold frame or greenhouse. There, they can over-winter and you’ll have Parsley all year round. Very useful for all those hearty Fish Pies I’m planning on making.

You can do the same with Mint, Oregano and Chives. Nothing like fresh Mint in your Mojito at Christmas huh?

Here’s the view from my potting shed where I’ll be cowering from the weather for the next few months. I just cleaned the glass on the window which makes it look super-tidy but normally there are spider webs and stuff all over it.

My Onions are hanging up on either side of the window. My tools leaning on the wall and a box full of Pea sticks is underneath.

You can see in the garden that my Tomatoes are hanging on - leafless as they are. There are still a few ripe ones but I’ll probably have at least enough green ones to stock up on some Green Tomato Chutney. Just a little window (excuse the pun) into my world.

What does the view look like from your potting shed (or just shed).

A couple of weeks ago my Ghost Rider Pumpkin looked like this. It was fully green and unripe.

Now it’s ripening well. However, the frosts are just around the corner and I’m worried it won’t fully ripen in time for Halloween (there’s still a patch of green on one side). The plant itself is dying off which means that its ripen power is waning. If a frost comes it will knock the plant back even further.

My Pumpkin is in the sunny part of the garden that still gets a lot of Autumn sun. But I’ve also tactfully removed some of the leaves that were shading the it. And rotated it so that the greenest part is facing the sun. Bottom line, I’ve done everything I can do to get it to perfection for the 31st. And I’m sure it will get there.

But… if yours is still green - you can’t eat unripe Pumpkins but you can carve them. Who can tell if the Pumpkin is green or orange when it’s dark?

I managed to get in half an hour in the garden today. I started to clear away some of the crops that were starting to look a bit straggly, like the Climbing French Beans and most of the Tomatoes (there are a few still left hanging on). But it was such a beautiful Autumn day that I couldn’t resist taking some photos too. Here is my Ghost Rider pumpkin. Last week it was green, this week it has turned orange. Just in time for Halloween!

Now that I’ve harvested all of my Grapes the vine has started to show its Autumn colour. Just the tips of the leaves are changing but I think we’re in for a pretty spectacular display from this one.

My Calendula is STILL producing flowers - I’m amazed. It has been flowering all Summer long. Just before I went on holiday I cut it back quite hard. When I came home it was covered in flowers again and it’s still going. Wow! If any cut flower is worth its place in the kitchen garden it’s this one.

The last, lonesome Apple is picked from my espalier. But boy will it taste good!

The whole time our cat, Candy, was lay dozing in the sun - ‘well thanks for your help girl, couldn’t have done it without ya!’.

My existing Strawberry bed is three years old. While it still has some life left in it, I’m plotting a new Strawberry bed already. I’ll probably leave the plants I already have in the ground for one more year, while at the same time starting a new one in a different part of the garden. That way there will be some overlap and I shouldn’t be left with my Strawberry baskets empty.

The Strawberry plants I’ve already got are pretty good (no idea what variety they are as a friend gave them to me). I’m using them as stock to create my new bed. I have five new plants at the moment. I’ll probably aim for around six or eight.

I started them off by letting a few Strawberry runners root in the soil. Once they had put down small roots I gently pulled them up and, while still attached to the mother plant, planted them up in terracotta pots, as you see above. When they have taken strong root I will snip them off from the plant and over winter them in my cold frame. Then in early Spring I’ll plant them out in their new bed.

Anyone recommend a specific variety of Strawberry. I’ve heard that Marshmello is quite good.

I love it when people take something that is universally U-G-L-Y and make it better. We spend so much time in our gardens - what makes manufacturers think that we want to look at a hunk of green (or black) plastic where our water butt must go?

We don’t. We want to look at this beautiful creation instead. It’s not a water butt, it’s a rain collector. Therein, lies the difference.

I want one!