We have finally had some rain not lots but enough to give the ground some much needed moisture and us a day off of watering. However, it has also given the slugs something to smile about so the aggressive slug control has commenced, I have treated the kitchen garden with Nemaslug this week and scattered advanced slug killer around all our brassicas and spinach as these are particularly attractive to the slugs and snails.
The Brussel sprouts are forming nicely so have started removing the bottom leaves, although they will yellow and fall off on their own it is better to remove them or they will attract even more slugs if left on the ground. I will remove the tops in October to really encourage the Sprouts to fill out and give us some nice juicy Brussel sprouts for our Christmas dinner.
This week I have been getting the raised bed ready for our autumn Mikulov Garlic nothing really compares to growing your own fresh garlic, the smell is always amazing and the quality and size is far superior to anything you could buy in a super market. For anyone thinking of giving it ago this year our Allotment raised bed kits would be great for growing a crop of garlic in this winter and it will be ready for a late spring harvest next year. I have prepared our raised bed by giving it a good digging over and adding some manure and maxi crop seaweed meal. I haven’t added too much manure 
as garlic likes a well-drained soil and manure can make the soil more water retentive but it will give it enough nutrients to produce a good crop.
Our apples this year have been disappointing we have had a small crop of both cooking and eating apples but they have been much better in previous years. I think the weather this year can take a lot of the blame for this as it has been very humid with very little rain and although the apples were thinned out in the summer I think next year they will need thinning out more ruthlessly, I took them down to three per branch but I think next year I will take them down to two.
Of course, as this year’s growing plan is reaching completion it is time to start planning next years, so I have also been doing that this week. It is so important to plan ahead when growing in a kitchen garden or allotment. We will be getting our yearly delivery of manure soon and we need to know which of the raised beds will need it and which ones won’t. Not all of the vegetables we grow like manure some like a lighter soil with less organic matter such as carrots, that will grow much better without it.
Elsewhere in the garden the peach, nectarine and plum trees have had their yearly prune ready for winter these will be covered with our fruit tree covers when the first frosts start to threaten us.
