Stephanie's Garden Blog

The cold weather means that the woodfire is now being used in the house and we regularly collect the ash to use in the kitchen garden. The wood ash is a great helper in the garden

We have had our first frosts this week so I am really glad that our delicate plants are either in the greenhouse or covered up with the winter garden fleece protection.

We have had some lovely winter sunshine this week in the kitchen garden, and some very active squirrels who have been busy burying the horse chestnuts that are now falling from the trees.

It has been another week of tidying in the kitchen garden especially in the greenhouse. The long sweet peppers and bell peppers have been harvested and all the plants removed along with the aubergines and we have harvested an amazing crop of sweet potatoes.

We have definitely been making the most of our waterproofs this week we have had lots of rain and a few thundery downpours. We have a few peppers that are still showing promise of ripening but it's pretty much the end of the summer greenhouse plants.

It's that time of year when we have our big autumnal tidy up, clearing and getting ready for winter.

With the threat of lowering temperatures, we have been able to plant the garlic out. This year we are growing elephant and Mikulov and we are growing them in one of our superior wooden raised beds

This week we have started our autumnal jobs around the garden. The beds have been weeded, the lawns have been scarified and some areas re-seeded and the lavender and roses have had their autumn prune.

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,