The start of this week was still unseasonably warm and dry so regular watering continued in the Kitchen Garden and the greenhouse, but the end of the week saw the arrival of gale force winds that have wreaked havoc! The garden is full of leaves and twigs but these will remain now until next week as another storm is forecast for us on Sunday with some more much needed rain. Even now the ground is still very dry when you dig down just a few inches.
As we have held on to the warm weather the outside tomatoes have continued to ripen but the plants are now starting to die back so the remaining green tomatoes have been hung in the greenhouse to ripen. The greenhouse tomatoes are still going strong so will be left for another week or so. The aubergines and peppers are still providing a good crop too so we will continue to feed them and if the night time temperature continues to drop the greenhouse heater will be put on for them. The runner beans are finally slowing down but the French beans have started to flourish again with new growth now climbing up the bean frame and providing more small sweet beans.
This week we have had the task of the annual cutting of the yew hedging so it is tidy and crisp for the coming winter. This was started on Monday and with temperatures reaching 23 degrees it was hot sticky work but so well worth it. When tackling any aerial garden tasks such as hedge trimming and topiary a safe, comfortable platform to work from is an absolute must and we highly recommend the Niwaki Tripod Ladder for this task.
As the winter squashes are quite large now they have been lifted from the bare soil and onto something more solid and dry to encourage them to grow on and to prevent them from rotting. The ‘Cream of the Crop’ squash that we have harvested has been left in the greenhouse for a few days for the skins to harden before storage.
