The last few months have been pretty challenging. Illness and injury have prevented us from doing much. I got sciatica, tore all the ligaments in my foot and over the summer months my daughter was hospitalised with meningitis for three weeks. I honestly feel like we’ve taken a bit of a battering.
As a result of all this we have made some really difficult decisions and have decided downsize our set-up. This means that we no longer have the land that we had the chickens on, and they have had to go and live with my Dad. He’s sending us regular updates and photos, particularly for my son, who is missing his chicken horribly. Thankfully we will be able to visit them regularly and can still get some chicken cuddles.
We currently have our semi-feral, ridiculously friendly cat living in the garage. Once upon a time, before she lived here, she was a domestic cat. And hated it. When she came to us she was quite aggressive and didn’t much like people. We’re hoping that she’s happy enough here that she could eventually live in the house with access to the wider world via the kitchen door. She adores my daughter and follows her everywhere so it just might be possible.
Now I’m back on my feet again (literally) I have to go down to the allotment and do some serious tidying. At this time of year many people will be thinking about putting their gardens ‘to bed’, but down on the veg patch it’s time make early sowings and plantings of fruit, vegetables and flowers so that you a head start on the year ahead. You can start off cauliflower, broad beans, peas, onions and garlic, making great use of bare soil and giving you earlier crops next season. Planting salad leaves now may give you a small crop before winter but then the plants will go dormant and not start growing again until March, when they’ll give you an early crop of fresh salad leaves. Move pots to a greenhouse to protect them from the worst of the weather.
October also marks the beginning of bare-root planting season, so you can plant bare-root apples, pears and other fruit trees, along with fruiting shrubs such as blackcurrants and gooseberries.
Bare-root trees are normally cheaper to buy than potted ones and are widely available to buy online. When your tree arrives start by digging a hole big enough to accommodate the roots and add compost to the base of the hole. Next, hammer a stake in to support the tree, place the tree in the hole and fill the hole with soil, pressing it down firmly around the roots as you fill. Secure the trunk of the tree to the stake with a tree tie, mulch and water well.
Green-Fingered Mum 