It was a gloriously beautiful day yesterday - which meant that there had been quite a hard frost overnight and although very sunny it was also quite cold. So we went to the allotment to have a look at what was going on. We decide to pull the tomato plants - they were still producing flowers and tiny fruit, but the tops had been caught by the frost and it's really a bit late now for tomatoes to ripen. We took home the unripe fruit, which may ripen in the kitchen. Otherwise it's fried green tomatoes for breakfast (but not at the Whistlestop Cafe!). I also took some small side shoots from the plants. I thought I might see if they strike if I pop them in a pot and keep them somewhere warm. I am not optimistic about this, but one of the garden blogs that I read says that its author does this nearly every year, usually successfully. So there is now beetroot, leeks and brassicas on the allotment, although the brassicas a spring producing, rather than autumn producing so there won't be anything to eat from them for a while.
We let the ducks and chickens out of the orchard yesterday. The only thing that is now growing is the chard and they didn't show much interest in that. Wouldn't matter much if they did, the chard would almost certainly grow back. But as it happens they ignored the chard and pottered about for the afternoon seeking out slugs and snails and insects and other tasty morsels. We should do it more often. They're good little garden clearers :-)
It is now time to start clearing the flower garden for the winter. I want to dig up the seaside daisies that are in the beds and bring them inside. I am also intending to dig out the fern that is growing by the side of the pond. It's not coming inside though. It's going. It is a bit too big for where it is and it doesn't really fit with the rest of the garden. I was going to put it in our garden waste bin - but the under Gardener thought it might as well get chucked into the chook run. They might enjoy destroying it and it doesn't really matter if they don't. It can always be used to mulch the currant bushes in the spring.
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| Looking from our bedroom window |
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| Puddling about in the vegetable beds |
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| Out exploring |
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| The ice in certain bits of the garden didn't melt at all |
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