Well, yesterday’s gardening spilled over into today. We had plenty to do and today it was canning and freezing in. Fall has begun here as the first bed was cleaned and raked. We harvested the last of the comfrey and broadcasted the leaves over the plot surface. Then the borage on top of that, making a good beginning to the mulch layer fir the winter. As you can see, we are big believers in “green manure”. We use it a lot. At the back, you can see three French bean wigwams. They came down and that part of that bed was cleaned and an annex structure set up, should Blauhilda want to expand in the season’s remaining days. Blauhilde was showing her true colour. Picked a few of those as well as some Summer sprouting broccoli. Inside Blauhilde: The Runner beans are still going strong, you can see them in the back. There were more toms just hanging there and begging to be picked. I am afraid they got more than they asked for though. First the toms: That yellow splotch is sunlight, not illness. It took me a couple of minutes to realise that. Secondly, we began organising the various types for eating and for canning. Now, I cannot show you massive harvests like my colleague, Daniel…but I am none-the-less quite chuffed with my haul. The ones in front are the Roma’s our chief sauce tom. The tops of the jars are clicking as I sit here writing. Music to my ears. Oh yes, and the “more than they bargained for” remark— That yellow trug is full od suckers and leaf stems as well as flowers and small fruits that cannot make it before winter. A pity, but that is the reality. I could have filled 1 1/2 more trugs with all that foliage. It is always amazing how much foliage we remove during the course of the growing season. there was time to mow and strim the grass paths. As for the chip paths—we made a start on those, raking the useable chips off the top, removing the composted chips for the compost bins. The still useable chips were re-spread onto the path and the new chips on top of those. Ach, the pic just doesn’t do them justice. They look so good IRL. To wind this posting up, a couple of oddities— When we were dismantling the bean wigwams, my Bride found this: The clip was holding the bean vines onto the Tonkin sticks, and this little guy took a wrong turn. It was a puzzle getting him out. Then there is this view to give a better overall view: Now then, the two small holes in the cushion that the bean clippie is resting on. Do you see them? There is one below and one above and right of the clip. What is this! Do we have moths or something? No we have tits. Those little mormels stand on the cushions and pick them with their little beaks, pulling out tiny pieces of foam rubber. It is so bad that we must cover the cushions or take them into the house and close the door. Grrrr. Then I want to end with someone’s garden shoes. There are breaks and holes…and dirty. What do you think? Replace them or not? Well, this is the time of transition in the garden…and the jobs reflect that.
This is the best time to replace them. Hit the end of season sales!. I've been looking at end of season gardening sales the last few weeks. That bean is one of those, "you couldn't do that if you tried" things. Love the pictures! If my tomatoes don't hurry up I'll be picking greenish and ripening in the house. I missed a ripe one and something ate half of it. Then left the rest. It's better than taking one bite out of a potato then leaving the rest.
Thanks for your input, Willow. We will keep our eyes open for end of season sales. Yeah, that bean really got himself in a bind there. One year there were a couple of beans that grew into the split bursts of the Tonkin sticks. That was a dead end road!
