Monday 30 September 2019

Apple Harvest



I know, I know, you were expecting a post on upcycling a bed into a raised bed this weekend.  I have actually finished that project now and it looks great, but I've been so poorly with tonsilitis that I've not had a chance to write it up yet. I'll try to get that written up this week ready for you to have a go next weekend if you want to.

In the meantime thought I'd pop my head round the door and show you our latest harvests.

After the hackening our tomatoes have started to ripen. I managed to catch a picture of some of them before they were devoured by my children. People keep asking me if they taste better than supermarket ones but I couldn't tell you because the children haven't let me have one yet!
As you can see, some of them are still green and on the vine.  That's because I accidentally broke that vine when trying to reach a ripe tomato.  I've put it in the basket with some ripe ones to ripen on the windowsill. In the next couple of days, before the frosts arrive, I'll be cutting all of the vines and hanging them in the window to ripen. Those that don't ripen will be made into green tomato chutney. I've never tried to do that before so if I end up making some I'll talk you through the process.

Our main harvest today was apples.

It's hard to believe all of those apples came from one dwarf tree! I'll be saving the best to try and store for the children's packed lunches, but will be making most into apple pies, apple sauce, and pectin for jams  and jellies (if I can work out how to store it, since we have no plums this year to make into jam). I really want an apple press! Pressed apple juice is my favourite, and cider one of few alcoholic drinks I actually like.

The tree looks relieved to have given up her fruit, she was so laden down her top branches were almost touching the floor. 

I've left a few of the more manky looking apples at the base of the tree to rot down over winter and feed the insects (so therefore the birds) and the soil, and after picking them all I gave the tree the same organic feed to give to the tomatoes, mixed with rain water. That's not a gardening tip - it's really more of a witch thing to want to thank the garden after harvest - but I've always given my trees a feed or a mulch after they've given me fruit, and they've always seemed grateful for it. Just remember if you're mulching a tree - whether that's with cut grass, bark mulch, leaf mold, or manure - not to let the mulch touch the trunk/stem itself.  It'll make the trunk soggy and that could lead to disease or damage. Leave the trunk a little room to breathe, the worms will take the mulch down into the soil for you to release the nutrients around the roots. 

Now is also a good time to check your fruit trees for any signs of damage (when the tree is heavy  with fruit and it's windy you can end up with split or snapped branches) and tend to it now before winter sets in.

It's new moon here (or close enough for my purposes) so I'm going to try planting some peas to see if they'll overwinter. I'm doubtful but I've read up on it and the variety 'Meteor' is supposed to be very hardy, so I'll let you know how it goes.

Happy growing!

3 comments:

  1. Mulch! I have looked for that here in the garden centres, but haven't had any success, not sure what the Dutch words is, but from what you are saying I could make my own! I need it for the rhododendrons, and it wouldn't hurt some of my other plants either. Can you make your own?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I use all sorts of different things for mulch. Never paid for it!

      I'm not sure what the nutritional needs are for rhododendrons. If they like a lot of nitrogen you can mulch them with cut grass, or chopped up nettles (I don't do that often because I always forget they sting until it's too late 😂, but they're very nitrogen rich). If they prefer a carbon rich feed, something like old woodchips would be great (not new ones though, they can be a bit too harsh as they break down, or sawdust (I it's already been used by rabbits or pet rodents, even better). If the plant is a heavy feeder, well rotted manure or rotted chicken manure is a great mulch (again not fresh, as that can burn the leaves). I think you can buy those, if you haven't got a friendly farmer nearby. And pretty much all plants like leaf mold, so piling dead leaves around the base of the plants would work as a mulch.

      Delete
    2. You got me curious enough to look it up - rhododendrons like ericaceous compost (which means they like an acid soil), so I think a mulch of pine needles would be great for them.

      Delete

Comments here aren't moderated, so exercise caution when following links from other commenters, and please speak to each other as you'd wish people to speak to you.