01.11.2011

What's happening in the Potager in November ?

At the moment I don’t know where to look for all the wonderful Autumnal fruit and vegetables that the Potager is yielding! Squashes, more quinces, apples that could fill truck loads, root vegetables and all this lovely fruit and only 3 meals a day!

Having just purchased Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s new Veg Book, I am deep into concocting luscious vegetable meals.

General Jobs

Still lots to do in the garden. For one thing, with all the wind we have had the leaves are falling and falling from our lovely trees. So don’t forget this is such an easy gardening compost wonder to make. Rake the leaves, put them into a wire round bin, pile them in and just forget them until next year. This is superb compost for heavy soils as when you incorporate it into your raised beds or pots it aerates the soil.

But mulching at this time of the year is a good idea anyway. So that compost you have been lovingly tending to is now ready to be spread out and left to work its magic.

Tip: if your soil is a clay soil, add grit or sharp sand and dig in – another way of opening up the soil.

Seeds

Seeds are pretty much all done now, although you can still collect them from the sturdy Phlomis, the Sedums (when they have completely gone over) and other herbaceous flowers and plants. These feed the birds and look good when the snow comes. Did I say snow?!

Some of the sunflowers I grew I left in a protected area in the sun and they have been bird food for a while. I brought this in because it was so pretty! You can an do this too, bring in the dessicated flower heads and make tied bunches or use in the upcoming....dare I say....Christmas decorations!

Planning

I take this time of the year to plan my seed orders for vegetables and other plants. It’s a magical time – I get very excited at what I can grow next year, there is always something new to try.

It will also be time to winter prune apple and pear trees where necessary. Not yet though, it’s too mild and the leaves are still on the trees at the moment. Best to wait until it gets much colder when trees are fully dormant.

I don’t feed any of my fruit but that’s just me – What does not survive is taken away and I plant something else. The garden has to work hard for me.

Tip: do not prune plums in winter as there is a risk of silver leaf infection due to wetter conditions. This needs to be done in Summer. But you can hang moth traps!

What can you harvest and eat

Here is the list of what is available fruit & veg to harvest in the Potager.

- Apples
- Pears
- Squash!!!! This year is a great year for them
- Spring Onions are really good this year
- Spinach and salad leaves
- Celeriac – excellent for mash or in salad
- Carrots
- Chard
- Lots of root veg like parsnips & Kohl rabi
- Radish
- Scorzonera
- Leeks for those lovely soups and pies
- Broccoli
- Chicory
- Kale like Cavolo Nero
- Jerusalem artichoke

Sowing & planting out fruit & veg

You can still sow or plant these vegetable:

- Garlic cloves
- Onion sets or shallots
- Broad beans for cropping next year
- Peas

In the fruit department ......

- Rhubarb
- Bare root apple trees and pear trees
- Plum trees and gages
- Peaches and nectarines
- Cherries
- Figs
- Soft fruit like Raspberries, strawberries, Gooseberries, currants of all colours, Blueberries!

Tip: the nursery where you order your fruit trees from will send them out when the last leaves on the trees have fallen and will post you/send you the bare rooted fruity goodness in good time. Check out our newsletter part 2 this month for advice on how to plant them.

 

In the greenhouse

If you have not washed down and cleaned your greenhouse, do it now, before it becomes too cold and any water you use freezes up.

Pesky pests and disease

Remove all the old crop leaves and other detritus and any rotting elements. Remove yellowing leaves especially from your brassicas (that’s cabbage family to you and me) as slugs love them and we definitely do not want to encourage these little guys.

It is time to tie grease bands around the trunks of apple trees to protect against the female winter moth. I don’t do usually do this but this year I have decided to trial it on a few trees and see if it make a difference. We garden organic anyway but it’s always good to trial things.

Tip: Don’t forget our tip on using snakes to scare birds off, see last month’s pesky pest tip!

What can you eat from seasonal Meat & Game?

It is the season to indulge in new meats and game along the usual beef and Lamb. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Meat book is a great book to learn about good husbandry and what choices cuts you should be aiming for in your cooking.

- Beef
- Lamb
- Goose
- Guinea Fowl
- Rabbit
- Venison

What can you eat on the Fish & Shellfish front?

Again we include this list – as I mentioned last month, I decided to include this for you after being riveted by the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s campaign on eating sustainably sourced fish from our shores. And we are an island after all!

- Brill
- Plaice
- Sole
- Black Bream
- Red Mullet
- Mackerel
- Whiting
- Herring
- Turbot – Farmed onshore open circuit system
- Brown Crab
- Native Oysters
- Cuttlefish & Squid
- Whelks