Bits and Bobs Autumn 2010

[alan refail]

The summer thread has gone quiet and Mis Medi (Harvest month - September) is here, so maybe it's time for a new thread.

The nights are drawing in and the mornings are pretty dark, especially on dull days like today; the equinox only just over a week away. Wonderful time of year.

The house is full of the scent of red tomato and red pepper chutney. I've started picking apples. The tomatoes are producing kilos rather than pounds. Peppers and chilis are ripening. Pumpkins are ripening, borlotti are filling up. Two days ago I finished sowing overwintering crops for the polytunnel: salads, pak choi, oriental mustards, brassicas, herbs, bunching onions.

Summer is over and it's a new start already.

[oldherbaceous]

Good thinking, Alan.

I was only talking to someone yesterday, about how much i love the different seasons.

Soon be time to shuffle through the leaves along the path through Milton Bryan, just as i have done every year since a very young lad.
And i still enjoy it, as much now as i did then.

[alan refail]

The first flowers are now open on the ivy; soon they will be in full flower. That's when we see how many bees and other pollinators are around - thousands rather than hundreds round each stand of ivy. Pity ivy flowers so late in the year; but I suppose it gives the insects a good start for the months ahead.

[Johnboy]

Hi Alan,
Ivy keeps many a bird alive with their very late berries.
Certainly the pigeons and blackbirds benefit but the only snag to that is the volunteer Ivy plants that spring up all over the plot!
JB.

[peter]

Depressing how many of my local farmers run the rotating chain & bolt hedge cutters over every hedge. All the autumn fruits mashed, the sturdier growth shattered and splintered and the fresh growth evaporated. The older reciprocating knives cutter was neater for small hedge and they used to leave the larger badges alone.....
As for when hedges were laid properly by hand.....

[alan refail]

As for when hedges were laid properly by hand.....

And farm labour was plentiful and paid a pittance...

[Primrose]

Yes, autumn is truly here. The pyracantha berries have been orange for two weeks now and I wondered how long it would be before the first scavanging birds arrived. Looked out of the window this morning, and noticed that now the wood pigeons have stripped bare my next door neighbour's elderberry trees, they're now attacking the pyracantha berries.

Meanwhile, we're slowly eating our way through the tomato mountain, and if another winter of discontent arrives, we have a full freezer and store cupboard to fall back on. I hate the darker nights and chillier evenings but love the changing colours and that distinct smell of autumn in the breeze. And above all, the satisfaction that all my vegetable growing efforts have come to satisfactory fruition despite the unpredictable nature of the weather. I suspect that's why the traditional Harvest Festival celebrations have always been so important. especially for those in rural communities who are closer to the soil and nature.

[Geoff]

I wouldn't rely on the freezer - three day week and power cuts coming.

[Primrose]

Well Geoff, looking on the downside, if we lose all the stuff in our freezer, we now have an inventory of what's in there, down to the last pea, so at least the insurance company won't be able to argue about it !
(On second thoughts, I shouldn't be so smug. I've had to do battle with insurance companies before).

[oldherbaceous]

But there could always be a brighter side for the freezer, we might get the coldest Winter on record, so it won't matter if the freezer is working or not.

[Geoff]

It was a bit hairy up fruit trees this afternoon clearing the Victorias and Grenadiers.

[Monika]

Very autumnally wild here today - driving rain this morning and brilliant blue sky this afternoon with tremendous winds! I love autumn (it always seems to hold the promise of something better to come, somehow) and, like you, OH, I still love shuffling through piles of leaves. On my walk from our village into the nearest market town I pass under lots of massive trees, mainly small-leaved lime and beech, and when they shed their leaves, the whole path is thickly covered. It's lovely to walk through that.

[oldherbaceous]

Has anyone tried these Runner Beans before, Moonlight, self pollinating and Stardust, some self pollination.

Sounds to good to be true.

[Primrose]

No, haven't heard of them. I didn't realise any runner beans were self pollinating - only climbing French beans. If that is the case, I wonder why they are not recommended for being grown more regularly, especially as many people have problems with their runner beans setting in difficult weather conditions. Hopefully somebody will have heard of them and can come up with some more information.

[donedigging]

Good evening OH,

Have never heard of these before either...can only find Moonlight from Marshalls,
very small harvest this year from mine, so will be giving them ago..nothing too lose