Kitchen Garden Forum

Well looking out of the window in the East wing, you wouldn’t think it was late Autumn!
Despite a couple of sharp frosts this week, all the bedding plants are still flowering, dahlia’s were untouched and most of the shrubs and trees are still in full leaf….not sure if this will help the fruit trees have a bumper crop next year, since they have had an extended growing season…only time will tell…..

It certainly felt late autumnal yesterday. Warmer in the evening but that may have been a little illusory as I was dressed assuming it was going to be really cold.

I think it is time to move and split one of my rhubarb. I have a spot ready...

You can’t beat a bit of forward planning, Stephen…

I've just tied in Loch Ness the blackberry after cutting out last years fruiting stems. Now, why is the thornless one called Loch Ness and the thorny one Fantasia....as it's Fantasia that is a monster full of thorns and Loch Ness a fantasia of thornless stems....

Invicta gooseberries pruned too....so a couple of jobs done in the back garden this morning. Co-op sausage and mash for lunch, a bit of a cop out that but it is with peas from the back garden via the freezer and stewed Blenheim Orange apple for pud, apples from the other garden just up the road...

C.

Words used are strange things sometimes, Clive….

Your lunch sounds like a veritable feast!!

I’ve just taken a trailer load of horse muck over to the allotment and put it on the communal heap!

Most certainly leek miner is involved.

As well as the tracks the damn beasts were clearly present, some red some black.

However the red cabbage is nice.

These days, one out of two seems a good result….growing good crops is definitely getting tougher.

If you find it tough OH how am I, as a mere mortal, to manage?

The undergardener found this bit of reading for me. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/mar/24/how-tao-beat-allium-leaf-miner-leeks

I see Stephen mentioned splitting his rhubarb. How many of you who grow it cover the crowns up once the leaves have died back, either with a cover to force it or just with earth? Or do you leave the crown exposed over winter?

I just leave mine exposed, Primrose….and yes, I am about my Rhubarb….

I hope Monika is okay, as she hasn’t been on the forum for a while! I have sent her a PM but, had no reply….

Yes I hope so too. Perhaps and hopefully just distracted with other activities or possibly temporarily unable to log into the internet for some reason.

I just mulch around the rhubarb leaving the crowns uncovered but I do force one each year on a rotational basis with a large plant pot.

The last time I dug a rhubarb plant out and divided it I had no idea what a tough job it was going to be. Almost needed to hire one of those commercial diggers to get the roots out. Never really sure how long you should leave them before dividing.

I would certainly miss Monika here, so hope everything is ok in Yorkshire.
Primrose, I moved thubarb crowns at my volunteer garden a winter ago and, with copious manure they came up wonderfully. So much so that I pulled a few, very few, sticks. Yes, there was a lot of digging to make the holes big enough!