Big things, little things

Elephant garlic cloves

Early October, and it's time to sow broad beans and garlic.  I've been waiting until I can find time to beef up the soil for them, by burying some old garden compost in the beds, with some shredded paper to help water retention in case we have a dry winter.  (Waterlogging is not a problem we suffer from here.)  The garlic bed in particular needs to be well fertilised.  A neighbour and I have entered into an elephant garlic pact: he has given me two massive cloves (each 7.5cm/3 inches long and chunky to boot) and the deal is that, in return, I give him some from my crop next year, so I need to make sure that they grow well!  Reminder to self: water well in winter and spring, and feed in January.  I'll also sow some cloves from this year's store; I got a big crop of very small bulbs (my fault - dry weather and no watering!), so there are plenty to put back in the ground.

The giant apple on the scales

Another Big Thing is the apple that was blown down from the cooking apple tree by the recent winds (the tail-end of a Caribbean hurricane; another is on its way tonight).  684 grammes (over 1lb 8oz) - the biggest apple so far this year.  I've already picked a good few but there are plenty left on the tree.  The birds don't seem to have gone for them so far; a blackbird appears in the garden very occasionally, but I suspect they're all out in the hedgerows enjoying the berries, and the fieldfares haven't arrived yet.  A pair of mistle thrushes were in the big ash tree one day, but neither they nor the woodpeckers appear to have paid the apples a visit.  As for other birds, the swallows and house martins are gone but the willow warbler is still around and occasionally coming to the patio for water; there are also at least three coal tits and a family of long-tailed tits about.  And, as I write, the sparrowhawk has just flown past the window (empty-clawed this time).

Berries in the hedgerows

Back on the subject of Big Things, the dogwood (Cornus sibirica variegata) needs taking in hand.  Last winter I didn't cut it back - latest advice is that it shouldn't be done every year - and as a result it is now a handsome bush but it has really spread beyond its allotted space, smothering a rose ('Mousseline') and in danger of overpowering the peony ('Sarah Bernhardt').  It will be butchered in the old style, ie to the base, come late winter.

Little carrots from the trough

In the greenhouse, the last of the tomatoes are ripening and the little aubergines are ready for picking.  Some rocket and mizuna is germinating in small troughs for winter greens, and the tray of pea shoots is still cropping nicely.  The lettuces have been left in their modules as they're growing well and are safer there than outside in slug-land (the beer traps have only been partially successful; the pak choi is fairly ok, but there has been some slug and flea beetle damage).  Other unwelcome Little Things are the cabbage white caterpillars on the brassicas; I've removed all I could find on the broccoli but one of the kales ('Nero di Toscana') has been well eaten.  However my experiment of growing carrots in a trough in the greenhouse has gone very well; I've just picked some small but beautiful little carrots from there.  They wouldn't win any 'longest carrot' prizes but they'll do very nicely.  That's one thing to try again (I wonder if they'll grow in there in winter....).

Another welcome little thing is the alpine strawberries that are dotted (mostly self-sown) around the place; they're fruiting nicely and providing very tasty little puddings.

The spring bulb order has started to arrive, so I need to get my pots sorted out for planting.  The big pot on the corner of the patio still has the hedychium, tithonia and dahlia combination in there; the tithonias have finally started to flower and the hedychium is just about to.  I hope it gets a move on before the temperatures drop; it needs to be potted up and put in the greenhouse very soon, or it will die of cold!