Sunday 16 November 2014

Tidying Up

Today was a day for tidying up the allotment and the garden. Though with the relatively mild weather continuing, some plants are still going!

For instance, one of the jobs today was to cut down the fruited stems of the autumn fruiting raspberries. But, several have still got raspberries on them, which is quite surprising for this time of year. So, some of the old stems got cut and some new growth got pruned back to waist height, and I set about clearing the nettles and brambles instead. There are a few blackberries, but the birds can have those....

Talking of birds, the nice surprise today were several long-tailed tits looking for insects in amongst the minarette apples and the summer raspberries. They really aren't that bothered about humans being about and so it was lovely to get some close views of them as they searched for food.

So, I then weeded the strawberry bed, and the asparagus bed, and chopped the old asparagus ferns down to the ground, putting in some sticks to mark where the plants are. I may be able to harvest one or two sticks of asparagus next year, but the main crop will be the year after.

Back in the garden after lunch, the main task was to stop the ivy taking over the planet! This ivy was taken as a cutting from the ivy growing on the garden wall of our old house back when we moved in 1999, and has gradually been spreading down the fence ever since. But it has ideas of world domination, or at very least the pavement outside the garden and inside the holly bush (ouch!), so a trim was in order. I also took the opportunity to trim back the buddleia as well but the fuschia is still full of pink and purple flowers!

While on the subject of flowers that shouldn't be still around, two of the tomatoes in the greenhouse have decided to produce more flowers, and some appear to be pollenated but I can't see many tomatoes coming before it really does go cold!