September is the sniff of autumn so it seems wrong to even mention it before we seem to have had a summer. However magazines like us to get ahead of ourselves so the September issues are here.
Maybe they’ll bring an Indian summer with them .
What they don’t bring are tomato pickings. Maybe thinking that at this time of year, our pickings from the garden are all the tomatoes we need.
So no tomatoes but what’s inside instead?
- A review of The Tatton Park show highlighting the fruit and vegetable displays.
- Growing features on fruit, onions, autumn sowings, winter lettuces, how not to get left out even with limited space and perhaps in anticipation of more sun that we have actually had grapes and citrus fruits.
- There’s also guidance on choosing a greenhouse which is something I’d love to add in into my tomato growing mix for next year.
- More on fruit and especially apples and growing sweet peppers (which at Wisley were in the poly tunnel with tomatoes).
- Plus looking ahead to when the leaves are on the ground rather than the trees; composting and wormeries.
- A review of The Hampton Court Show, again with the emphasis on the high profile of fruit and veg (and home to my dream plot).
- More on apples, celery, spring cabbage and those colourful autumn characters, squashes.
- Plus more on soil enrichment in a piece on humus.
So a definite shift towards autumnal tasks and today’s weather seems in line with that. And yet there are plenty of green tomatoes on the plants still to ripen. So hopefully there’s still plenty of summer and sun left to come !
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I am simply blown away by the sheer number of tomato varieties you have! And I am seethingly jealous! Would you sell me some of your seeds?? You are like a treasure trove! I wish I was your neighbor……
I’ll have to put my own chef hat on for some good recipes to offer up for use. Right now, I’m putting you on my Google Reader so I can keep up with what you are doing! Great work!
Hello Kate,
Thank you for stopping by and for your generous comments. Much appreciated. Being my first year of growing tomatoes I ‘ve never saved seed before and it’s something I want to have a go at . I will see how I get on and if it works I would love to just send you over some on the hope that they might grow into tomato plants !
So far the smaller varieties are the ones that I am eating. There are some standard size ones still to turn red and then an ‘outsized’ carbon which seems to be stuck on green ! Patience I keep telling myself !