I love Autumn.
I’m still harvesting bits and pieces. My tomatoes got away on me again this year and of course I didn’t label the varieties properly when I planted them so now I have a huge mess again. My mum is turning them into lovely things though.
I’ve just made my first batch of cider. It’s the super-fast cider recipe which appeared in Homegrown 2 (a NZ Gardener special edition). We had a lull in the beer making and the apple tree was dropping an incredible amount so I decided that it was important to have a different kind of alcohol in the house for when I get tired of the beer (never!). I know, I know, I could just cook the apples up and have a twelve month supply of applesauce but where’s the fun in that?
I’ve been cautiously planting a winter garden. I didn’t want to because we’ve been stripping paint off the house and I wanted to protect the soil from contamination by covering the beds with drop cloths. I figured that I’d lose a growing season but it would be better to ensure that the soil stayed clean (of lead and stuff I mean). But a small house fire and the variable weather have meant that we won’t get to the back of the house for a while so I’m working on a project to raise the height of all my beds and to increase the soil fertility over the winter. So, I’ve started planting a few winter veges anyway: leeks and rainbow chard so far. Probably some bok choy this week.
I have a huge amount of work to do though. Maybe I should write a list…
