october

Autumn Tree Planting

October is the month when you can start to think about this winter’s tree planting programme. Firstly, you can take a tour of the garden and make a note of any places where more trees could be safely accommodated; this is best done before the leaves fall in autumn. At the same time, you can [...]

Jobs – October

October is the time to tidy up the garden and to start thinking about what crops you are going to grow next year. Old growth from the Summer’s vegetables can be cleared away, compost heaps can be turned, and vegetable beds can be mulched. October is also the traditional month for going round the banks [...]

The Calabash Gourd

This year, I have experimented for the first time with growing the famous Calabash, or Bottle Gourd, pictured right. Apparently, it is one of the oldest crops grown by man, and one of the few crops grown in both the Old and the New World – gourds are believed to have floated over the ocean [...]

Soil fertility – Mulch

Apart from all the tidying up of the summer crops, which is now overdue, my main task over the next few weeks will be to go round the whole of my property cutting as much of the grass, and as many of the banks as I possibly can. This is obviously good in so far [...]

Mulch

Covering the vegetable garden with mulch over the Winter may seem like a lot of work, but it has many advantages: it inhibits weed growth, it nourishes the soil, and it protects the soil surface from the worst severities of the weather, which encourages worms and insect life to flourish.
Winter is the time of year [...]