Autumn antics

Another month down and another monthly report for the Garden Share Collective .  Autumn is definitely upon us with the trees turning beautiful oranges, browns and red.  All this mean the rake is about to get a workout as will I.  We have a lot of deciduous trees in our garden but it is all great mulch and adds essential carbon to the compost heap.  My Father-in-law has also been busy raking and we now have a large area of the flower garden heavily mulched with these leaves.

My kale is coming on and I have been picking leaves for my green smoothies.  My sprouting broccoli has been flowering so I think I am going to have to pick it quite small to avoid this.  The brussel sprouts are growing well although they have a way to go before they will be producing anything.

We are getting lots of Cherry tomatoes but I have to say the other tomatoes are doing very little.

The apple tree on the roadside is looking good and the birds are starting to take an interest so it must be time to pick some.

I sowed a couple of rows of Broad Beans the week before Easter.  My Mum always said they have to be in before Anzac Day so I am to achieve that.  I will probably put some more in as Miss 6 likes them and they freeze well too if we end up with too many.

As to my jobs from last month

• Clear more tussock grasses for compost area and berry/currant garden.  All tussocks from this area are gone.

Preserve Blackboy peaches - All done until next year.

Wage war on weeds in the vege beds - A work in progress.

I also want to get some mulch down on the flower beds to reduce weeds in the spring.  Thanks to my F-I-L a good chunk of the garden is mulched.

To do list for May

• Weed and mulch vege beds
• Sow some peas and more broad beans
• Harvest medlar and leave them to blet

Things are cooling down here with night temperatures approaching 0 degrees.  It doesn't encourage me to go and work in the garden when the soil is so cold. It's getting close to hibernation time.