The move towards a more dormant season

Blustery today. We were treated to a first skein of geese, spreading out across the open sky, heading for warmer climes.

Sorting damage left in the wake of Storm Amy was our first task – mainly fixing netting blown across beds and sorting a deluge of windfalls – we’re running out of buckets! Keeping these separate from fruit picked from the trees is becoming a challenge – though important, as these will store much better into the Winter months.

The small Adams Pearmain, grafted by George Anderson has out-classed its parent tree in terms of apple size, giving us some enormous fruit – lovely and sharp and great with cheese! We found some cute yellow apples under the little Peasegood Nonsuch. It feels a real privilege to have such evocatively named trees, each with a distinct history and flavour profile. Last Sunday’s Apple Day at Saughton Park celebrated peak apple season with scores on display – stretching back centuries, with others developed in the Post War years, and opportunity to taste or to have fruit from your own tree identified. The hall smelt amazing!

Activity over these past two weeks reflects the move towards a more dormant season. The Damson has been pruned and young bramble shoots tied in, ready for next year’s fruit. The last of the carrots, beans and sweetcorn were picked.

Though we succeeded in protecting the corn from squirrel raids this year, the quality of the cobs has been disappointing.  Beds are being emptied and netting rolled up. We’ll leave bean roots in the ground to give the soil an extra boost of nitrogen.

The tattie harvest continues. Today we dug Maris Piper, Nicola and Setanta, all decent croppers though not as impressive as the earlies – Nicole gave us a great bounty back in July It’s important to harvest all the tatties now, to prevent Keel slugs burrowing in and setting up home over Winter.

We’re continuing to spray the brassicas with a soapy solution, which seems to be reducing aphid numbers quite well and weeded in the Polyculture bed. Spinach and chard are still thriving, though we keep forgetting to pick them! The buddleia was pruned and Rose Bay Willow Herb pulled up to stem its march across the rhubarb bed.

Jobs for next week: Pick leafy greens; harvest and store more tatties; continue work in the rhubarb bed