Page 38 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2024

Cosmos still flowering in October
you can, of course, freeze them. Annuals will also finish flowering soon so when they do, they can all go on the compost.
Maincrop potatoes should be ready for harvesting now and you may also have apples and pears to pick.
Blackberries can be pruned now. Cut out the branches that have fruited and tie in the others. Still on fruit, you can take cuttings of blackcurrants and red and white currants, about 9 inches (22.5 cm.) long. Make a straight cut at the top
and a sloping one at the
bottom and plant them in
a V shaped trench with
sand in the base about 6
inches (15 cm.) apart.
Marrows harvested
If you grow Chrysanths,
they will also finish
flowering soon. When
they do, cut the plants
down to about 6 inches
(15 cm.). They are now
referred to as “stools”. Dig them up and if you haven’t many, pot them up. I have too many to do this so I plant them in deep boxes of compost. The number of stools you put in each box depends, of course, on the size of the box but those that I use hold twelve stools. They need to be kept in a cold greenhouse or frame over winter, then started into growth again next year. I
The first frost we get will put an end to the dahlias by blackening the foliage.
put mine on a shelf in the greenhouse.
The first frost we get will put an end to the dahlias by blackening the foliage. More often than not, it doesn’t happen till November, but it could do so this month. When it does, cut the plants down to about 6 inches
(15 cm.), put the stems on the compost and dig up the tubers. Dahlia growers have their own methods of overwintering the tubers. I scrape most of the soil off with a screwdriver then knock the screwdriver down the hollow stem and out at the bottom. This frees any water trapped in
the stem. I then stand the upside down
in deep boxes to dry. They must be kept
somewhere frost free. I put mine under the greenhouse staging.
The tomato season will soon be coming to an end. You will probably still have a lot of green tomatoes. They will be slower to ripen now and may not ripen at all. You may want to remove the plants to make room for other crops. You can use the green ones to make chutney, but you can ripen them by putting them in a drawer with a banana skin. This is what I do, and it works.
You can save your own seed from many plants now, both flowers and vegetables.
I always save my own runner bean seeds.
I leave some pods on the plants till the beans inside them have grown to full size. I then pick the pods and put them on top of a cupboard in the kitchen to dry for several weeks then remove the beans from the pods.
Don’t forget to order your other seeds for next year if you haven’t already done so and also fruit trees and bushes if you need them. If you intend planting any trees or bushes you need to be preparing the ground by removing any weeds and digging in some compost.
If you grow asparagus, you need to cut down the plants when the foliage goes yellow and the plants will benefit from a mulch.
Spray chrysanth 'Enbee wedding'
Some of my root crops
38 Simply Vegetables