Looking around the garden we found some eggs. Can you identify them?
Answers at the end of this post.
October is the time for harvesting and clearing some of the vegetables that have finished, digging up the last of the potatoes to store for winter and any late apples.
Then as we move in to November leaves are falling from the trees. This is a “crop” to harvest so we rake these up and store in a large compost bin. Over the next twelve months they will reduce in volume until it turns into a beautiful leaf mould compost.
Brilliant for mulching all round the garden.
Last year we produced a tonne builders bag overflowing with this wonderful compost.
The compost bins are filling up this time of year too. Lots of shredding of plant material to make the compost:
As the potatoes are dug up the top plant (haulm) can go in the compost unless they are diseased such as blight. In that case they must be burnt or put in green waste.
The first frosts will blacken the dahlias and the stems can now be cut down and composted. The tubers can be dug up and stored in cool dry shed or left in the ground, covered by a thick mulch.
Sweet corn are all harvested now so the plants can be dug up, shredded and composted.
Some perennials can be cut down and composted. We leave most until the spring , unless they have blackened, they give structure to the winter garden, look great in the frost and provide a safe place for many insects to spend the winter.
Now is also the time to start the winter prune of soft fruit and top fruit trees. Blackcurrants should be pruned before Christmas so can be shredded and composted and once the apples and pears have lost their leaves and gone dormant they can be pruned, yet more compost material.
Always something to do in the garden!
Answers from left : pigeon egg, grass snake egg, aubergine (egg plant)
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