Wednesday 16 October 2013

Abundant autumn

FINALLY got down to the allotment yesterday in a window between gardening for other folk and picking up children from school.  Grass needs attacking and weeds need clearing but yesterday's mission was to pick the remaining apples, dig up the potatoes (or what the slugs have left of them by now) and to get the last dahlias cut before all are laid low by frost.


Deadheading dahlias prolongs their flowering period and gives bucketsful of blooms
How many more buckets like these will I see in October?



Recent rains had weighed down the big bonces of my dahlias and quite a few stems were hanging low, bent double by the weight, but they still form great dabs of colour against the fading autumn backdrop of the allotment.

As ever, I did not manage to knock off all of the tasks on my to do list.  Indeed, the apples were so abundant that after filling two huge plastic bucket/trugs, cutting two buckets of dahlias and picking a kilo or so of beans, there was no time to do anything more than ferry my bounty back up the steep hill to the main gates in multiple arm-wrenching trips.  The slugs have had their potato-feasting time exteneded until the weekend it would seem.

rosy applesapple harvest 2013


I'm still dealing with my harvests today - in the kitchen, apple and mint jelly is straining drippy vinegariness through a jelly bag, an apple and raisin cake lies in half-demolished ruins following its joyous breakfast-time reception by my children, a gooey toffee-esque German apple cake lurks in the fridge and I have apple slices drying in a cool oven.

Despite giving away a shopping bag full of apples to a neighbour and squeezing about 2 litres of juice to put in the freezer, I still don't seem to have made a dent in my bucketloads.  Will store some in the cellar for the coming months, and will doubtless get fat on puddingising the rest - needless to say, my children love this sweet-toothed time of year.

8 comments:

  1. Beautiful dahlias!! Apple and mint jelly! Yum!

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    1. It is. Never make mint sauce any more after trying this. Gets devoured by the plague of condiment locusts that reside with me. Will have to post recipe

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  2. What will you do with all of those dahlias? It looks like you could provide for several weddings and still have plenty left over to deck your own halls. I'm green with enby.

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    1. Sadly, the ones on the floor are past it having been hammered by the recent downpours, but I do have a lovely flowery mantlepiece and hearth in my living room. Can't believe I've still got a source of flowery abundance in mid October. I officially love dahlias now - never had a lot of success with them before, but they love the more open site they've got at the allotment - done much better than my garden ones which have a slightly shadier aspect.

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  3. These dahlias are still so beautiful and so many. Great picture. And I see you never need to bore, so many chores to do in the garden and your harvest...... But after such days of being very busy I always feel so satisfied. I suppose you have the same.

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    1. No, boredom's never a problem. Am just taking a break from major hedge pruning and rain!

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  4. I've never had much success growing dahlias in the garden either. I might try growing them on the allotment next year if I can find a spare bed.

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    1. I think they really benefit from good addition of manure before planting, and plenty of space without competition from other annuals. Also, I think my allotment bed is sunnier and they are definitely happier there than in the garden.

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