Crossing over into Autumn, and what that means for the kitchen garden

It’s a bright and crisp morning here in Goathland today, we have just lit the woodburning stove in the restaurant for the first time this Autumn. There are still the odd glorious bright days, but we all know that the season has changed and that can take some adjusting both for the plants and for us! I poked my head out into the sunlight this morning for a catch up with Jan and Sarah who are outside, beginning the job of preparing the land and it’s inhabitants for the next phase.

Sarah has kindly written a few words about what they have been up to recently, and what’s next on the to do list:

“As I write this we are now into Autumn and the next chapter of the garden, the sun is shining and the skies are beautifully blue. This is in stark contrast to the very first day of Autumn just a few weeks ago which felt like someone had turned the lights off and a familiar heavy rain set in for the entirety of the day. Feeling a bit deflated by this ominous start, (though I’m learning to accept we cannot control Mother Nature’s plans) our vision for the garden continues. A second large no-dig bed has been added at the far end of the kitchen garden, topped with some wonderful, well-rotted manure from a local farm. This additional bed will give us an extended growing space and allow us to expand our plans for the garden even further. A winter job will be to add a beech hedge along this end of the garden to act as a windbreak and provide some protection to our crops as the garden is very exposed, more updates on that to follow.

Of course, as we would expect in Autumn it has also been a busy harvesting time. We have recently picked all of our pumpkins including a variety called ‘Crown Prince’, which produces the most striking blue, grey skin. Most of the pumpkins did exceptionally well, with lots of manure and compost being regularly added as well as some repurposing of roof tiles to keep them off the ground. We did, however, lose some of our pumpkin crop to some loose sheep in the garden. (What a typically rural garden scene this conjures up!)

We are also really pleased that we are finally at a point with our compost where we have been able to take our first lot, using it to top up some of the raised beds and as a mulch for some of the plants in the foraging borders.

So all in all, we are really pleased with how the garden is evolving and the harvest we have had this year. Alongside feedback from the kitchen team, we have made plans for next year deciding what is worth the effort to grow again, what new varieties we’d like to add and what isn’t going to make it into our growing shortlist next year.

Despite being an overwhelmingly positive year for the garden, a bit of a spanner in the works for us recently has been blight. During the last couple of weeks, signs of blight in our remaining tomatoes and potatoes were beginning to show so a quick decision was taken to harvest them all to halt the spread. This quick action means we didn’t lose too many of our crop at all thankfully though it did result in harvesting a large number of unripe green tomatoes, (we are attempting to ripen as many as we can with the aid of a ripe banana) all will be put to great use by the kitchen team. We have also used this as a motivator for the start of a thorough clear out and clean down of the greenhouse.

At this point in the year, we are also still fortunate enough to be harvesting plenty of delicious mange tout, green beans, herbs, courgettes and salad leaves.

We are now looking ahead to the next few weeks and months and those jobs that need doing in the garden which will include lots of maintenance jobs, composting, burning, clearing and preparing our locally sourced garlic to be planted which we are very excited about. There is still lots to look forward to in the garden this year and the transformation continues so watch this space!”

So what can you be thinking about doing during this time of year? I’ve picked up Jan’s book “The Alchemy of Gardening” as she has summarised some ‘Invitations to celebrate the season’ which I love!

~ Sow wild flowers. Cut the grass as short as you are able and give the surface a good raking over. This should expose some bare soil, creating suitable seedbeds for sowing seed into. Trample it down a little after sowing and wait until Spring to see what happens.

~ Leave the leaves. If you find that your garden is full of leaves at this time of year, please see this as a cause for celebration, rather than a nuisance. If you need to rake up to keep hard landscaped areas or lawns clear, then pile the leaves on to your flower borders and let them rot down in situ. The worms will be delighted with your offerings of organic matter, the leaves will help protect the soil surface through the winter and your plants will grow a lot better next year.

~ Harvest the last of any wild food, herbs or vegetables you have grown in the garden. Make vinegars, jams and pickles, either for yourself or to give as gifts.

~ You can begin your no-dig beds at this time of year, by laying double thickness cardboard over the areas you wish to become planting areas. On top of this, spread compost, grass clippings, autumn leaves, woodchip or whatever you have to hand, to a depth of around 10 centimetres. This will rot down over the winter with the help of the soil organisms, making a rich layer of earth, ready to plant into next spring.

If you’d like to read more of Jan’s book, this is available to buy from us at the restaurant or online HERE.

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