November is ‘hang out more in your food garden’ month. You need to take a daily walk about the estate. It’s not arduous, trust me – look how gorgeous it is!
About now things really get a move on – plants, seeds, weeds, pests – good and bad – the lot. You need to be amongst it, aware of what’s happening. That way you catch any problems when they are little and you can step in with a small, simple solution. Even though it’s low key stuff, it’s going to make your December garden brighter and better.
Here’s what I mean. Today on my walk I pulled out a few rambuctious kale branches that had fallen on my young sweetpeas (hurrah saved the sweetpeas!), squashed a few aphids on my rose and pulled the fruit off my one-year-old peach trees. Noticed the first flowers forming on my greenhouse cucumbers (exciting times!) and the leaf curl on my river peach. (Damn).
The thing is not to walk away. Do that quick little job there and then. So I whipped off the affected leaves (only cause it’s a small 2-year-old tree), and thinned the branches out for airflow. Because (my bad), I haven’t done so yet and its a tad dense. (Did I mention, you should always have your seceteurs in your pocket?)
And while you’re out there, check in on your seeds and seedlings – whether in a tray or in the ground. Check the soil moisture, check for slug attack (slime and holes) and general all round happiness.
Yours in the Earth
Kath
