Preparing for the Autumn and Winter

Well, a truly lovely weekend of that late Summer/early Autumn weather, so although having trouble ridding myself of this cough and 'man flu' I wanted to make sure I'd got down to the allotment and sorted out the strawberries in preparation for next year, having done the raspberries last week.

First of all on the raspberries, I weeded, cut back the grass edges, tied up any shoots that needed it and used the huge pile of cuttings from the council to mulch all over the raspberry bed. With luck this will keep the weeds down and help them over the winter. Here they are below;-
...and a close up of the autumn raspberries. We've been lucky enough to have had a few from them , so that's always a good start.


Sometime over the coming weeks, my Dad will be coming up to check them over and make sure I cut the right stems away and make sure all looks good for next year. I have high hopes for them and look forward to getting a pretty good crop.

Anyway, on Sunday I set about tidying up the strawberries. As you may remember I've not had a great deal of luck with them, but thankfully from all the healthy plants that survived, there have been plenty of tubers and so, I set about cutting these new plants out and replanting them. As a result I have over 40 plants, which look pretty healthy, so there is always hope!

Just like the raspberries, I weeded the entire bed, cut off the tubers, cut the grassy edges and then used the council cuttings to offer the plants some help over the winter, as you can see below;-

I just hope they all survive and then I'll make sure I have proper netting and fingers crossed we'll have a great harvest. I know Tom will look forward to that.

Finally, We have had a few strawberries and as you can see below they are still trying.


Well, long may these weekends continue and I shall continue with the rest of the plot, clearing up, digging, etc. I have also to replace one half of the felt roof as it was destroyed, coat the shed with another layer of stain, demolish the large pile at the bottom of the plot, spreading all the soil everywhere else and burning all the weeds and roots as well as a few other things I've forgotten.

I've just been in to order the potatoes from the Trading Hut for next year, once again at an amazing price per kilo and I've curtailed a little to make sure I don't waste them.

That's all for now...Happy Autumn.