Madeleine's Corner: Harvesting vegetables & making leaf mould

This week we have all had a new lease of life in the garden, the plants are growing like mad as this extra bit of warmth has given them another chance. If you were worried about your tomatoes never ripening or your squash not getting large enough, your worries are over!
 
Harvesting vegetables
So back to the nitty gritty of harvesting vegetables to keep your crops coming, like courgettes, raspberries, rocket and beans. Clear any unwanted weeds from the bases of your vegetables and while it is still dry mow the grass. Water anything you have in the greenhouse regularly as this weather is drying everything fast.

Leaf Mould
Leaves are starting to fall and it is a good time of year to make leaf mould. To do this rake up the damp leaves and put it into aerated bags, you can use a bin liner having stabbed lots of holes into it or you can buy fairly cheaply jute ones that look much nicer and rot down completely. In a years’ time from now this will have decomposed to a wonderful compost that is incredibly good for your vegetables. There is a 'comedy gardener' called Rabbie, who shows you how to use the sacks in YouTube video if you like that sort of thing. As you harvest more and more you will obtain space in your patch. I recommend forking it over, some people like the no dig method, but not me, it doesn't seem thorough enough. Do this little by little, 20 minutes at a time. Unless you want to spend the next few weeks nurturing a bad back! Add any well rotted compost/manure to it as you go along. Plant: garlic, onions, sweet peas, broad beans, lettuce, rocket and radishes. Any questions, please put them in the comments box below!