The end of the year!

I thought there was not much to do at the moment but my neighbours have been talking about digging up their carrots! I'm not sure why, I was sure that they would be alright over the winter and that I can dig them as I require them. I have left mine in so I will see, they are getting to a good size now. Whilst digging up some carrots the other day I noticed that some garlic were sprouting, these are garlic that I planted last spring and which did nothing over the summer! It reminded me that I promised myself to plant my garlic earlier this year. I checked the book and it said autumn sowing!! It is only a week into winter so I have sowed today and hope that I am in time this year. When I went to the iron-monger I noticed that they are selling bags of garlic for sowing, so I think I have got the time right.
Some of the onions that did nothing over the summer are sprouting as well, I'm sure it is still too early to sow onion sets but I will watch and see what happens. My leeks are really big now I need to start eating them seriously!!

November

I came home earlier than I expected so I have had most of my autumn raspberries.  I have also picked a few more pears but many/most are rotting under the tree, there were really too many for me to cope with.  I have been given some hazelnuts nd a few walnuts and almonds, now I am cracking nuts!
I have also been out collecting mushrooms, I collect just 2 varieties and I am now fairly confident with them but I do a spore print each time just to be sure. There were several Parasol mushrooms in a nearby field before I went away but I was too busy to pick them, not sure why now as it would not have taken more than a minute. I found one parasol mushroom yesterday but I think I may have left it too late, but I have found a good source of Field mushrooms so I have collected quite a few, eaten some and I am still alive and well :) and I have frozen the rest.
I have had the first of my carrots and my leeks are looking good, they will be enjoying the wet weather we are experiencing at the moment. We have had a couple of very heavy frosts but mostly it is rain with the first snow on the mountain.

October!

I've had a few tomatoes I could freeze, I have now dug up the plants, along with kilos of green tomatoes. I will be away for a month so, even if they ripen, I won't be here to pick them.
I cleaned my garage and whilst I was doing that a neighbour asked me if I would like some peppers, she gave me 5 enormous peppers, I don't know what I am doing wrong. I have dug up my pepper plants as well, they looked really healthy and had loads of flowers, but that isn't much good at this time of year, I'm sure we had a frost the other night.
There are more pears than I can cope with, I have had a few raspberries but they will mostly ripen whilst I am away. I have had to buy walnuts, there are so few this year, the price will go shooting up closer to Christmas. All in all it has been hit and miss this year, still my freezers are full :)

Autumn

How temperamental plants are! How different one year can be to another! I have been away for a week, I was sure that when I came back my tomatoes would have ripened, some have but they are sick, they are all black at the bottom.

 I can eat the undamaged half, but I will only be able to freeze them if I cut them up and cook them. There really aren't sufficient to freeze many anyway. So different from the crops I have had in previous years.
Yesterday I pulled out the 'Cherry' tomato plants and collected the ripe tomatoes, they will keep me going this week. the peppers have been a real disappointment, it is too cool for them to ripen now.

I have also had the first of my Autumn raspberries, there will be a large crop but I doubt I will get many of them as I go away again next week. This next week I have to harvest my pears, I had a look yesterday, there are lots on the ground, there were strong winds and rain last week, but there are still plenty on the trees. I also have to clear all the cobwebs from the 'garage' so I can store them. A week of hard work ahead of me.

nearly Autumn

I now have loads of  'cherry' tomatoes, that at least is something. I have had a whole 5 decent sized tomatoes and there are 2 nearly red now. Progress is being made. The days are still pretty hot so I hope I may yet get enough to put some in the freezer. I still have loads of lettuce though it is getting less as I am pulling out whole lettuces instead of just taking off the leaves.
I will start picking my pears this week,there are loads. No walnuts though, that is a shame, there were so many last year. My apples were delicious, though very small. I will soon have another crop of raspberries so I am getting plenty of fruit.
I have been forgetting to water my carrots so I am not sure how they are doing, but they seem OK.
My peppers aren't doing much, the plants look healthy enough but the peppers seem a bit pathetic, other people seem to have enormous peppers. It is strange how some things do well and others don't.

September

We ended up with no water again last Sunday, hardly surprising as many people had left and those who remained were washing sheets by the wash load, next door did 6 wash loads!
My tomatoes are really on a 'go-slow' this year, I am managing to get a few nearly every day but they are still the very small ones. I have had 3 tomatoes that it was possible to slice, very different from the last 2 years. There are almost no walnuts either.
My autumn raspberries are starting to show fruit, I hope I will be here to enjoy them.

2 more weeks!

Mostly August has not been too bad but I went to pick my plums last week and found someone had got there before me, there was not a plum on the tree, nor any of the trees round about. Scrumping is one thing but it's normal to leave some fruit for the owner, I think!

Yesterday I pulled out my 'courgette' I really can't face them any longer.

I hadn't cleared it for a couple of days and ended up with these!

My freezer is already nearly full of 'courgettes' but it is going to have a few more! I am faced with a weekend of frying .

I have had a few tomatoes now and they are increasing in size, the first ones looked more like red currants! The warm weather must turn them, it must. I still have loads of lettuce but I have eaten all the first sowing.

This is the second sowing, I think it will keep me going for a while, the peppers are doing well too.

I am starting to pick up 'windfalls' of apples and pears, my apples are very small but I am tempted to pick them, before the local kids do:(