The fruit and nut glut continues through a good autumn and now we can add autumn-fruiting raspberries and ripe crab apples to the list.
Some varieties of crab apple are sweet enough to eat straight from the tree, others are so tart that they will need some sugar to make them appetising.
By all means pick fruits, and make crab apple jelly, but I would always make a plea to leave some fruit for the birds.
I have a crab apple tree right outside the window here and it’s a joy to watch the range of birds flying to eat fruit from the tree.
This can go on for several weeks, providing an extra food source as winter comes in.
Leaves are falling
It has been a good year for early autumn colour, with trees turning out spectacular displays, but trees seem to be dropping leaves a couple of weeks earlier this year and many are already bare.
Go for a woodland walk and enjoy the hazel, oak and beech, which hold onto their leaves a little longer.
Enjoy the dappled light and the drift down of leaves around you. It’s a special time of year.
Gather what leaves you can in the garden. It’s always best to keep paths and lawns clear, especially in wet weather.
Use a rake, or a blower, to make piles of leaves from the scatter that extends around trees. Leaves have many uses in the garden; the simplest is to cover empty beds.
Some leaves may blow off the bed for a start, but they tend to stay put once they are wet and start to soften. For an extra-benefit mulch you can cover the leaves with a layer of ‘last mow of the year’ grass clippings.
A thin layer of leaves is a benefit to a compost heap, but don’t put too many in or you will slow down the heating and rotting process. You can make leaf-mould too; this involves making and filling a wire mesh bin to allow aeration, so leaves can break down slowly over a couple of years.
Collect and use fallen leaves.
In praise of kale!
There are many hardy winter greens that do well in West Cork gardens and they are all pretty delicious in my opinion. It’s hard to choose between cabbages, Brussels sprouts and broccoli; they all make lovely additions to winter meals. Spinach and chard are other tasty options, but top of the winter vegetable garden list is kale! Don’t dismiss this nutrient-rich and tasty vegetable as animal fodder. Some varieties may be bred for that, but others are bred for use in the kitchen.
Green curly kale, Red Russian, and Nero kale are my three favourites. Curly kale has the thinnest leaves for fast cooking and use in salads. Russian and Nero kale leaves take a little longer to cook, but don’t leave them in the pan too long. And don’t be tempted to boil leaves in lots of water – you will boil lots of goodness out into the liquid. Sauté in olive oil with just the water clinging to washed leaves, or add a squeeze of lemon for a tangy flavour.
Kale doesn’t require much attention through the winter. Just make sure plants aren’t uprooted by wind and accept that the large lower leaves, that have been feeding the plant, will yellow and drop as the season progresses. You are aiming to use the tender middle-sized leaves and let the smaller ones, at the tip, keep growing. Never strip a plant and you will keep picking right through the winter.
An extra bonus is that plants will produce delectable flower shoots in the leaf joints next spring.
Use middle-sized leaves from kale plants.
What to sow and plant
If you have a greenhouse, or polytunnel, you can try sowing rows of rocket and mustard greens. Mixed salad leaves and lettuce may germinate under cover in a mild November, but a hard winter can leave such small tender sowings more vulnerable to mould spores. If you want to grow some salad in your greenhouse, it’s better to buy small plants now, if you can find them. These will have a head start and should establish themselves before it gets too cold.
You can still sow hardy varieties of pea and broad bean under cover now. If you leave this any later than the first week of November, you may be better waiting until late January. Things grow very slowly, if at all, through December and January; a February sowing won’t be too far behind.
This is a good time to plant both ornamental and fruit-bearing trees and bushes. Bare root plants, that are put in the ground now, should have a few weeks to establish themselves before the soil-freezing temperatures of the new year arrive. Don’t plant into waterlogged or frozen ground.
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