Clearing the Dead Wood

Over the weekend we managed to achieve a lot in the garden. We threw away all the dead tomato plants, harvesting the remaining green tomatoes ready for making a big batch of green tomato chutney. We harvested all the things we had left to dry (intentially or unavoidably!) and we repotted the surviving rosemary cuttings we took earlier in the year. After drying out and turning brown soon after taking these cuttings they made a surprising recovery and there are 10 healthy plants in our greenhouse now.

We also dug up all our potatoes for storage. They won't last long. They didn't crop particularly well. It must be something we did wrong because the seed potatoes we gave to Grandad South were successful, with a bountiful harvest of big potatoes. Next year I think we should improve our earthing up skills.

There is still some tidying up to do in the garden but it was very satisfying to see the dead plants get cleared away and space appearing in the beds to plant broad beans. We have to start planning our autumn/winter tasks now. I once believed there wasn't much to do in a garden over winter. How wrong I was!