The garden - 2024 September

In a nutshell

• Mostly business as usual

• Daily harvesting continues, albeit mostly from the greenhouse

• Early start to end-of-season mulching with spent mushroom soil

Non-harvest Activities undertaken

We’ve made an early start to the end-of-season soil improvement by applying a top dressing of spent mushroom soil. We buy this stuff in large bags and spread it on the garden and greenhouse beds. The photograph below shows it on one of the greenhouse beds. The high organic matter is obvious in the picture and probably comes from things like wood chips, straw, hay, and corn cobs depending upon the mushroom grower’s preferences.

In addition to its high organic content, used mushroom soil is typically highly nutritious and acts as a soil conditioner and slow-release fertilizer. As a consequence of being watered and breaking down over the winter, the soil should be in better shape for the start of next year’s new growth.

Apart from soil improvement, we’ve removed any diseased foliage and disposed of it safely. We don’t put these things on the compost pile to avoid spreading the disease.

Harvest

Garden

• Beans

• Herbs

  • Cilantro

  • Dill

  • Fennel

  • Mint

  • Parsley

  • Sage

  • Tarragon

• Kale

• Lettuce

• Radish

• Snap peas

• Summer squash – two types

• Turnip

Greenhouse

• Basil

• Cucumber – green

• Cucumber – lemon

• Tomatoes

Ongoing Challenges and Signs of Progress

Ongoing Challenges

Poor soil quality will be the biggest issue for the foreseeable future.

Protecting new growth from pigeons, slugs, snails, and caterpillars comes a close second.

Our plum trees continue to suffer from fungal infections and need to be given more care.

Signs of Progress

The taste of everything is hands-down better than anything we can buy.

The apple, pear, and quince trees we planted last year have all fruited and the old apple tree we transplanted is looking better than ever.

Lessons Learned

We could do with a hedgehog to eat the slugs and snails.

---