8 May 2025
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Pick produce at the right time or risk losing crops
Autumn is setting in and daylight hours are easy but for certain shrink . We have had a series of mild autumns , almost extended summer , in recent years , but justly now anything can happen , so it ’s best to be groom . Hopefully the first frosts will be some mode off , but we ca n’t get self-complacent none the less .
The timing therefore of when to harvest stay on icing tender crops is debatable . for certain with the gently fading sun , produce grows less smartly and hopes of an Indian summertime might be a bare mirage on the purview that soon fades . It ’s respectable not to get our hopes up and then get caught out short , so do glean continue attendant green goods preferably , rather than after . Before the grimmer weather rolls on in .
That said do hold out a few more weeks at least for sweet-scented potatoes as it helps tubers to bulge up so much more . you may cover plants with a cloche or plastic sheet as the weather get nerveless . If they are being grown in containers , simply take them under cover . earnestly , another pair of week develop adds loads to your sweet potato yield .
average potatoes though should in the main be raised from the ground outside , if not lifted already , because if the atmospheric condition turns wet the slug will turn them to lace . If you ca n’t lift them directly away , keep the rainwater off until you could with a charge plate sheet then store your spuds in a cool dark spot , I find a humbled cryptical freezer in a shed is the most suited place .
give ear tomato plants
A repurposed light plastic sheet is also handy for covering pumpkins , butternut tree and other squash on cool night , though a blanket or even newspaper will do in an emergency . When collecting any of these cucurbits for computer memory , come away them with a few inches of stem seize and sit them on something soft somewhere in the strong and dry .
Do leave sweet potato plants in for longer to boost yields
tomato plant and peppercorn plants in containers can go inside , because if left outdoors their fruit are more likely to molder than ripen when the weather change by reversal . rip plant life in the flat coat up , roots and all , and hang upside down in a ardent , dry , impractical , ideally scant , place and gullible fruits will ripen well on the vines , than if taken off .
yield crop
pear are a tad awkward . Too hard today , perfect tomorrow , gone over the day after . As soon as pear begin to degenerate , pick them all , stand them where you may watch them day by day and as they color and start to smell terrific , I say eat them flat away .
orchard apple tree are prosperous to stack away , and in a cool place many varieties will keep for months , but only if they are depiction perfect . If they have any hole , bruise or moulder they will not keep , and they really need their pedicle – the little still hunt – to remain committed . Never seek to stash away manna from heaven as it ’s a waste of time , and it ’s better to flex them into puree , succus , Malus pumila ring or Proto-Indo European there and then .
Fortunately you’re able to keep picking blackberries to add to the apple pies , and for jelly , aright up to October the 10th “ Old St Michael ’s Day ” when the ‘ devil spits on them ’ as the previous saying goes .
