Garden Bears' World - Bringing in the Harvest.

Hello everyone!  It's time for a look at what's happening on the allotment, in another episode of Garden Bears' World.

The squashes and pumpkins have stopped growing now and have had time to ripen.  Before the nights get frosty, it's time to bring them indoors.  As you can see, even the smaller orange Potimarron ones are too big for me to carry, and the Queensland Blue are a good size too.

Polar decided the skins would benefit from more time to dry out before they go into our shed, so she's put them in the little greenhouse on the allotment for now. 

 
The autumn-fruiting raspberries haven't liked this soggy autumn very much and have almost finished now, but we still managed to get some good pickings of fruit from them.  We are still getting a few eating beans from Chomper's runners too, although most of the beans left are being kept for seed.  There are quite a lot, so we can share them with our friends.

Here's our wild flower patch, looking very lush.  We hope the bees will like all the flowers next year.  Polar says there are daffodil bulbs underneath, so we hope to have some to bring home as well as plenty for the bees.

One of the best crops this year was from our courgettes.  These were coming home to go in a curry!  As the nights get cooler, the courgettes stop growing, although there are still some small ones that might develop.

 The nets did their job and kept the butterflies off our cabbages and other brassicas, so we have lots of greens for the winter.  We are looking forward to eating these with mash and veggie sausages!

And we've got sweetcorn too!  Polar hasn't grown any for a few years as it hasn't done very well in the past, but this year it seems to have flourished.  Polar says you can grow it in the same bed as pumpkins, so perhaps we'll grow more next year?

 

Back in the garden, it's been pear-picking time.  Some of them have been pecked by the birds, then wasps get in and start eating them.

So I had to be very careful when I helped Polar pick them.  Most of the pears grow where she can reach them but there are some that are just too high up, and having the help of a small bear saves her having to fetch a ladder (and ask Grizzly to hold it).

Once we had picked the pears, it was time to get the Bramley Apples.  We bears love these, because they are cooking apples and make delicious flans, pies and cakes.

'This one is almost as big as my head!' said Sonning.

We had two boxes of undamaged ones to put in the outhouse, where they should keep for several months, while any that were bruised or pecked went in another tray to use up soon.

We helped Polar put the pears where they would be able to finish ripening, but where we could watch them to make sure they didn't go all brown and mushy.  

And then, it was time for tea and cake!