Garden Bears' World - More Autumn Gardening

 Hello everyone!  It's time for Garden Bears' World and to catch up with things in the garden and the allotment.

Last weekend, I helped Polar plant tulip bulbs in some big pots, which will brighten up our patio next spring.  The tulips won't flower until April but there are some miniature irises on top of them that should flower much earlier.

Our garlic has rooted now, which is why the cloves are starting to poke out of the soil.  When I first saw them, I thought a mouse was digging them out!  Polar says that we will plant them on the allotment very soon, apart from the ones for her friends.

Before we left the greenhouse, I checked on the rose, fig and dogwood (Cornus) cuttings we took a few weeks ago, to make sure none of them had gone rotten.  We won't know whether they have rooted until the spring but, if they do, it will be very exciting as we will be able to share them with our friends.

 

The veg patch is looking a little bit empty since the big beans came down but you can see there are still nasturtiums growing.  These have very pretty, bee-friendly flowers and you can eat the flowers and the leaves, either in salads or cooked like spinach.  They are nice stirred through pasta, like rocket, and have a similar spicy/peppery taste.  

Here are all the patio pots we put the tulips in, with some heuchera plants on top, to make them look cheerful through the winter.  We didn't have quite enough of them, so we put a golden feverfew plant in one.

I've also been to the allotment with Grizzly and Polar, where I picked the very last tomatoes that were growing in the little greenhouse.

It was time to take the beans down there too, so as Grizzly took the frame apart and Polar cut the plants up to go on the compost heap, I collected all the big pods to dry in the greenhouse, so we can give magic Chomper beans to our allotment friends.  When they have dried some more, we shell the beans out and put them in jars, and store them in a dark spot in the shed.

Before we came home, Polar cut some cauliflowers for us to have with our dinners over the weekend.  You can see how much these had grown since I checked them the week before!

The waste leaves went on the compost heap again, but there is plenty of room for more - and two more sections, so the compost can be turned and turned again to help it rot down.  We won't do that until the spring in case there are hedgehogs or other creatures hibernating under them.  Polar has found toads in the heaps at home in the past! 

I hope to be back on the allotment soon, to help plant the garlic and help prepare the ground for next year, and there are still lots of garden jobs to share with you, but goodbye from Garden Bears World for now.