There’s still plenty to harvest this month including beans and courgettes, autumn raspberries and other berries should be plentiful too. Pumpkins should be swelling nicely, deepening in colour ready for harvesting from next month onwards.
- Keep picking courgettes, aim to get them small before they become big and watery
- Pick green tomatoes that show no sign of ripening by the end of the month, bring them indoors to ripen or use them green in chutney
- Sow green manures
- Plant out spring cabbage and cauliflower
- Harvest apples and pears
- Keep harvesting main crop potatoes as needed
- Pick autumn raspberries
- Check stakes and ties for giant sunflower varieties, as the flower heads produce seeds they become heavier. Leave them in place for the wild birds
- Earth up leeks
- Order seed garlic
- Weatherproof the shed in preparation for autumn/winter (check roof felting and paint or stain if needed)
- Continue harvesting sweetcorn
- Harvest the last of the onions, allow to dry before storing
- Plant overwintering onion sets (Japanese onions)
- Propagate strawberries by gently pushing rooted runners into the soil or small pots of soil. Sever the runner from the adult plant as the runners put on growth and develop a stronger root system
- Place bricks or plastic trays underneath swelling pumpkins to prevent them from rotting on wet ground
- Harvest regularly and enjoy!
Allotment Haven 