May in The Kitchen Garden

Let the Garden Rest: Notes from an Autumn Slowdown

We have had our first frost, which signals to me the end of the busy time in the garden, a slowing down.

There are still things to do; I haven’t even started on the big clear-out of the beds. The compost bins need to be turned, and I really need to start collecting the fallen leaves piling up on the section.

But you know what…

These things can wait; they aren’t so important that you can’t sit back and just enjoy what I believe to be the best season of them all. I love autumn, I love the colors, I love the cool mornings and the blue sky days. The light in autumn is so beautiful.

Yes, there are things to do, but if they don’t get done, that’s fine; you’ll get to them at some stage.

The quince harvest has begun. Each year our tree just gives and gives, to the point that we can’t use them all.

Between making paste and just plain purée for use in baking in the winter, a little goes a long way when it comes to quinces, so I do hate to say it, but a good amount does go in the compost.

From Harvest to Rest: What Comes After the Pumpkins

Pumpkin harvest is done, and they are now curing in the garden shed.

I planted two different varieties—Small Sweet and Honeynut. Both are on the smaller side, about a two-person, one-meal size. I highly recommend growing both—easy, no fuss.

Now that they are done, the bed they were in will be cleared out, topped with fresh compost, and I will cover it with pea straw. Come the new growing season, I will begin with leafy greens, which don’t take as much from the soil, but I will also interplant peas and beans to add in some much-needed nitrogen to help out.

Feijoa Season Begins: A Long-Awaited Autumn Favourite

The last thing to provide in the garden is the feijoa, the singular plant I look forward to the most apart from asparagus.

But the feijoa has begun, and the harvest will continue till mid-May. I have two varieties in—Apollo, which is the early variety, and Kakariki later in the month, and though smaller, there is always a huge amount of fruit on these little bushes.

The trees are 9 years old, and at the moment, picking up the fruit can be a bit of a pain because of the low branches, but each year I take off the next layer of lower branches to lift the height and to make it easier. A couple more years of this, and they will be perfect.

This was the final harvest from the garden. I’ve got very few green tomatoes left, all the drying beans are done, and the courgettes are now finally done thanks to that frost.

For now, I will take a couple of weeks off from the garden, and then I’ll get stuck into it.