Working Notes - November 2022

6 November 2022 – Autumn is probably my favourite month. Though the temperature drops and the rain seems more frequent, I enjoy the change in the wildlife, planning for the new year and the harvest the season brings.

October brought the best out of our tomatoes, blackberries and the last of our chilli peppers, squash, courgettes and cucumbers. We also enjoyed a variety of apples during our Apple Day, with freshly pulped apple juice, dried apple and pear slices and some beautiful applesauce. We have collected and stored thousands of seeds and have begun work on renovations throughout the garden as well as connecting further within our community.

November brings a little more time to reflect on a year which seems to have flown by, but for me I prefer to look at the here and now and what is to come. Growing Well started the week by pricking out and planting on their spinach and parsley seedlings, keeping an eye on their winter purslane that is just peeking for the soil. Autumn raspberries were picked in abundance and, after a few attempts, four bird houses were built, ready for the great outdoors. All our tomato seeds have been dried and packed, as have our tomatillo seeds and 2 bags full of miscellaneous bulbs.

The green manure in poly 2 has been dug over and turned into the soil and topped up with fresh soil improver from waterswallows and some well rotted leaf mould. Thanks to Keith’s expert eye we now have a long ‘Fix It’ list of repairs around for the garden, which will keep our volunteers warm during the winter months.

And work has continued on remodelling the new flowerbed area, even unearthing a small overgrown pond near the tool shed, which we hope to have tidied up in the next week or so. I’m looking to put together a Whatsapp group for anyone who would like to get involved in the new flower bed area. If you would be interested in helping out then please get in contact either by my email or on the SCG whatsapp group or website.