Seasonal Tips – Autumn

We are coming up to the most prolific time of the year when the kitchen garden really comes into its own. We have collected a bumper selection of tips to see you through the summer holidays into autumn harvest time.

1. Be watchful: From now on, keep a watchful eye out for fungal diseases, and caterpillars on brassicas. Especially:

• Grey mould and mildew on crops and blight on tomato plants and potato haulm – more common in wet seasons, but be vigilant. The biodynamic remedy to help prevent and control fungal diseases is Equisetum (horsetail) Spray it in the evening on the soil under affected plants. For maximum effect, apply 2-4 days before a full moon.
  Remove any leaves that show signs of disease, either burn or dispose of with recycling bins – don’t add to the compost bin
  Store potatoes somewhere dark and cool, and check every week for any signs of infected tubers. See here for more detailed information on tomato and potato blight
• The caterpillar season starts in full earnest in August and carries on into the autumn. It’s a good idea to go over brassica plants every day, checking under the leaves and deep down in crevices. Hand-picking the caterpillars off is the easiest solution. Or try:
  Tip: lay side shoots pinched out of tomato plants between the cabbages to send the cabbage white butterfly on its way.

2. Keep picking: The golden rule for green beans and courgettes. Pick little and often to keep the plants flowering into September and you should be able to crop through September and hopefully into October if the weather holds.

3. Water wisely: Water when plants need it, and water the plants not the surrounding area, directing it to the base of the plant. Early morning is best. More water know-how here
Tip: Climbing beans are thirsty plants, and need regular watering. They will often look wilted on a hot afternoon, but often revive overnight. If the plants look wilted in the morning, they need watering.

4. Save your own: Saving your own seeds is dear to our biodynamic hearts, and a fun and interesting gardening skill to develop. This video will inspire you and get you started. The easiest seeds to save are undoubtedly bean seeds – broad, French, climbing and runner beans. All are delicious, too, to add to autumn & winter soups & stews.
Saving tomato seeds is also popular. Check out Julie Moore’s how to guide here

5. Time to grow green: As we explain growing green manures ticks all the sustainability boxes. if you don’t have an edible crop planned for the winter, September is the ideal time to sow an over-winter green manure on cleared soil such as field beans, field peas or winter tares. Sow on a leaf day if you want bulk of matter to dig in or root days for the leguminous types – weather permitting.

6. Plant garlic: Easy, takes 5 minutes, can be grown in containers and takes up hardly any room. Buy good quality organic garlic bulbs to start, thereafter you can use your own .  Autumn plantings of garlic provide the longest possible growing season and that all-important chilling period (at least a month below 10⁰C) that results in the best bulbs.  Choose a root day to plant the cloves. This link tells all
Tip: Pop a few cloves in a pot, and harvest the immature plants in spring like chives to give a fresh garlic flavour to dishes.

7. Liven up your soil: Applying the biodynamic soil activator (horn manure preparation) is fundamental to growing biodynamically. Apply while the soil is still warm in late Sept/early Oct on cleared beds to keep the soil ‘alive. Apply in the late afternoon avoiding bright sunshine if possible.
Tip: Good weather and soil conditions are more important than following the planting calendar.

8. Garden wilding: This gives Nature the best chance of thriving over winter, and ensures your garden is always a haven for biodiversity. Come autumn, don’t be too overzealous when tidying the garden. It provides food and shelter for a host of living creatures. The seed heads of annuals such as sunflowers, for example, provide a food source for birds over the coming winter months. The hollow stems of dying plants offer shelter for over-wintering insects, so leave and cut back in spring.

9. Planting calendar know-how: As summer evolves in autumn the emphasis shifts to harvesting and using the calendar can be very useful for helping your lovingly grown produce to stay fresher and store better. How? Experience has shown that:
– by choosing ” Fruit” days for the harvesting of fruit crops ( ie all plants that are grown for their fruit or seed such as beans, peas, tomatoes, cucumber, courgettes, squash, pumpkins, peppers, aubergine, apples, pears, berries cherries, plums. grapes etc) their keeping qualities are enhanced.
– seeds saved from your fruit crops harvested on ” Fruit” days appear to grow better plants when sown the following season.
– by choosing the 2- week moon rhythm known as ” ascending moon” ( indicated in the planting calendar as ” Southern Transplanting Time” ) as well as a fruit day OR simply on any day during this period – for harvesting your fruit crops – they keep better for longer-term storage.

 

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