Our pumpkins are, or will shortly be ready to harvest, and if it is done correctly, they can be kept for ages. The most important thing is to keep them on the vine for as long as possible – while trying to avoid any frosts – too late I cry! You can cover them each night if you are concerned, either with cloth or straw over each pumpkin. Once the frost starts to blacken the leaves it is best to harvest. If it has got to the fruit, you will have to use those ones rather than storing them, as they will only be good for a week or so
Regardless if you dive in now or wait to harvest, ensure you leave up to 500mm of vine attached to the pumpkin and don’t snape off the main stalk, which can be easy to do, as it looks very much like a handle to use when carrying the pumpkin, but as tempting as it is, don’t!
Leave the harvested pumpkin out in an open sunny place each day and then cover at night, so the skin will become very hard. After a few weeks the fruit can then be stored under cover with the vine still attached. If you are lucky, some may keep for as long as a year.
Berry bushes. It is very easy to just forget about these as they grow so easily here, but when looked after they really do show their appreciation in terms of quality and quantity of the fruit.
Now in theory they should be pruned immediately after harvesting, but many put the job off until winter – which is where I am at the moment - this is definitely about do as I say, not as I do! Never mind, doing it now is better than not at all. Remove all old dark-coloured branches to the ground and leave the young vigorous canes (for blackcurrants) or prune back the previous seasons growth by a third and shorten the small side branches (for redcurrants).
Brambles can receive the same treatment, restricting the pruning to the removal of all canes which produced fruit that season.
If you are running late with this, remember for next year that early pruning allows the plant to put its energy directly into the limbs which will carry next year’s crop, rather than putting its energy into wood that will only be cut later on.
And while you are at it, now is a good time to give them a feed using a thick layer of old spoilt hay and / or straw and plenty of matured animal manure and tuck it in right up to the base of the bushes, which will also help to stop the weeds and retain water.
And just finally, re last week's piece, I was very pleased with the response and to know that people took my thoughts in the right spirit. What was uniform across so many of them was the view that the garden is a healthy place to be, summed up very well by Sue -
My garden is my sanctuary and has been for the 34 years that I’ve been working with it at my home. I lose myself in its constant ability to grow and adapt, to create new life; I immerse myself in the rich collage of greens and the uplifting shades of the colourful rainbow the flowers produce. My humble little veggie patch for one, flourishes with aromas of herbs, and produce that nourish the soul. My garden gives back to me ten-fold. I watch and rejoice at the hundreds of busy bees visiting every flower- no matter how tiny. They never seem to tire. So neither do I. My garden is my source of life, and resilience.
I couldn’t have said it any better
Enjoy!
Peter