VEGETABLE GARDEN JOBS FOR OCTOBER
Apple and lemon curd:
Simmer apples, lemon juice and zest, butter, sugar and beaten eggs, poured through a sieve. along with all the other ingredients.
Simmer for 3-4 hours, stirring often to prevent it catching on the base of the pan. The chutney is ready when running a spoon across the base of the pan leaves a clear path.
Transfer to sterilised vinegar-proof jars, label and leave for two months before trying. It keeps happily in a cupboard for a couple of years, but refrigerate once open.
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Pumpkins should be left on the plant to ripen for as long as possible, but they must be harvested before the first frosts.
Allow sun to ripen them
Give fruit maximum October sunshine before the frosts arrive, lifting onto tiles clear of damp soil and clearing away shading leaves.
Keep the stem
At maturity the skin thickens, turns matt and often deepens in colour. As you cut, leave a generous handle of stem each side of the stalk.
PLANT GARLIC
Handle cloves gently and only plant the largest so their tip is 2.5cm (1in) below the soil surface in a sunny site on welldrained soil. For an early crop plant into a greenhouse bed.
PLANT MODULE-SOWN SALADS
Plant out modulesown winter salads and Oriental greens under cover. Try winter lettuce, chicory, chard, pak choi, spinach, corn salad, mizuna and mustards.
TAKE A CHANCE ON HARDY PEAS
Sow a hardy round-seeded cultivar into a sheltered sunny, well-drained site to minimise the risk of rotting. Sow in a greenhouse or polytunnel bed if you have room.
Don’t forget PLANT
l spring greens and asparagus crowns
l broad beans direct outdoors mid-Oct to early Nov
l taller brassicas
l old crops, running a mower over thicker stems first
l bareroot fruit trees and bushes
l compost over newly cleared beds
SOW STAKE COMPOST ORDER SPREAD