As soon as September hit it suddenly turned all Autumnal in the garden and I’m all here for it. I’m definitely not a hot sweaty Summer kind of person! Give me those misty mornings, hand knitted jumpers, cosy nights in and plenty of home cooked stews. I just love this time of the year, the garden also starts to slow down and it just makes life a lot easier!
Borlotti beans are always high on my list of crops to grow, in fact I don’t think I could ever not grow them. They are a staple in the food cupboard over the Winter as we love adding them to stews, casseroles and curries. They are also very easy to grow! Apart from the initial direct sowing back in the Spring they’ve been left to their own devices. No fuss, no problems, just the way I like it! As the plants start to die back and those bright red pods change to a dark shade, it officially marks the start Autumn for me. I usually like to leave them to completely dry on the plant but seeing as we were forecast for some wet weather I decided to bring them all inside. Some of the pods were also showing signs of rotting and as it seems to have done nothing but rain this past month I’m very glad I did pick them all!
What I thought would be a half an hour job in fact turned into a whole morning of picking the pods, then I spent the entire evening shelling them… All completely worth it of course! They are currently completing the drying off process in the workshop, all laid out in a single layer in 2 fruit crates lined with muslin. After they’ve dried I’ll pop them into some airtight jars and they’ll keep all Winter long.
I’ve since cleared the rest of the Borlotti plants from the wigwams which leaves the climbing pumpkins free to soak up all the sunshine that September can give them! As I couldn’t find my beloved Munchkin pumpkin seeds anywhere I had to settle for some Jack be Little, which aren’t actually that little… but a pumpkin is a pumpkin and I’ll take them in whatever size, shape and colour that they grow in.
Katie x
