The summer raised bed is ready to be changed over for winter planting. The remaining tomato plants have to be removed and composted and the bed fed with compost and comfrey tea. The tomatoes did well this year, despite conditions. The overhead weather protection diffused heavy rain and provided shade in the heatwaves. Plus the …Read More about Raised bed changeover
Diary of a Brussels Kitchen Garden
Winter planting
Autumn is the time for planting winter crops, garlic, beans and onions. The idea is to get these crops established and growing before the hard cold of winter arrives. The plants withstand cold and provide a late spring early summer harvest. With recent heavy rain it is better to start these crops indoors and move …Read More about Winter planting
Making chilli jam
There is nothing better on a rainy cold afternoon than to take one hour and make a batch of hot chilli pepper jam. At this time of the year there are fresh hot chilli peppers so with some basic kitchen ingredients and a set of jam jars, the gardener can become the chef for an …Read More about Making chilli jam
End of summer
Summer appears to have finished rather sharply this year, switching straight into winter weather. It is to be hoped this will be short term and then winter planting can get on. It is not ideal to plant winter crops in water logged ground. So while waiting for the weather to break it is back indoors …Read More about End of summer
Salad season open
With the drop in temperature the fall salad season can get going. Lettuce and salad crops are cool climate crops best suited to early spring or early autumn. They rarely do well in heatwave conditions during summer. With mild winters over the last few years the fall planting season is becoming increasingly more useful for …Read More about Salad season open
Summer extra
Gardeners are known for reading the weather. This is becoming more difficult these days with strange swings in the weather. Belgium presently has a late summer heatwave, due to last another week before temperatures drop by about 10 degrees. This end of season extra heat is ideal for finishing off tomatoes presently green, so good …Read More about Summer extra