Well in the last 2 weeks we went from a beautiful Indian Summer to "Ahh, where's the heater" with a flick of a switch. The flannelette sheets are on the bed and remembering to draw the curtains is important. If you don't it feels like the entire universe is trying to power itself off your heat resources.
The maples all through the hills are putting on a delightful show and the red chicory has gone from green with streaks of burgundy to the deep abiding red which signals that it's COLD overnight. The tomatoes are still surviving, we haven't had a frost yet, but ripening has basically stalled so I am slowly pulling them out to plant the next rotation.
The Broccoli, Cauliflower and Cabbages are struggling against the snails and slugs but most are making slow headway. A couple of the coloured Silverbeet, Chard, are really taking off and making a go of it. The garlic that I lost last season when the tops browned off and I hadn't marked them have popped up through the mulch. Leeks have been planted out into the onion nursery box and Broad Bean seed has been direct sown.
I am trialling inter-planting the Broad Bean with Spring onion. I plant my Broad Bean in blocks as it seems to help them survive the winds at our place. Due to that I will be really interesting to see if they manage to play nicely together. My main hope is that the Broad beans won't totally shade the spring onions once they both pop through the ground. Either way the crop I am more dependant on, the Broad Beans, should do fine.
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We've had a couple of cool nights but I'm back to kicking off the covers. The Feral on the other hand HAS to have his sleeping bad to snuggle under.
Our autumn days were hot, then cold. The only mid point was hot days and cold nights. I do feel cheated. I think it is my lot living in the mountains now.
I was thinking late last night that I should put in a row of broad beans at our new house, it will make the block look productive and I love broad beans.
Hi Nevyn,
Lets just say overnight lows have been somewhere around 7C.. no kicking covers off over here. I certainly hope you get some cooler weather soon.
Hi Linda,
I have to say the 28C about 2 weeks ago stunned me a little. I suspect our change was just as swift as yours and it did feel a bit like we went straight from summer to winter. On the plus side the tomatoes continued ripening well until "winter" hit.
Broad beans are fantastic for that purpose they look pretty when flowering and are more than happy to look after themselves.
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