I’m writing this blog about my own garden, as the autumn sunshine beams down through the last leaves on the trees.

Whilst there’s still some goodies to harvest in the garden, it’s also time to think ahead, of winter jobs and spring time planting.

The garden just keeps on giving

Following advice from Monty Don on Gardeners’ World last week, we pulled the last green tomatoes off their vines and put the plant in the compost (if you do this check there is no blight).

Mum is going to make some Green Tomato Chutney with the remaining tomatoes – gotta use em up!

Me and my family planted an apple tree in Grandma’s garden 3 years ago, in memory of my Grandad Bill.

He absolutely loved apple trees and taught himself how to press the fruit to make cider.

This is the first year it’s produced fruit and we took one of the apples to share on a day trip recently and it was delish. Planting a fruit tree in memory of a loved one is just the loveliest thing to do.

These are the last of the shallots from the garden. They are so easy to grow, I would recommend growing them to anyone, especially kids as they are easy to handle.

You just buy them in sets, we plonk them in the ground – in about March – so that just their tips are showing and they’re ready to harvest from about July/August onwards

We’ve used ours in stews, Dad REALLY loves em!

I started this sage off from seed in, I think May. The herb seeds were sent to me by  Zziggysgal, which included basil and parsley.

We ended up with 4 big tubs of sage, they grew so well. It’s one of my favourite herbs ‘cos I love the smell.

Mum’s used it to make sage butter for pasta and with roast chicken too – YUM!

Check out this beetroot we grew; it’s a heritage variety called ‘Rouge Crapaudine’. Mum saw it being used on Masterchef and ordered the seeds straight away.

It grows in a parsnip shape, rather than the traditional round shape and we harvested our first last week. Some haven’t grown that well, but others are spot on.

Mum roasted it in honey and apparently it was delish – I nibbled some of the raw beetroot, but I have to say I’m not that keen, it’s too earthy for me!

The fab weather we have had has meant my Grandma has had a bumper crop of juicy cabernet sauvignon grapes. They are ready for harvesting now and I think she might take them to Sunday’s Harvest Festival, as the apple press will be there.

Bet you can’t guess what she fancies making!!

We are coming to the end of other crops such as courgettes and sweetcorn and last week we dug up the last of the new potatoes and carrots.

Other late flowering plants however, like ivy and the Michaelmas daisy, are still looking glorious.

And here we are in autumn, planning ahead for next spring, as I plant bulbs in a lovely pot; both received as gifts – crocus from Alana and narcissus from Grandma Barbara

My top tip at this time of year – if you have a pond, keep clearing it from fallen leaves; place any stuff you clear out at the side of the pond, so any creatures can return to the pond

In other news

I took part  in the RHS Campaign for School Gardening’s Big Soup Share last Saturday and it was great fun. Me and the other Young Operation Farmers prepared, cooked and served ‘Green Soup’, soda bread and autumn inspired cupcakes and we raised……….£209 WOW!!!

No rest for us though as it’s the Harvest Festival this Sunday 14th October, where we’re making apple day pancakes, using cooking apples that we’ve picked from the local area. If you live near Hyde Park, Tameside do join us there’s LOADS of great stuff going on

Hope you have a great weekend in your garden or maybe you’re going to an autumn event too??

My next blog will be all about ‘wonderful worms’!!