From Sonairte
Following the most miserable of summers we've had a long and glorious autumn. Leaves are still on the trees in shades of red, gold and bronze and the devil has still not placed his finger on the blackberries - they are still tasty and sweet, the latest I ever remember. So there's no excuse for not preparing the garden for winter this year and making sure there are plenty of places for all the garden friends to hide when the chilly weather finally gets here. I won't say the bad weather because we've had some atrocious storms, with gales and torrential rain, and there's been plenty of flooding around.
Nonetheless, on a sunny day like today the garden looks lovely with the green blue flags of the leeks and the last of the summer flowers. The apples are safely gathered in. Not nearly as many as we'd like. They won't keep us going until spring rhubarb season. But a better crop than it looked like at one stage. As more and more people appreciate our apple pies and preserves the demand rises, and with frost and no bees last spring the crop is down by more than half this year, with some trees not fruiting at all.
But all in all, despite everything the weather could throw at us, it has been another good year in the organic garden at Sonairte
