This week I am collecting windfall apples and taking as many as possible off the trees (I have two, not an orchard) because they will become windfalls if the weather forecast is approaching accurate. This makes me think that if you are looking in horror at the grocery bills and like healthy eating you might want to look at planting a fruit tree or two.

We are coming into bare-root planting season and if you are not experienced in fruit growing there are many suppliers on line who will be only too happy to recommend varieties for your garden. The trees come in all shapes and sizes from enormous to ones you can grow in large pots. The only thing to be aware of is that some need to have a pollinating friend of the same or close flowering season. Apples, pears, plums all come in these smaller sizes now including the Minarette types that grow vertically and only need minimal pruning.

On the veg front all the potatoes are up and seed spuds on order for next year. These are from a specialist supplier and you can specify when you want them. To go this route you need to be quick as a lot of varieties sell out very quickly in Autumn. I have removed the last few green tomatoes from the vines and those will be in the bin in the next few days.

Again, I didn’t like to leave them in case of bad weather which can send the fruits scattering and these will rot, sow seed and there’ll be a few surprises next year. I learned not to put unwanted/damaged tomatoes in the compost bin as this happened: when the compost was spread up came some tomatoes exactly where they weren’t wanted and varieties unknown.