Vegetables

• Regularly check all stored crops and remove any that show signs of decay.
• If seakale is grown, clear around the crowns of debris and lightly prick over the soil in readiness for forcing.
• If chicory is grown, lift some roots and take into a warm dark place for forcing.
• Check over tall growing brassicas, such as Brussels sprouts, kale and sprouting broccoli, they may require staking if you not already done so.
• Whenever the soil is dry enough carefully hoe through rows of over-wintering veg like onions, garlic, and spring cabbage.

Fruit

• Clear any debris from rhubarb beds, and source some fresh manure for forcing early next month. Keep turning the fresh manure for a few weeks.
• Continue to prune fruit trees, especially apples and pears.
• Outdoor figs may require some protection in the form of fleece or straw screening to protect the young growth and immature figs. 

Greenhouse

• Keep an eye on plants that are being overwintered in greenhouses, vent the house carefully on days where the sun shines, never too much that the temperature drops drastically, but just to allow for the air to circulate and rid the inside atmosphere of excess moisture.
• Check over overwintering plants often, removing dead material to prevent fungal problems.
• This is a great time to thoroughly clean greenhouses, polytunnels and cold frames with warm soapy water and a little disinfectant.
• If grapes are grown, they can now be pruned, reducing all fruiting laterals to two or three buds from the main rod. 

Vegetables

• Start to harvest winter cabbage, Brussels sprouts, leeks and parsnips, wait until after a frost for the parsnips because the chilling effect turns the starches into sugars, and this gives them their natural sweetness.
• Pick the Brussels sprouts working from the bottom of the stalk upwards to make sure that all the sprouts get a chance to swell. At the same time snap off any yellowing leaves at their base to ensure that there is good air circulation around the plants. It also makes the sprouts easier to pick on cold, wet and frosty days, brrrr!
• Clear the ground of any remaining vulnerable crops such as celeriac, carrots, Florence fennel and put them into store before any hard frosts are forecast.

Fruit

• Now is a good time to plant new fruit trees and bushes. Soft fruit bushes can also be moved now if needed as well.
• Autumn-fruiting raspberries bear fruit on new wood, so cut down all of the old canes to the ground once they have finished fruiting, between November and March.
• Take hardwood cuttings from fruit bushes. It is very easy to do, and will give you a decent-sized plant in a few years.

Greenhouse

• Sow a crop of your favourite variety round seeded hardy peas in 3” to 3”/9 cm pot and transplanted later when the roots have reached the bottom of the pot.
• Transplant any pot raised broad beans sown earlier somewhere sheltered and protected from cold, icy blasts. It not too late to take a chance on a sowing of broad beans if it is done early in the month.
• Transplant October sown lettuces to grow on under cloches or frames space them 6”.15cms square.

Bishopstoke Garden Club invite you to an evening with Richard from The Veg Grower Podcast, including a talk “Turn Your Garden into a Lean, Mean Food Producing Machine” and a chance to ask Richard some of your veg growing questions.

Friday 22 November at 7pm. Bishopstoke Community Association, Sydney Road, Bishopstoke, SO50 6DJ

£3 (cash only) on the door, includes refreshments – full details on the event link below.

https://facebook.com/events/s/talk-by-richard-from-the-veg-g/1117795579780243/

• Gather to use fresh or store for later: Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, autumn cauliflowers, leeks, parsnips, maincrop potatoes, sprouts, pumpkins and winter squashes
• Use horticultural fleece to protect salads and late root crops
• Dig or fork over bare patches of ground once you’ve harvested and cleared your veg patch, mixing in organic matter as you go
• Plant overwintering onion sets and spring cabbage

With the EDACA membership year ending on 30 September 2024 renewal emails have been sent to members with email addresses, and posted to those without, on 20 September 2024.

We’ve added great new benefits for the upcoming year and it’s even easier to renew or join for the first time if you use our online application form and pay via online banking.

Details of our full benefits package and how to join online, or pay in person by cash or cheque in an association shop, can be found on our Membership page.

EDACA shops are now taking orders for the following varieties of seed potatoes – order deadline Sunday 27 October 2024.

1st early	2nd early	Main crop	Salad	Blight resistant
Aaron Pilot	Kestrel	Caledonian Rose	Charlotte	Organic Colleen (1st early)
Casablanca	Wilja	Cara	Jazzy	Acoustic(2nd early)
Maris Baird		Desiree		Java(main crop)
Pentland Javelin		King Edward
Rocket		Maris Peer
Swift		Organic Setana
		Picasso

To place your order please download and complete a seed potato order form and fill in the amount of seed potatoes you wish to order in pounds (our shops hold blank order forms).

A deposit of 25p per pound is required on ordering, remainder to be paid on collection – you will be advised of the total price per pound when our supplier delivers the potatoes.

Please take your completed order form and deposit into any EDACA shop by the order deadline of Sunday 27 October 2024:

• Boyatt Wood (St Catherine’s Road, Eastleigh) Sunday 10:30 – 11:30
• Lakeside (Rapide Close, Eastleigh) Sunday 09:00 – 12:00
• Underwood Road (Underwood Road, Bishopstoke) Saturday and Sunday 11:00 – 12:30
• Woodside (Leah Gardens, Eastleigh) Sunday 10:00 – 12:00

Please make sure you collect your potato order asap once notified it is in the association shop.

The collection point for your order will be:

Boyatt Wood – Boyatt Wood plot holders

Broomhill – Broomhill plot holders

Lakeside – Burns Close, Chestnut Avenue, Eagle Close, Jockey Lane, Lakeside, Monks Way, Ramalley, Tennyson Road plot holders and all Trading Members

Underwood Road – Jockey Lane and Underwood Road plot holders

Woodside – Lincoln’s Rise and Woodside plot holders

• Use horticultural fleece to cover late crops of salads and courgettes
• Sow overwintering onions as well as quick crops, such as baby spinach, for salad leaves
• Continue to harvest French and runner beans, autumn cauliflower, cabbages, lettuce, marrows, maincrop potatoes, pencil leeks, onions, rocket, shallots and spring onions
• Pot up herbs such as basil, chives, coriander mint and parsley
• Pick the first autumn fruiting raspberries and Conference pears, blackberries and apples as they ripen
• Prune cane fruits
• Leave root crops such as beetroot, carrots, parsnips, swedes and turnips in the ground for winter

• Keep on harvesting aubergines, French and runner beans, beetroot, carrots, chillies, courgettes, cucumbers, peas, peppers, potatoes, spinach and outdoor tomatoes.
• Once you’ve cleared any space, re-use it as quickly as possible by sowing fast-growing varieties that will be ready quickly such as lettuce and radishes.
• Harvest early varieties of eating apples, blackberries and summer raspberries. Prune other fruits once all of the fruit has been picked.

• Harvest asparagus, lettuce, peas, overwintering onions, early potatoes, radishes, rocket and spring onions
• Sow salad vegetables
• Pick gooseberries, redcurrants and strawberries
• Pull some rhubarb sticks, leaving others to develop
• Protect unripe fruit with netting
• Keep watering if the weather’s dry
• Hoe weeds