Winter is coming in and there is less to do in the garden. I have raked up the leaves from the big trees and prepared a leaf mulch for next year. Easy enough to do, I just ran the lawnmower over the piles of leaves and emptied the catcher into black rubbish sacks. I added some water to the leaves and tied the sacks with flax. Then I made some holes with a stick and left them to rot down.
I have made a couple of new beds and prepared them with compost and last year's leaf mulch. I also planted some peas which I don't expect will have much fruit with the weather cooling like it has been but will provide a green manure base for the veges I grow there in the spring.
For the winter I have planted lots of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and silver beet. And this seems to be doing very well.
I have had a couple of feeds from my spinach and this morning I picked another dozen tomatoes. Probably the last of the tomatoes I think but I have had a good run from them and I am pleased that they have done so well in what has been a poor year for tomatoes for many people I have spoken to.
Amazingly I am still picking one or two strawberries! However there was a frost this morning down on the flat nearby so although I didn't get it yet here on the hill I expect that I will soon, so they will go to sleep.
I have a pot full of parsley that I planted from my own seeds at the beginning of autumn and although it's not big enough to harvest yet it will do me good for the spring. I still have lots of seeds that I will plant by the patio in the spring in the hope that it will keep the sand flies away. Not sure if that will work but I read an old gardening book that recommended it so here's hoping.