Seasonal jobs to do working on the vegetable plot.

Winter jobs to do in the vegetable garden.
The vegetable garden still needs attention even though nothing is cropping at the moment. Now is a good time here to prepare the ground for next year's vegetables and also to give the fruit bushes such as raspberry canes, blackcurrant, white and red currant bushes the rewards they deserve for the crops they provided this year.

The autumn raspberry canes have been cut back as the fruit will be produced on the canes that grow next year's, the summer fruiting raspberries have been tidied up and tied into their wire supports. The summer fruiting raspberries will  grow on the canes that were on the plants this summer so only old dead and poorly positioned canes were cut out. They also have a cut back in the summer after they have finished fruiting.

The two gooseberry bushes have been tidied and made into good shapes in the autumn time. The currant bushes just needed weeding around the bases.  Apart from that the rhubarb has been
given a feed of well rotted horse manure, only the stakes in the ground next to where the plants are show where the rhubarb stems will emerge in the early spring time.

The compost heaps were given some time, one to turn over the recently added layers. The other compost heap  is being emptied of  as the compost is now ready to use and we are adding it to the raised beds and areas of the vegetable plot that need enriching. Our sandy soil needs the compost to improve the soil structure and to add nutrients to the soil too.

Now can I find the time to escape to the vegetable and fruit garden one more time before Christmas? I hope so  as it is lovely on the plot at this time of year as long as you wrap up well to keep warm.