The Curators Garden

Autumn Harvest Tips
Beans taste best when young and tender. Pick them daily.
Beetroot tastes best when harvested small. Harvest evenly to
allow space for remaining beets to grow.
Peppers and chillies may be harvested at any stage. Chillies
get hotter as they ripen from green to red. They can be strung in
‘ristras’ to slowly dry for winter use.
Pumpkins are ripe if they sound hollow when tapped and
when the vines start to die off.
Tomatoes - a month before expected frost, cut off the top of
the plant and remove new flower clusters to redirect energy into
Beans
the ripening of remaining fruit.
Cucumbers should be picked regularly, daily if ready, to encourage more fruit.
Main crop potatoes are ready for digging when the leaves have died down completely. Dig
on a dry, windy day. Spread unwashed tubers in the shade to dry for a day or two in a shaded,
airy place before storing.
Apples and pears are ready to pick when they
separate easily from the spur without breaking the stem
and when fruit starts to drop.
Figs are ripe when soft to the touch with full colour.
Unripe figs exude white sap and will not ripen once picked.
Dry ripe figs by laying them in the sun for 4 – 5 days.
Apple cucumber
Once dried, they’ll last 6 – 8 months.
Companion planting
Colin says of sweet peas “They are one of
my favourite companion plants. They’re
pretty, grow up any vertical support, are
lovely for picking for the restaurant and
they add nitrogen to the soil!”
Edible Flowers
The Curator’s House chefs’ favourite edible
flowers include chives, nasturtiums, violas
and borage.
Sweet Pea
Viola
Nasturtium
Chives
Colin Knight checks the pumpkins in the Curator’s
House demonstration garden.
autumn’10 9