It's a good time of year to look for free stuff when you're out and about - the blackberries should still be going if you live far enough north, while purpley-black sloes will soon be around, asking to be turned into sloe gin, as are their various wild plum cousins. A good tip for locating sloes is to try to find an area that was enclosed in the 18th or 19th century - the blackthorn was often used as a hedging because of its vicious thorns.There are elders - I noticed that the most exposed elder trees near to us were full of berries now, which are great turned into a spicy, wintry cordial, as per our instructions here. The tip with elders is to wait until the berries 'drop', and hang down in a shape a bit like an upside down umbrella.
Then, as autumn progresses there are leaves. Not just a nuisance needing to be swept up, if you have the patience they slowly rot down into a great mulch or addition to a compost heap (after a year), or a lovely conditioner to add directly to your soil (after two years).
You could do what we did and build a ramshackle store for them (see the picture at the top of this post), or you can store them in plastic bags. There are straightforward instructions here. The important tip is to keep them moist and give them plenty of time.
When the mould is a year old it can be added to the compost heap and is a great way of getting plenty of worms in to work. Compost might not be as glamorous a freebie as the sultry sloe, or as instantly gratifying as a blackberry, but if you can manage to get a good heap going, you save a fortune in bought compost. We use a bokashi system to compost all of our food waste to add to the heap - we're also lucky to have a chipper that can shred woody garden waste, and both of these really get the compost heap going. The left hand side is now pretty much ready to be used, probably in a new bed we're putting together:
The next batch is in the right hand container:
Finally, a reminder that brambles and blackberries haven't long to go. The brilliantly productive bush in our garden is now nearly done. Soon be time to cut back all the stems which have fruited this year, ready for it to spring back to life next year.
You could do what we did and build a ramshackle store for them (see the picture at the top of this post), or you can store them in plastic bags. There are straightforward instructions here. The important tip is to keep them moist and give them plenty of time.
When the mould is a year old it can be added to the compost heap and is a great way of getting plenty of worms in to work. Compost might not be as glamorous a freebie as the sultry sloe, or as instantly gratifying as a blackberry, but if you can manage to get a good heap going, you save a fortune in bought compost. We use a bokashi system to compost all of our food waste to add to the heap - we're also lucky to have a chipper that can shred woody garden waste, and both of these really get the compost heap going. The left hand side is now pretty much ready to be used, probably in a new bed we're putting together:
The next batch is in the right hand container:
Finally, a reminder that brambles and blackberries haven't long to go. The brilliantly productive bush in our garden is now nearly done. Soon be time to cut back all the stems which have fruited this year, ready for it to spring back to life next year.
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