The long hot summer now seems far behind as we enter autumn and feel the change of the season, with the first storms arriving and the cooler darker days. The garden is reacting accordingly.
Summer crops are still being harvested, but are becoming fewer. We are still harvesting tomatoes, courgettes, cucomelon and runner beans but have seen the last of this year’s cucumbers, dwarf french beans and potatoes. It was a good year for raspberries and other soft fruit. As we remove these crops, particularly from our polytunnels, we are replacing them with oriental leaves, spinach, land cresses, rocket and other winter leaves. In the garden, beds which are cleared are being covered with black plastic or sown with a green manure of rye and vetch. A local distillery is interested in using rye grain in their product. A first for us, so we are already looking forward to next year. Our grape vine has also done particularly well this year with lots of clusters of ripening grapes. Chateau Mount Falcon anyone?
We are currently harvesting carrots, kohl rabbi, beetroots, celery, turnips, kales, leeks, swede, onions, squash, spinach, rocket, purple sprouting broccoli, salad leaves and herbs. We are looking forward to harvesting salsify, jerusalem and chinese artichokes, flower and brussel sprouts, celeriac, parsnips, hispi cabbages and other vegetables which bring a seasonality to our Kitchen Restaurant menus.
Our bees have had a good summer and have rewarded us with a beautiful tasting honey. After harvesting the honey, we purposely left a good amount in the hives to ensure the survival of our bee colonies as we do not feed them sugar syrups. Mount Falcon Honey is available for sale from the hotel Spa.
This year seems to have passed very quickly and we are already looking forward to and planning for next year. We hope to offer more widely available Garden Tasting Tours. Which include a personally guide tour with our Head Gardener and an opportunity to sample and taste the fresh seasonal produce of our Kitchen Garden. Enquiries to garden@mountfalcon.com please.
Finally I would like to thank all those people who helped us in the Kitchen Garden this year with particular mention to Dominika, Nico, Antoinne & Tekla and not forgetting Paul.
A vos fourchettes et Bon Appetit!
Alex
