There’s a fantastic number of allotment, kitchen garden and grow your own bloggers out there. I read as many as I can for inspiration, advice and to find out what everyone is getting up to.

Here are a few of my favourite articles and blog posts from October 2018.

1. October Spice. Those Agents of Field are facing an unstoppable and heated onslaught of chillies and peppers this month. Not that one should complain about that. Although, it depends on the skill, training and pinpoint accuracy of a particular agent in how you manage them in the appropriate dishes. Ade!

2. Too many cucamelons left us in a pickle! Here’s another couple facing a charge of crops from the plot. Emily and Chris hadn’t grown cucamelons before and when the army of the mini watermelons (well, I think they look like them) came, they asked the wonderful gardening community for the answer. Pretty simple it turns out – pickle ’em.

3. Autumn once again. If I had to suffer the consequences of the walk to the garden office that Zoe does, I’d freak out. I loved how Zoe talks about the arrival of autumn and maintains within that conversation, the beautiful components it brings. Here’s a little tour through the delights of allotment and kitchen during the season.

4. Garlic, Pumpkins & Tomatoes. I discovered Paul’s blog recently and I’m really pleased to introduce him to you too. He’s been experimenting with tomato cuttings, musing over his little pumpkins and doing what many of us are doing right now – starting the preparations for spring.

5. Vegetable Garden Design: How to draw a Simple Garden Plan. Tanya moved home not so long ago. The house is refurbished and now she’s turning her attention to the new garden. This is something we face as new allotment holders and it’s something we face with every new year too. In this post, Tanya takes us through her process of planning her vegetable garden. Grab your pen and paper!

6. Autumn review of our allotment. It can feel a rather empty (or emptying) time on the allotment at this point in the year. However, as you can see there is still quite a lot going on. Harvests, jobs to do and even things to pop in the ground.

7. In the beginning… I love looking back on photos and diary notes from the start of my allotment. It’s a tangible reminder that no matter how slow or difficult your current experiences on the plot feels right now (and it does for all of us at some point), you have come a long way in turning a neglected piece of land into a productive garden. This is exactly why I enjoyed this post this month.

8. Weather for weeding. If you’ve seen my Instagram stories recently, you might have noticed I’ve got a bit of love going on for Andrew in admiration of his unbelievably good podcast. Here’s some more in the form of his writing and why the weather at this time of year can be perfect for undertaking the job most of us dislike but never get away from in our gardens. Weeding.

9. And so to bed… A short and sweet post from Dickie and Heather. It’s good to give ourselves a pat on the back – whatever the accomplishment on the allotment. It a cumulative process. One task at a time until the whole thing is staring back at you in all its glory.

10. Carrots out and Endives in. Following Mark’s blog is both incredibly useful as a veg grower because he has such a lot of experience to share. It’s also wonderful to see what is possible in a relatively small space if you plan effectively and know what crops can follow another to keep a relatively continuous supply of vegetables over the year.

You can read all the Sharpen Your Spades Top 10 posts here.

Drop me a comment below with a blog I might be missing out on and I’ll pop it in my reader.

---

Follow Sharpen Your Spades! You can receive my posts by email – Subscribe here.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

You can get in touch with me here.

Connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.