Although the season is drawing to a close in the Torridon kitchen garden, we still have a number of crops available for the kitchens: spinach, kale, radicchio, chard, carrots, and winter crops of Brussel sprouts, Jerusalem artichokes and kales to keep us going during the cold spells. The process of sowing, potting on and planting out continue. Some vegetables and flowers gain from autumn sowing: sweet peas, broad beans, onion sets and garlic cloves giving earlier crops next spring. We have found growing crops in raised beds has been a successful way of lifting plants up from wet soils and providing increased yields with smaller productive areas to weed and manage. We are planning twenty more raised beds of 4.8 x 1.2 metres for next season and a further area of fruiting trees and shrubs to provide a further mix of produce for the Torridon kitchens. Many guests of all ages have expressed an interest in the kitchen garden since they have recently begun or would like to grow their own fruit, veg, herbs and flowers and we are glad to be able to encourage them. Again containers or raised beds can provide manageable areas for cropping without being overwhelmed by the prospect of the work involved.

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