We have had the first blasts of wintery weather here in the U.K. so it seems high-time to finish harvesting warmth loving crops such as potatoes. The foliage of some potatoes planted back in mid-July was dying back, so I opened up the Air-Pot potato tower to find a decent crop of nice clean tubers. It is good to know this late timing can succeed, as it shows two crops from one pot is possible: March to July followed by July to November.

Surprisingly some chilli plants are hanging on and producing ripe pods in the greenhouse a yellow piripiri appears to be the most cold tolerant. There are even a few tomatoes hanging on to a battered plant in a large Air-Pot container outside the front door. Admittedly there is probably not much advantage to leaving tomatoes outside this long but it is interesting to see what is possible given a mild Autumn.

A yuzu citrus tree in a bespoke XL 50cm diameter Air-Pot container has put out lots of new growth this year after it outgrew the largest pot in the ‘Garden Range’ of Air-Pot containers. This is a useful way to keep larger plants happily growing in pots beyond the maximum standard size of Air-Pot container. A strip of wall material can be ordered to create a pot of any diameter (look for ‘Build your own pot’ in the online Air-Pot shop). I set my big pot on a small slatted wooden pallet and lined the inside of the base with landscape fabric. The good drainage provided by an Air-Pot container suits citrus very well as they resent very wet roots for lengthy periods.

A Christmas tree bought last year in a tiny pot has survived and thrived after moving into a medium sized Air-Pot container, this tree will go to spend its second December with a grown-up daughter before coming back to daddy for the remaining eleven months of the year. A veteran tree in an Extra-Large Air-Pot container will join our fesivities for about the fifth time, assuming I can lift it into the house.

As a little experiment some turmeric root has been put into small pots of compost in a very warm airing cupboard to try to get them to sprout. It might seem early to be starting a crop for next year but these rhizomes can be reluctant to get growing, by starting now they will have an entire year to produce a crop before next winter.