Autumn's the perfect time to give a gift from the garden, writes Janice Marriott
I've been pulling out old tomatoes and beans and preparing the garden for winter.
Now is also the time to break up perennial plants and give some to friends and neighbours, or keep for the school fair. This includes sage, mint, chives, thyme, oregano, even rhubarb - they all benefit from being dug up, trimmed and replanted.
Strawberries produce runners - little plants on longer stems - that you can now cut off, put in a pot and give to someone else.
If you have lots of coriander that's gone to seed, put the seed, either ground or not, in an attractive jar and label it. Share your bean seeds, too.
Other great autumn gifts include small containers of winter lettuce for your friends to plant in their gardens or grow on their windowsills. The red-leafed winter lettuce "Rouge d'Hiver" from Kings seeds looks great in a container with bright green chives.
And what do you do with all those tomatoes you find nestled in the mulch under the plants you are pulling out? Make tomato sauce. Just cook them down with garlic and herbs and store in glass jars, ready for a quick pasta or pizza dish this week.
