The Kitchen Garden in October: Last tomatoes, first frosts, and the tidy-up that isn't hurried

You step through the door into an October garden where the last tomatoes hang heavy on vines touched by morning chill. Harriet Combe walks you through what frost truly claims and what quietly survives, showing you tired beds that need rest rather than rescue. You learn to clear one bed at a time, to tuck roots under a mulch blanket, and to recognize which plants want your help before winter takes them. Agnes Loch reads with the measured pace of someone who has spent hours kneeling in soil, her voice warm against the cooling air. The cold frame becomes its own small world you peer into like a held breath. Let this be your companion for slow afternoons when the light turns golden and the garden asks for gentle hands.