Autumn

 Everything is looking very sad, now that autumn is upon us. We have not had a lot of rain, or indeed any frost yet, but it is a lot colder and the days are much shorter, with less light. My French beans finished a long time ago, and I am now picking the brown pods for seeds for next year, the runner beans similarly.
The butternut squash are limping on, and I am harvesting them - they keep for months.
The sweetcorn are just about finished. Many were eaten by mice(?) so there are only a few in the freezer.

On a slightly brighter note, many of my garlic cloves have sprouted (on the right in the picture) also some of the overwintering onions, planted in the plastic as usual to keep down the weeds.
When time allows, I will take out everything (except of course onions, garlic, swede, leeks and white sprouting broccoli) then add loads of compost and manure to plots 1 and 2, which will be for beans, sweetcorn, peas etc next year. This will all be dug in before Christmas, to allow it time to mature. Plots 3 and 4 will be fertilised and dug. Plot 5 - where my strawberries are - will be weeded, and the new strawberry plants (from the runners that I rooted in pots) will be planted out.

A Quiz?

So what has been eating my sweetcorn? Only 1 cob has been affected, and this was still on the plant - therefore about two feet above the ground - and in one of my enclosures. The entire site has a deer fence, therefore it is not likely to be deer, and the cob was still on the plant, therefore it was probably not a badger (which would anyway have made more of a mess). The teeth marks do not look like a bird's beak made them. Perhaps it was a mouse? Any suggestions are welcome! Fortunately, I have plenty more sweetcorn coming on.

Yesterday, I put a thick layer of manure and compost on a part of one of my plots, and dug it in. Then I put down some plastic with holes in it, and planted some onion sets, bought specially as they stand over the winter and are harvested early. The polythene keeps the weeds down - onions hate weeds - and if any do not survive the winter, I shall plant a different variety in the spring to fill the gaps. I also planted some garlic, which must sprout then have a cold period in order to form good cloves.

Autumn show

It was our autumn horticultural show this weekend. As usual, I managed to find a few things to enter, and this was one of them - a basket of fruit and/or vegetables grown on the allotments. Mine consisted of apples, potatoes (I managed to find 4 without slug holes!) sweetcorn, onions, runner beans and garlic. Astonishingly it not only won first in its class, but was given 'Best in Show'! I also took first prize for specimen vegetable (a butternut squash), onions and a couple of others. However, in the jam class I committed the cardinal sin of using a jar with a screw lid rather than a twist cap, so despite the excellent flavour it went nowhere!

On the allotment, things are beginning to come to a close. There are a few more beans and courgettes to pick, plus butternut squash, beetroot, carrots and sweetcorn, but it is almost time to start the cycle of manuring, digging etc again. I have some garlic cloves to plant out, plus some overwintering onion sets, and there will of course be some winter vegetables - leeks (very poor) swedes (very small) and sprouting broccoli - to pick.

After the drought comes the flood

It has rained every day - sometimes very heavily - for the last week, and our drought is well and truly broken. Not everything has liked it (it has of course been a lot colder as well) but the courgettes and butternut squash are doing well.There are several squash on each of my two plants, and we have more courgettes and runner beans than we can use, or indeed freeze!

The sweetcorn also are doing quite well. I have picked a couple this week, but they were not ready - another week? This week, I have also been digging potatoes. Good harvest of about 6lb per root, but a lot of these have been attacked by slugs. Note to self : next year get some slug-resistant spuds!
I have also been harvesting beetroot, French beans - now coming to an end - onions and late strawberries, which have not enjoyed the weather! The onions are drying off in the greenhouse at home. Most look pretty good, and should keep a long time. The garlic are now all dried and hanging up, and there are definitely enough!

More strawberries

These are my strawberry plants that I planted earlier this year. There are 3 kinds - early, mid-season and late. All gave a smallish harvest (they were only first year plants after all) earlier in the year, but now the late type is fruiting again. You will see that there are several small pots along the row. These are filled with compost, and I have planted a dozen of the runners from the plants in them to increase my stock. There were literally hundreds of runners, but I have cut most off, and am just keeping a few. I also took the opportunity, whilst the mesh was off, to pull up all the weeds (masses)and have a general tidy-up round the plants. When the runners have rooted, I will cut them off at the parent and plant them out. Next year they will give a few strawberries, but the older plants will crop more heavily. I will also root up another dozen runners, and the same in the third year. After the third year, I will chuck out the old plants, and will by then have enough rooted runners to replace them.

At the moment I am picking French beans, Runner beans, courgettes, beetroot, purple sprouting broccoli, cabbages and potatoes. Soon to come will be sweetcorn, and the peas were so good that I have planted some more. Their success depends upon the weather in September! I have also planted out some more beetroot, spring onions, lettuce and swede, which are looking OK, but my leeks have started to go to seed - too dry! It has not been overly hot in the main, but the last rain was more than 2 weeks ago, and before that about a month. So I am having to water frequently, but it is no substitute for rain.

Peas, beans, potatoes ....

Runner beans have now reached the top of their poles, and are looking good. Sweetcorn are waist high - at least the earlier sown ones are - and also looking good, with the first signs of flowers at the top.

Peas this year have been exceptional - a large harvest of 8 to 10 peas per pod (more in some) and no sign of pea moth or other damage, except in the very last ones. This is because I covered the peas until they had just about finished flowering with a very fine mesh. As they are wind pollinated, not insect pollinated, this had no effect on the size of the crop, but the quality was outstanding. So I have planted some more, in pots. It's too late really (next year I will get my second sowing in earlier) but if we have some decent weather in September they may do OK. They will have to go in the space vacated by the first row of peas, as there is no room elsewhere!

Broad beans too have done very well. Again, they were covered with a fine mesh until they had flowered. They are also under a coarse mesh, which lets the insects in but keeps the birds out. Despite this, they have no blackfly at all, yet three yards away, in an uncovered plot, the broad beans are half the size and covered in blackfly. I am still picking broad beans, and have put a lot in the freezer despite eating lots as mange tout, and lots in salads, but the peas have finished.

French beans are looking and tasting good. Again, from one short row, there are so many that lots have had to be frozen. Next week it should be runner beans. Courgettes also are very good - we shall have to make plenty of chutney this year! And I have been digging potatoes - no sign of slug damage or disease, and a good harvest - and pulling up the garlic for drying. Lots of lettuces and beetroot too, but my first sowing of spring onions is finished and the next set has some way to go. Summer purple sprouting broccoli is prolific, but despite being grown under a fine mesh has caterpillars, so I guess a butterfly must have found its way in. And of course there is some slug and snail damage to all of the brassica crops, so I have put down some more slug pellets. As they are all under the same fine mesh, the birds cannot eat them.

Hot!

This week, I planted out the leeks that I have grown from seed. They look a bit sad, but that's not surprising - the weather has been very warm this week, consistently in the low to mid 30s, and it was 23°C at 7am today. Never mind, as long as they are watered regularly they will pick up.

I have been picking a lot of broad beans and peas. Picked at finger size, the broad beans are delicious eaten as mange tout - just cut them up whole and boil them - either as a hot vegetable or cold, just blanched, in a salad. The peas also are delicious hot or cold. I am delighted to say that the pea pods have been well-filled, with 8 - 10 peas per pod, and none have been spoiled by pea moth. This is because I covered them with a very fine mesh, and only took that off a couple of weeks ago after the flowering stage, when the pea moth lays its eggs. The broad beans are covered with a coarse mesh. This is not nearly fine enough to keep off blackfly, but nevertheless, none of the covered beans have been affected, unlike those that are planted 'outside', which have all got heavy infestations.

Runner beans have now reached the top of their supports, and are beginning to flower, so the first ones should be ready in a few weeks. French beans are similar. Early sweetcorn are now knee-high and doing well. Late sweetcorn are still to be planted out. This is because germination was virtually zero, so I wrote to the seed firm who supplied another packet, but this is very late of course, so will depend on us having some warm weather later on. Other things are also coming on apace in the warm weather. I pulled a garlic clove yesterday to see how it was doing - not badly is the answer!

Midsummer

 Midsummer's day has come and gone, so the days are now getting shorter. However, the plot is looking OK, and there is a lot more of the growing season to come.
So far I have harvested strawberries (not many, enough for 2 or 3 people on several occasions, but this is only their first year) broad beans (which we eat as mangetout) cabbage, lettuce, spring onions and beetroot. Next week the first peas will be ready - I can hardly wait!

This shows sweetcorn in the foreground, with runner beans behind, then peas then broad beans. I had good germination on my first lot of sweetcorn (Earli Bird, which I harvested last year in early August) but very poor germination with the second lot (despite using the same conditions) which was a variety called Sweetiepie. I wrote to the seed firm who sent me another packet of seed, which have nearly all germinated, but of course they will be very late. I just hope that we have some good growing and ripening weather in August and September.

Summer is icumen in (hopefully)

.... but I have not yet heard a cuckoo!

These are my strawberries, and I have now put some coarse black netting over them to keep the birds off, and so that I might use slug pellets on them. They are all in flower, but as they are first year strawberries there will only be a very small crop. No matter, next year should be good!

Most other things are coming on well. I have planted out French beans, but runner beans are still hardening off. They have been in a greenhouse for a week or so, but now they are on a tray outside. There should be no frost for at least the next week, so if the forecast is still good in a week's time I shall plant them out. Then will come sweetcorn. Many have germinated, but some are still to come. All are too small and too tender to plant out yet, but I anticipate being able to plant them out (with some intercropping lettuces) in a couple of weeks. This will leave courgettes and butternut squash to plant out. They do not like cold weather at all, and will sit and sulk (and be eaten by slugs) if I put them out too early.

The return of the tent

 This is my brassica tent, back again for a second year. I have planted summer purple sprouting broccoli, white sprouting broccoli and cabbages in it so far - and I have just seen my first cabbage white butterfly of the season, so it was at about the right time. This Saturday sees the local Horticulture Society have its annual plant sale. This will include some locally grown produce, so I might be able to get something else to plant here - germination of my Brussels and red cabbage was zero!

This shows another of my plots, with early potatoes, salad potatoes and French beans, just starting to climb up the poles. At home, I have runner beans, courgettes, more French beans, sweetcorn and butternut squash coming on, ready to plant out at the end of May or beginning of June. The usual problem will apply - where to put them all!
In another of my plots I have planted parsnip seeds, but have no germination again (I probably let them dry out too much at the critical time) so have re-sown seed, which (if it comes up) will be late and give only small parsnips - pity, as last year's were large and very tasty - and froze well.
And finally, a note about the weather. It's been very dry but on the whole not very warm (yesterday was an exception - it was glorious) but today is cold with rain, and we should have showers most days for the next week, which (with the long days) should bring things on apace. Watch this space!

Just starting

 A long time since I updated this. The weather has not been very good, usually quite cold with a strong wind, and rain frequently.
However, I have managed to plant out my strawberry plants, which seem to have established (on the left of the plot) and I have put in some broad bean plants (under cover, to the right) and (on another of my mini-plots, below) I have put some pea seedlings - more coming on at home - and sown some lettuce, spring onions, carrots and beetroot seed in my cold frame and in the open soil, plus some onion sets. All we need now is some decent weather to bring things on!

In addition, I have put coarse mesh over one plot, to keep off the birds, whilst allowing the pollinators in. This will be for peas, runner beans and sweetcorn.
I will put fine mesh over another mini-plot later on, to keep off the white butterflies, and I must also net my strawberries nearer harvest.

Not what we were expecting!

This has rather scuppered my plans! We were not expecting snow - and indeed even this morning's weather forecast does not include it, down here in Surrey - but when we woke up there was about an inch on the ground and it was still snowing heavily. Now, however, it is starting to thaw.

Actually, there is not a lot to do at the plot. Nearly everything is dug and awaiting some warmer weather before I plant out strawberry plants, onions and broad beans. I have put down some blood, fish and bone fertiliser where things will be planted. This is a slow-release 'organic' fertiliser, which will be 'topped up' throughout the growing season. The one part that still requires some work has leeks in at the present, but I won't need to plant anything there for a couple of months, so there is plenty of time.

Strawberries this year, I hope

As you will know, I operate a 4-plot rotation system, which - as I have 4 plots - works very well for most things. However, it makes no allowance for those things like strawberries which stay in the ground for more than one season. So I was very pleased when the small plot (4.5 x 4.5m) next to mine was vacated, and I was able to take it over. I weeded it, then put on several inches of good, well rotted manure and some compost, and dug it all, removing lots and lots of stones on the way. Then about 4 inches of chippings on the path all round (this covered up all the stones I chucked out!) and it's ready for strawberry plants. I have purchased a dozen of each of three varieties - Vibrant (very early), Malling Centenary (mid-season) and Malling Opal (late) - so I should get a succession of strawberries from May to October. At the moment they are potted up temporarily in moist compost in a cold greenhouse, but they will go out soon.

 Today was lovely and bright, but with a cold wind, so I have been preparing the ground for my onion crop. A little bit of compost, lightly dug, then a fair bit of blood fish and bone fertiliser raked in. After this, I put down some dark polythene in which I had cut holes. This should save me having to do much weeding - if there is one thing onions hate, it's weeds! I have some seeds of red onions growing at home, and will plant out those and white onion sets next month. I have also started off some broad bean seeds, which are now in a frost-free greenhouse for a few weeks before planting out. So things have definitely started again!

Muck!

In my last post (nearly 2 months ago! - doesn't time fly) I talked about manuring and digging. The manure was fresh horse manure, with wood chippings used as bedding. This is why I was keen to get it done early, in the autumn, so it had a chance to rot down a bit over winter. This manure is on the right of the photo - we get a small trailer load delivered every week by a local stables. However, in the last few days we have had 3 large trailer loads of well-rotted cow manure delivered, which is on the left of the photo. You can of course see the difference immediately - this is just the best. So today I've worked hard at barrowing quite a large amount to my allotment, where it has gone onto those plots that I manured in the autumn. I shall dig it in (and remove more flints at the same time, no doubt) which will improve the soil structure, help to raise the bed so the drainage will be better, and improve the soil fertility at the same time.
It's also time for the first jobs of the new season - chitting potatoes (allowing them to sprout before planting) and planting onion seeds. It's very cold at the moment, but when it warms up a bit I shall plant some seeds in my cold frame.