Yet more rain!

 It's now been two months since I wrote a blog, and what has been happening since then? Rain! The plots are flooded, and as they are on clay, nothing is running away. I would like to install a cold frame, which I have made, but it has just been too wet. It will go in the hole shown left, but as you can see, it's full of water. When it dries out, I will put in the frame with a few barrow loads of manure in it, then top it with soil and put a glass lid (old secondary double glazing units) on top.

Everything is looking a bit sad now. I have just pulled up the last of my sprouts and cabbages, together with a couple of swedes, and have dug some parsnips - a cold, wet, dirty job! The purple sprouting broccoli is coming on well, and depending on weather should be ready in a couple of weeks. This winter has been warm - very little frost and no snow (unlike last winter) but with a huge amount of rain.
The digging will just have to wait....

A Good Joke!

My last blog - more than a month ago - was entitled 'Now the hard work begins'. And what have I done on the plot since then? Almost nothing! It has been raining most of the time, and as a result the plot has been underwater or at least too wet to do anything. I have picked some French and runner bean seeds that are now drying out and will be planted next year. I've also picked more beetroot, cabbages, parsnips, swedes and chard leaves, and cleared up the old bean plants, but it's been far too wet for digging. Never mind, I have until next spring to get the plot in order - let's hope for some dry weather!

We had some of the sweetcorn from the freezer the other day. They were nearly as good as fresh ones, so I shall be doing that again next year, if I have a surplus.

Now the real work begins!

Now that I have taken out all the onions, beetroot and carrots from this part of my plot, it is time to add some manure, then compost, and dig it all in. (There are still some parsnips in this area, covered at the moment against carrot root fly, but this will also be treated and dug when they come out.)
This should prepare the ground for next year's crop of potatoes and sweetcorn. The neighbouring mini-plot will also be manured/composted and dug, ready for beans (broad, runner, French) and peas next year. Where they are at the moment will be dug, then limed for cabbages and other brassicas.
The fourth mini-plot will be dug over winter, fertilised in the spring and planted with onions and root crops.
So over the course of a 4 year rotation, each plot will be manured twice, fertilised once and limed once. Hopefully, in a few years time, the soil structure will be a bit lighter than it is now....

Autumn has now arrived with a vengeance. From temperatures of 17 - 20 °C and light breezes with the occasional shower earlier in the week, it is now 10°C with a strong northerly wind and heavy rain - positively nasty! However, I am still picking courgettes, beetroot and a few beans, with parsnips, swedes, cabbages, Brussels sprouts and kale standing over the winter. The sweetcorn have been quite splendid, and many other crops have also done well - let's hope for the same next year!

The Autumn Show

 Every year, our local Horticultural Society has 3 shows - spring, summer and autumn. There are classes for flowers, vegetables, fruit, flower arrangements, arts, crafts, domestic, produce, photography and children, and it is all good fun. The maximum prize is very low, and most first prizes win only 50 pence, so no one enters it for the money, only the bragging rights! Nevertheless, there is fierce local rivalry, and much leg-pulling about the perceived lack of quality in exhibits by one competitor or another. Most people do not grow things specially for the show, but see what they can put in a couple of days beforehand.

I entered a number of classes, and managed wins for my French beans, chard and sweetcorn. We have been eating all of these for weeks now - delicious! The sweetcorn in particular are splendid - extremely sweet, and the cobs are all completely filled. In fact I have blanched and frozen 10 cobs only this morning, and there are more to come.The competitor who came third in the chard wanted to buy my leaves so he could burn them! So we all had a good laugh. It was however somewhat frustrating to have dug the largest potato - 1 1/2 lbs - but to have eaten it prior to the show. The largest potato on show was only 1lb 3oz! Never mind, next year ....   All in all, a busy weekend, but well worth while - it would have been even if I hadn't won anything. Overall, there were 370 entries from 61 competitors, up from only 45 competitors last year, and it was an extremely colourful show, as I hope the photos show.

Harvest time

 I picked my first sweetcorn yesterday, 1 September. Perhaps a few days too early - they still had a bit of growing to do - but absolutely delicious. Each had 15 rows of kernels, and they had all set properly. I did a bit of hand pollinating, which might have helped. I cut off  a few of the top tassels and wiped them over the silks protruding from the cobs lower down a few weeks ago.
Also harvesting beans and courgettes (lots) and chard, cabbage, carrots, beetroot, spring onions and potatoes. This year's hard work has not been in vain!

This shows our 10 000 litre water butt, which is now plumbed in. It has a submersible pump, which (when necessary) feeds the smaller watering stations dotted round the plots. It is also topped up automatically from the mains, and there is also a supply of drinking water, protected by a non-return valve. Well done Alan!! (And not for the first time either. Alan has been responsible for, and has done the work on, most of the improvements made to the site since we started here 2 1/2 years ago.)

Still lots to do!

 This shows just how well my cabbages have done this summer - both the pointed and the white ball types. I hope the winter cabbages that I am planting will be equally good! It's undoubtedly because I've kept them covered. This has kept the butterflies off, and also allowed me to put down a few slug pellets without fear of harming the birds. Each cabbage is plenty for four people.

I am also picking French beans, runner beans, spring onions, carrots, courgettes and beetroot, with sweetcorn looking good and chard coming along nicely. Red onions were however poor - but very

strong -  and white onions will be ready in a few weeks. I've also dug some potatoes, but there are another 3 rows to come. Swedes and parsnips are not ready yet, but will be in a month or so.

But there is still a lot to do! The weeds are growing strongly - they always do, come rain or shine - and there is feeding and watering to do. In the autumn, or when I have made some space, I will put down and dig in a lot of manure and compost. The soil still has a very heavy texture which has to be lightened, especially for root crops. Of course, we don't know what 2014 will bring weatherwise, but if it's warm, I will try to get things off to an early start - which will only be possible if I improve the soil a lot. There is no greater pleasure than picking fresh vegetables early on, when the ones in the shops have had to come half way round the world! 

Watering

This is our new 10 000 litre water storage tank, sitting on its concrete base, which will be used to collect rainwater from the containers against which it is standing. This will be topped up with mains water, and will be piped around the site to each 1 000 litre water container, from which we fill up watering cans.

I have now finished picking both peas and broad beans, and have taken out the plants. This gives room for some winter cabbage, which have just germinated in the seed bed. I also dug a row of potatoes, which gave room for a row of chard, which I have just planted out.

French beans and courgettes are now coming on as fast as I can pick them, and the runner beans have started as well. I have also pulled beetroot - many more coming on - and carrots will be ready next week. Still lots of cabbages, and potatoes, with onions (poor), parsnips (ready October ish) swede (also probably ready in October) and sweetcorn (looking good, and should be ready in September) to come.