September has continued the theme of strong winds and rain. Yet another cardoon has been battered to the ground. Work on the plot has been frequently interrupted by sudden heavy rain but despite that that we have managed to spend some time on the plot. Winter salad crops, (spring onion – Guardsman & White Lisbon, radish – April Cross & Hilds Baur und Winter, lambs lettuce and lettuce – Winter Density), have been sown in one of the cleared beds.
Spring cabbage – Excel have been planted in another bed and a variety of young plants have been planted in the nursery bed.
Oullins Gage, the largest of our plum trees has been cut back. According to one piece of advice it was the right time to do this but after reading contradictory articles we now wonder if this was a bit too late and so have refrained from pruning the other plums. We will just have to keep fingers crossed and see what happens.
The old cordon apples that we inherited when taking over the plot need greasing this year to try and discourage the winter moth. As the base of the trees was rather overgrown this has been tided and weed suppressant membrane laid. This will hopefully also make it more difficult for the apple sawfly whose larvae overwinter in the earth.
A start has been made on tidying up the last of the strawberry beds which is still providing us with fruit.
All the Sarpo Mira potatoes have now been dug. These were the only potatoes to have kept the green haulms. They provided a good crop of fairly large potatoes although a couple of roots had been ruined by blight. This was maybe due to the fact that we hadn’t cut off the affected haulms as we had for the other varieties of potatoes.
An ample supply of grapes is still available from the garden greenhouse and tomatoes are still ripening on healthy plants. Chilli plants have plenty of fruits now turning red and the sweet peppers too are doing well. A less prolific plant is the aubergine which at last has managed to set fruit. Just one fruit which will hopefully reach usable size and is better than nothing – this will be in our must do better category next year!
Winter onion sets – Red Cross & Troy arrived this week and the bed destined to house these has been dug over in readiness for planting.
A couple of young hedgehogs were spotted browsing under the bird feeders. I just hope these will grow to a size that will survive hibernation.
Apples – Discovery, Peasgood Nonsuch, Golden Delicious, Queen Cox, Fiesta & Bramley
Plums – Victoria
Raspberries _ Autumn Gold & Joan J
Strawberries – Flamenco
Alpine Strawberries – Migonette & Alexandria
Pear – Conference
Grape – Himrod
Blackberries
September 13
Most of this week was taken up in preparing for our holiday and making sure that the plot and greenhouses would be able to manage without our attentions for a week.
Winter onions Fen Globe & Red Cross were planted.
The last of the strawberry beds was tidied and soil improver spread around the plants. We now have some of the strongest runners potted on to fill gaps in the beds. Other runners have been passed on to one of our plot neighbours who will establish a strawberry bed next year.
A large green frog has taken residence among the strawberry plants so I hope that it is controlling and slugs and snails, especially as some of the plants are still producing fruit.
The final row of Anya potatoes were dug up. In spite of being attacked by blight we have a very good crop of potatoes this year with just Belle de Fontenay being reduced to a blight induced mush.
Grass and hedges have been trimmed.
Lots of wasps are busy browsing every type of plant, maybe they are hunting for insects amongst the foliage. Hopefully they will help to control the sudden influx of whitefly but I guess that is just wishful thinking.
Most of the tomatoes have been removed from the plants in the plot greenhouse and a selection of fruit and vegetables packed for our holiday in Devon.
Harvested this week:
Vegetables:
Cauliflower – Kaleidoscope
Sweet Corn – Honey Bantam & Sweet Nugget
Lettuce – Little Gem & Yugoslavian Red
Potatoes – Anya
Climbing French Beans – Cosse Violette
Carrots – Ideal Red
Cabbage - Picador
Vegetables/Fruit
Tomatoes – Shirley, Yellow Perfection, All Blacks, Brandywine,
Amish Paste, Moneymaker, Gardeners’ Delight & Japanese Trifle Black,
Cucumber – Burpless Tasy Green
Fruit:
Apples – Fiesta, Queen Cox, Egremont Russet, Discovery, Golden Delicious and unknown variety from the garden
Blackberries
Alpine Strawberries – Mignonette & Alexandria
Strawberries – Flamenco
Raspberries – Autumn Gold & Joan J
Plum – Marjorie’s Seedling
September 20
Most of this week was spent in a thatched cottage in Devon.
Back home on the plot the soil is now surprisingly dry but fortunately during our absence our plot had been watched over by plot neighbours who ensured that young plants didn’t suffer during what must have been our driest week for quite a while.
In our absence not only had the plants flourished in areas that had been watered but also the weeds, so on our return a spot of weeding and hoeing was necessary.
More spent tomato plants were removed from the plot greenhouse and weed suppressant membrane laid down in preparation for the chrysanthemums which will shortly take up residence and hopefully provide us with cut flowers for a little longer.
The hazels that shade the car on the occasions when we manage to have some sunshine have become rather large and so we have begun to pollard them. The straight branches will be put to various uses around the plot.
Our last batch of potatoes from a bed where left over tubers of all varieties had been planted was dug.
Harvested this week:
Vegetables:
Sweet Corn – Honey Bantam
Carrots - Ideal Red
Potatoes – Mixed varieties
Lettuce – Little Gem & Yugoslavian Red
Salad Leaves – Provence & Salad Leaves Mixed
Vegetables/Fruit
Tomatoes – Brandywine, Moneymaker
Cucumber – Burpless Tasty Green
Fruit:
Apples – Golden Delicious
Plums - Marjorie’s Seedling
Alpine Strawberries – Mignonette & Alexandria
Strawberries – Flamenco
Raspberries – Autumn Gold & Joan J
Blackberries
September 20
The main focus of work this week has been the fruit trees and bushes.
Several years ago when we first took the plot we inherited several old apple cordons and redcurrant and blackcurrant bushes. These had to be rediscovered in the overgrowth that soon swamps a deserted plot and were surrounded by coarse grass which each summer became overgrown and difficult to control.
Long grass around the base made it difficult to look after the trees and bushes correctly. There was no point using glue bands if the insects could crawl up the grass to gain access to the trees.
Areas around the base of the cordon apples and redcurrants have now been cleared and a weed suppressant membrane laid. This is held down by hazel trunks. The membrane has been covered with a thick layer of wood chippings. Not only has this tidied up the area but hopefully it will be less likely that wasps will nest in burrows in the ground under the bushes. One year I inadvertently stood on the entrance to one such burrow and it wasn’t an action I would like to repeat!
The hazel trunks were acquired after pollarding the two hazel bushes which grow on the edge of our plot. Not only had these become too large but they were covered in aphids this year so drastic action was called for.
The apple tree trunks and stakes have been greased to control the damaging insects which creep up the trunks and early next spring codling moth traps will be set up. Click hereto read details of our efforts.
The old blackcurrant bushes which looked diseased and this year were totally unproductive have been dug up. Dug up is probably not the correct term to use as the removal was achieved by the wielding of a pick axe. And not by me.
Now that most of the tomato plants have been removed from the greenhouse, the potted chrysanthemums have been moved in. Although I am not trying for show winning blooms, some disbudding will be carried out. Leaving all the buds to develop will produce sprays of flowers rather than the larger single blooms that I am looking forward to.
Although much of the harvest has now been gathered there are still some crops growing so watering has become a necessity. The soil is now bone dry so digging over the cleared beds will have to wait.
In the garden the shrubs over the arbour had become very overgrown and so they too have been the subject of some serious pruning. Some tubs and pots are looking rather sad and so they have been replanted with pansies and crocuses
Harvested this week:
Vegetables:
Sweet corn – Honey Bantam
Lettuce - Little Gem & Yugoslavian Red
Cabbage - Picador
Vegetables/Fruit
Tomatoes – Japanese Trifle Black
Fruit:
Grape – Himrod
Alpine strawberries – Mignonette & Alexandria
Raspberries – Autumn Gold & Joan J
Plum – Marjorie’s Seedling
Strawberries – Flamenco
Apples – unknown variety, Discovery & Golden Delicious
