Saturday, 02 September 2017
A Disappointing August
The beginning of September brings the start of meteorological autumn. It means instead of looking for the highest summer temperatures it's time to look for the lowest temperatures as we move through autumn and into winter. Having said that it's still possible for us to have some lovely warm days in September.
August didn't seem that good a month but in the end the temperature and rainfall were around average. My weather station didn't record much sunshine in August and it was the lowest total for the last eight years.
Summer started off on a good note with June warmer than average but both July and August were a little below average. The average summer temperatures and rainfall for the last eight years are shown in the table below.
Summer Rainfall & Temperatures 2010-2017
I'm surprised summer 2017 came out where it did in the tables as I expected it to be lower down both tables indicating a dry cool summer.
After a cool start to Friday the sun came out and it warmed up nicely. We decided to have a trip to Potteric Carr nature reserve.
As usual the wildlife seemed to be aware that we were visiting and did a disappearing act. This rabbit hadn't got the message though and it watched us closely as we walked towards it along the path. As we got closer it darted into the undergrowth and disappeared.
The showers that had threatened all afternoon held off until we were almost home.
Sunday, 03 September 2017
Last Potatoes Lifted
We've had a few decent days with reasonable amounts of sunshine and fairly respectable temperatures by day but it's been a bit chilly overnight.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 31 August - 02 September 2017
On Saturday I lifted the last of our potato crop. They were a couple of short rows of "Winston" and I wasn't expecting much of the crop. I'd lifted the same variety a couple of weeks ago and they were so badly slug damaged they were consigned to the council recycling bin. There wasn't a damage free potato amongst them. The remaining couple of rows had been planted as a "clearing crop" in a bed that had been dug over in autumn 2016 after many years of growing herbs.
October 2016
The soil having not been cultivated for a few years didn't dig over that well and it was left for winter rains and frost to break down.
Potatoes - Winston
The rows I lifted on Saturday had done much better. The crop weighed in at what I consider to be a hefty 25kg or 55lb. That includes slug damaged potatoes but there were plenty of good sized undamaged ones in the crop. I'll weigh up the undamaged ones when they are sorted out before bagging up for winter storage.
After lifting the potatoes the bed was dug over, the soil was in much better condition than it was last autumn.
September 2017
I'll now be able to include the bed in a three or four year rotation plan. The bed was covered with weed control fabric and will be left until next spring.
Finally, I've added a video of a plot tour taken at the end of August and just before these potatoes were lifted.
Monday, 04 September 2017
Unwelcome Visitors and a Correction
Sunday was a cool cloudy day and it didn't tempt us to visit the plot. I decided to sort out and bag up the Winston potatoes, I'd lifted on Saturday, for winter storage
The potatoes had been left to dry off on Sunday morning and the first job was to remove any potatoes with pest damage. As the crop included lots of large potatoes I decided that any with just a small amount of damage I'd put to one side, a sort of pile of Winston seconds, bag all the undamaged ones and get rid of the rest into the recycling bin.
I soon began to realise that there was far more pest damage than I'd originally thought when I lifted them. There were a few large undamaged potatoes but most had a hole or holes like the ones in the photo above. The photo above shows the potatoes destined for the recycling bin. I finished up with around 15kg (33lb) of what I considered usable or slightly damaged potatoes out of the 25kg (55lb) of Winston I'd lifted on Saturday.
I'd decided to use a couple of Winston seconds for dinner on Sunday evening as a sort of test to see how much damage there was to my hefty bag of slightly spoiled spuds. I wasn't at all pleased with what I found.
I wasn't expecting to find anything alive in the potato as I cut into it to examine the damage. A couple of these centipedes emerged from the holes in the potato. That was enough for me and I decided all the Winstons with any holes in them were going in the recycling bin. I don't mind cutting a bit of damaged potato out but I draw the line at removing live creatures especially as we have plenty of undamaged potatoes already stored in the garage.
Sue tells me that the centipedes I discovered in the potato didn't actually cause the damage, they're claiming squatters rights on holes made by slugs or wire worms. They're actually a gardener’s friend but not mine when they're in a potato I'm preparing for dinner.
Did I mention Winston potatoes are off the growing list for next year!