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Wednesday & Thursday 07/08 November 2012

Last Tomatoes Harvested

The milder weather continued through Wednesday and Thursday with the daytime temperature just managing to reach double figures and remaining mild over night with the frost having disappeared for the time being.

I decided it was about time I harvested the remaining tomatoes from our home greenhouse. The ones in the plot greenhouse were finished weeks ago but at home the tomatoes have taken much longer to ripen.

Not too bad a harvest for the beginning of November. You may spot our entire sweet pepper harvest, consisting of two Jimmy Nardello’s, amongst the tomatoes. That large Amish Gold should make an excellent couple of sandwiches. I guess after that very cold start to the season our tomatoes haven’t done too badly. At one time I was doubtful about getting any tomatoes at all as the plants just refused to grow in the cold spring weather.

The table below summarises how our six varieties cropped .

Taste wise of the six I found Jakarta a little disappointing but perhaps it just didn’t appreciate the cool conditions. Gardener’s Delight and Amish Gold produced the tastiest tomatoes with Alicante and Moneymaker just a little way behind. All were better than the watery tasteless supermarket varieties. The San Marzano’s have all gone into producing tomato sauce for use over winter so the taste test hasn’t really been checked just yet.

I’d certainly grow the same varieties again next year although I might consider an alternative to Jakarta if something catches my eye in the seed catalogues.

Friday 09 November 2012

Weather winners and Looser's - So Far

The milder weather continued on Friday but it remained mostly dull and cloudy all day with some light rain starting in the late afternoon.

A winner in our garden at the moment is our banana plantation. Although we’ve had a few frosts with the temperature getting to fractionally below 0°C our plantation remains intact in the late autumn weather.

So I think it’s fair to say our bananas are winning at the moment but it will just take one hard frost and they’ll become green mush.

On the plot our shed is the loser. The wind this week has been strong enough to rip the felt off the roof. It’s not ripped completely off but certainly needs some repair work.

Fortunately the damage was spotted by our neighbouring plotter Joe who was good enough to make a temporary repair by putting the felt back and adding some well positioned bricks on the roof to hold the felt in place.

That’s what I consider being a good neighbour - Thanks Joe

Saturday 10 November 2012

When Will Bonfire Night End

The clue should be in the name Bonfire Night and it should take place on November 05. Long ago that was the case unless November 05 fell on a Sunday in which case Bonfire Night took place on Saturday night. That was it just one night. Not these days though. Last weekend we had bonfires and fireworks on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. It’s been a case of sporadic fireworks going off each night through the week with more bonfires and fireworks on Saturday night the 10 November. Our poor dog can’t rest as all fireworks now seem to come with loud bangs and crackles. Perhaps we’ll be able to get through Remembrance Sunday without anyone letting off fireworks.

We still have our annual challenge of when to pick and what to do with our medlars.

They’re still waiting to be picked from the small tree in the garden. They are still very firm to the touch so I don’t think they’ve “bletted” yet. If only I could tell the difference between fruits that have bletted and those that have rotted. The Royal Horticultural Society has this on its web site regarding medlars.

Harvesting

Medlars are ready to pick in late October or early November when they are about 2.5-5 cm (1-2 in) across. At this stage they are not fully ripe.

You can leave fruit on the tree well into autumn to develop flavour provided there is no danger of frosts. Pick in dry conditions when the stalk parts easily from the tree.

Storage until ripe

The fruits are unpalatable immediately after picking, but can be used to pleasantly flavoured jellies, can be used in desserts and for wine-making. To be eaten raw they must be stored before using.

Briefly dip the stalks in a strong salt solution to prevent rotting. Store fruit eye downwards and not touching in trays in a cool, dark, frost-free place. Use when the fruit is ‘bletted’, that is, the flesh softens and turns brown, but not rotten. This will usually take about two or three weeks.

Read More…..

I might leave them on the tree for another week as the forecast isn’t for any keen frosts in the next week. Maybe I’ll try them “unbletted “ with some apples in a pie.

Sunday 11 November 2012

Repair Under Way

Sunday turned out to be a nice day with some decent sunny spells, feeling mild in the late autumn sunshine.

On the plot it was a case of repairing the shed roof. It would have been finished if I hadn’t have run out of materials. I reckon a good patching job should see the roofing felt last a few more years. Another dry day should see the job complete.

We didn’t spend too long at the plot as it seemed to be the chosen spot for a particularly heavy shower. It left everywhere soaked so we decided to return home where it turned out it hadn’t rained at all.

I harvested a few Early Nantes carrots. These are the first carrots lifted that haven’t been grown under weed suppressant membrane although they were protected from carrot fly by environmesh.  

After a quick wash under he tap they looked good enough to eat. In general they were a bit small because they hadn’t been thinned out. One very large specimen had split and was consigned to the compost heap the rest were fine with no damage from slugs or carrot fly.

Monday & Tuesday 12 & 13 November 2012

Bonsaied Gunnera

After a cold start to November the last few days have been mild. We haven’t had any sunshine for the last couple of days and we had a drop of rain on Monday but the weather hasn’t been too bad for mid November.

I’ve still to decide what to do with our potted gunnera. Our old plant was excavated and removed as part of the project to install our new summerhouse. To all intents and purposes I thought the gunnera would be no more as it was hacked at with spade and pick axe to remove it from its pond side location. It had been growing in the same location for several years and had formed into a mammoth plant.

In winter the leaves turn brown and die back just leaving an enormous crown and “new buds” for the following year. When I dug out the gunnera back in spring I couldn’t resist the temptation to keep one or two pieces that I thought might grow and go on to form new plants. These pieces were potted up and left near the pond to see if they would grow.

In fact they’ve grown well in pots through summer. I guess they’ve had plenty of water, something gunnera’s can’t do without. As you can just about see here is a new red “bud” ready for next spring. I’ll have to decide how to give the plant a little bit of protection from the worst of the winter weather. Maybe I’ll leave the plant outside and protect it with some fleece around the bud and bubble wrap around the root. I don’t want the plant to get “soft” by over wintering it in the greenhouse.

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Blasted Wood Pigeons

Wednesday was another nondescript sort of a day. The mild spell continued but it was cloudy all day and always suggested it could pour down at any time.

I decided it was worth risking a visit to the plot to finish repairing the felt on the shed roof. At least it was mild and provided we didn’t get any rain I reckoned the flashband I was using to repair the felt would at least have a chance of sticking. Once finished it didn’t look too bad. The final testing will come after the next heavy rain.

Having finished the shed roof I was planning to head home, but as you do, I decided to have a look around the plot. Not that there’s much to inspect in mid November as nothing is growing only sort of existing and preparing to get through winter. It was a good job I did have a quick look around though.

On the 03 November when we removed the netting from our brassicas including our spring cabbage. We reasoned it was too large for the wood pigeons to have a go at and that there certainly wouldn’t be anymore butterflies about. I sort of did a double take, slug damage on the outer leaves I expect, especially with the current spell of mild weather, but the wood pigeons had been attacking the newly formed hearts of the cabbages. Something that hasn’t happened before.

So before I left the netting removed a week or so ago was put back in place. I think the cabbage hearts will recover but it’s a blow after they’ve grown so well to have them damaged by pigeons when it could so easily have been avoided.

Fortunately I hadn’t removed all the timber supports or even moved the odds and ends that had previously held the netting in place so it was a pretty quick job to put the netting back.