I came prepared Thursday morning to sort out my raspberries.
They were only planted last spring and I just let them get on with it, getting a small crop as expected. I had banged in the support posts in the autumn but not fixed the wires so I arrived with staples and a hammer, the wire being buried somewhere in the shed! I fixed up a lower wire on both rows and hammered in the staples for the top wire. I am not bothering with the recommended T-bar system and will just tie the canes back to the wire with long loops of string. I spread some of the pine needles I get from a neighbour down each side of the row to form a path. Raspberries like an acid soil so this is one of the few places I can use needles. To keep the raspberries under control, each year I will run a spade down one side of the row, cutting through all the runners spreading out from the plants. I then dig over the path that side removing all the raspberry root I can. The following year I do the same on the other side. That way the plants get little chance to spread! Finally I pruned the summer raspberries, removing any branches that poked out sideways and trimming the dead tips. The autumn raspberries were cut down completely. I then harvested a couple of parsnips, a few leeks and some more purple sprouting. It is great to be harvesting such a selection at this time of year and there was enough to offer a little to one of my neighbours! On Monday afternoon I came to the plot to do some real work.
I removed the netting that used to cover the early cauliflowers and replaced it with a net tunnel over the spring cabbages that were slightly pecked over by pigeons that must have got under the netting. Hopefully the growing point is still intact or they just will not grow! I also got into the net tunnel over the remaining cauliflowers. I have two rows left, one to crop any-time now and one to crop in March/April. I removed all the dead and dying leaves and weeded where necessary, then I gave each plant a small dose of sulphate of potash to encourage them! I then cleaned up the broccoli cage while picking the rest of the purple sprouting. I took the opportunity to remove a row of old spent plants and clean up the Brussel Sprouts while picking a meal's worth. The 4 Calabrese plants that were supposed to crop in October - and indeed did - are still giving a few small heads; I just mix them into the Purple Sprouting. I was pleased at the state of my plot when I returned from my six week break and didn't need to rush down to deal with any problems.
However, that doesn't mean there is not lots to do. This last Sunday I spent too long chatting at the Trading Hut as I collected my seed order so I did not do a great deal. I was surprised that my package seemed much bigger than anyone else's but then realised when I got home that most of it was the 4 huge packets of green manure seed! I did count how many 8 foot posts I have to check whether I have enough to build another Brassica tunnel/cage. The supplier for these posts has ceased trading so it is not yet sure whether the Trading Hut will be able to get them for a reasonable price in future. I did manage to take down the netting for my unsuccessful attempt at a late crop of peas! How do you store netting? At the moment, once I have cleaned it, I fold each length into a bundle about a foot square, then stuff it into an old carrier bag and write the size of the piece on the bag with a permanent marker. Does anyone have any better ideas? I know it is well into the New Year but I've just got back from my USA holiday visiting my son and had my first opportunity to visit the site.
It was a bit of a shock to find the gate wide open and the lock missing! And that is even though someone has taken the trouble to repost the 'gate locking' notice. The visit to my plot, however, was quite rewarding. Apart from meeting a new neighbour who seems to be making a good go of starting his plot with nearly half already dug and plans to make some changes to his plot, there was something to pick! I harvested a couple of leeks even though many of them still have to thicken up. If they don't I shall have lots of 'baby' leeks to eat! I also found a mature cauliflower! This is great as I know my son had at least one while I was away. There were lots of whitefly still on the underside of the leaves. We have obviously not had enough of a long cold spell to kill them off. There was quite a large picking of Purple Sprouting and I lifted a lovely long parsnip - nearly 2 ft long! I left the Brussel Sprouts and Black Kale for another day as they stand for some time. Being away has meant I haven't collected as many leaves as normal this year so I am going to fill the 2 cubic metre leaf mould bin with the horse litter and see if I can get it to rot down in the 18+ months before I would normally have used the leaf mould. While away I mugged up on using woodchip as a mulch. Apparently the problem regarding it using up Nitrogen in the rotting process only occurs at the interface between it and the soil - so digging it in is a no-no! As I have mulched several patches on my plot I either have to leave it in situ and plant through it or dig it into the bottom of the trench below where the crops have roots! If it is deep below the soil I hope that it will soak up any nitrogen from fertiliser that is being washed down from the surface, before it is washed away completely. Back to normal, I shall be up there on Sunday to collect my seed order from the Trading Hut and start on the rest of my winter work! |
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May 2023
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