Thursday 24th August
I couldn't believe that it was so long since my last post but then realised that I had been so busy with catching up after my holiday - and with the show, which I am pleased to say was so successful! I am thankful that while I was away a number of my neighbouring plotholders directed their hoses over my plot so there was little sign that anything had suffered. On the contrary, the growth was luxurious - including the weeds! My caretaker neighbour had done a great job of harvesting, even lifting, plaiting and hanging up my garlic and giving me back a bag of frozen peas that had matured while I was away. Most of the time since my return has been taken up with weeding, prioritising those that are about to seed to avoid upsetting my neighbours. However, they seem to grow faster than I clear them. I have managed to remove the haulms on my King Edward spuds when they were hit by Blight and lift the rest of the Kestrel and Maris Piper. The Sarpo Mira have resisted the Blight but are now dying back and are ready to lift. Meanwhile the Blight warnings continue to come in! I have also struggled to keep up with the harvesting. The first picking of flat climbing French beans (Hunter) were truly delicious and tender. I am trying to keep up with the harvesting as the youngest is always the best! The harvest is at its peak. Today, after a weekend away, I brought home two punnets of raspberries (some so ripe they squished), a good picking of runner, stick and flat beans from the climbing plants, a large picking from just one dwarf French bean plant, a cabbage, several meals worth of broccoli, a large handful of radishes (with lots of holes where something has nibbled them), half a dozen courgettes (mainly from the marrow plants - the green courgette plant seems to have given up the ghost), a punnet of blackberries and a few strawberries. The 'Tendergreen' dwarf French bean plants are full of beans but they are not tender and are thick so will go straight on the compost. The 'Safari' dwarf beans next to them are just as productive but the beans are lovely and tender. In previous years they have not grown well but this year seems to have been good for beans of all types. Friday 11th August
Family visitors and celebrations, together with Wednesday's appalling weather, meant Friday was the first time I got a chance to visit the plot. I had checked at home the cauliflower I had collected last time and found the leaves had all yellowed and withered; OK to eat but totally unsuitable for exhibiting. Looking at the other cauliflower still growing I found it was almost as big and almost as moth eaten - but at least it was fresh so I pulled it. I also pulled a cabbage that had hearted up quite well, ready for the show - though I had to remove several small heads that had branched off the main system! I then started to check for other possible veg to exhibit at the Summer Show but soon realised I hadn't got the time to select quality items as there was so much that had to be harvested. There were quite a few yellow courgettes but only one green one. However the marrow plants were producing several small fruits that would do, together with a couple of marrows. There were tons of runner beans which I hurriedly collected, realising that most came away without the necessary stalk for showing. Then, before going home, I picked one half of the climbing French bean frame where the flat 'Hunter' beans were - as we particularly liked eating them! That night I spent an hour selecting and preparing for the show the cabbage and cauliflower, a few of the French beans and three of my 'Jermor' shallots. Only the shallots are of a suitable quality to show but the rest will give everyone something to talk about! Unfortunately I cannot locate the photos in my computer to post here! Sunday 6th August
I got down to the plot every day over last weekend but not had time to post on the blog. The first day, Friday, I set about lifting the rest of my onions and shallots. That was after dumping bags of garden waste from my neighbours in the left hand bin as there was no room in the correct (right hand) bin. A row of shallots, Jermor, were not quite as large as those on the eastern side of the path. They were bought from Stewart's at great cost when I thought there would not be any from the Trading Hut. Even worse were those saved from last year but they had suffered from being buried when my caretaker dug out the garlic in the next row. Unfortunately a small patch had rotted completely which means I might have problems in 5 years time when the onions are planted in this patch again. Onion rot can stay in the soil for 10 years or more! Some of the shallots may be good enough for the show so I will spend some time during the week checking them over. I grow to eat, not to show but occasionally a crop is good enough to show. Having lifted the shallots I turned my attention to the patch on the other side of the plot where I had cleared the onions earlier. I cleared it of the remaining weeds with the hoe, digging out one dandelion with the fork. Then using my cultivator I prepared a sowing strip for a row of early carrots, Karnavit (from Lidl). Hopefully this early variety will produce a crop before the cold weather. The seed was old so I showed thickly. If they all come up I shall have some thinning to do. Next to them I sowed a row of spinach (F1 Reddy - Suttons). On Saturday I persuaded my wife to join me in a major harvesting session as I find it difficult to get any work done when there's harvesting to be done. Between us we collected a big bag of runner beans - as expected. However my wife checked out the climbing French beans and found quite a few pickings. She was confused to find some flat beans and some stick beans. Checking the labels on the row reminded me that I had sown half a row of 'Hunter' flat beans and half a row of 'Cobra' stick beans. Both tasted great cooked with meals at home as did the large crop of mangetout she picked from the row beside the beans. There was also a large crop of dwarf French beans. The 'Tendergreen' variety is fairly untidy but producing well. The 'Safari' beans are only just starting to crop but are easier to collect as the plants are very compact. 'Safari' is a very tasty bean so I will probably concentrate on that next year. Meanwhile I finished tying up the autumn raspberries and the picked a good bowlful of berries. Then I dug up one plant from the row of Maris Piper potatoes getting quite a good crop. We also found a few courgettes to take home. In the brassicas tunnel I found a huge cauliflower, over a foot across. I cut it to take home to eat but may try saving it for the show. There were also a couple of cabbages that had started splitting so had to be lifted. All in all it was a huge harvest we took home meaning lots of work preparing them! On Sunday I came down to the Trading Hut to buy some bits and managed to get the last of the winter cauliflower plants along with a few Savoy, Black Kale and winter cabbage plants. They are a bit 'moth eaten' (caterpillars) having sat in the open frame for too long, but most have the growing tip so should survive with a little TLC. After enjoying a mug of coffee and a slice of lovely fruit cake I returned to the plot and dug out the rest of the row of Maris Piper potatoes as I needed the space to sow some roots that will over-winter. Only a few of the seed potatoes had survived (I had started them off as early spuds in pots in the greenhouse - until I realised they were maincrop!) but the survivors had given a good crop. Watering my newly sown seeds was unnecessary after the rain. Monday I only had a short visit but managed to sow a row of Spinach Beet and a row of Mooli winter radish where the Maris Piper potatoes had been - after digging the strip over to smooth it out. I had to trim back the Sarpo Mira potatoes a bit as they had flopped over the seed bed. I found a few more courgettes and another splitting cabbage. I didn't get round to trimming back the squashes or clearing the old pea and bean plants. A busy week ahead with visitors means I probably will not do this until after the show. Hopefully I shall have time to harvest enough to see if anything is good enough to exhibit at the show on Saturday. I look forward to seeing many of you at the show and hope the weather holds up! Monday 1st August
My first task was to finish fixing the top wire for the raspberries and tying them up. I got lots of scratches on my arms even drawing blood before I thought to roll down my sleeves. I still have one more string to tie in the shorter stems. I started gathering the onions. Many had gone to seed, especially the red onions. The spring planted sets have done much better than the autumn ones though the shallots have done well whenever they were planted. One row of autumn onions seemed to have disappeared but I cleared the whole patch of larger weeds ready for digging it over. While lifting onions I also pulled a couple of beetroot, a few carrots and some turnips. I finished by picking over the runner beans. It is surprising how many huge beans had escaped my last picking but I picked a large bag full. Monday 31st July Today I wanted to show a late row of dwarf French beans. It is really too late but I hoped they would crop just before the frosts. However I needed to clear the weeds from the patch. I started using the hoe but soon found that some of the bigger weeds were so well rooted it was easier to just pull them. The leaf mould I spread on the soil last autumn meant it was very friable so I abandoned the hoe completely and pulled everything by hand, taking great care with the nettles! Having cleared a strip between a row of peas and a row of dwarf French beans I realised there was not enough room for the beans so abandoned that idea and moved on to weeding the beans and peas either side which took some time.
I then moved on to fixing a wire along the autumn raspberries ready to tie them up, something I should have done before my holiday! On the onion patch the weeds had grown as well despite me hoeing the weeds away completely before I left. My caretaker helper had dug out a row of garlic for me. However a second row, grown from home grown cloves was still in the ground. With some difficulty I dug out the row. The crop was small as some of the bulbs had rotted away. The onions (hidden amongst the weeds beyond the fork) should also have been lifted some time ago. I used the fork to loosen the roots under them but didn't have time to lift them before going home so left it to my next visit. |
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