THE FINAL SOWINGS

THE FINAL SOWINGS

Now that our crops are being harvested the ground can look pretty bare. Many salad crops such as lettuce, radish, rocket and spring onion have a short season, but repeat sowings every couple of months will keep you supplied over a long period. My broad beans were the first vegetable crop to get picked then the old plants were dug up, and then chopped up for the compost heap. This land has already been sown down with a late variety of lettuce for cutting in the autumn. However half of the area was used for transplanting my wallflower seedlings to grow on into sturdy plants ready for planting in my flower beds in October.

Early and maincrop peas were all picked by mid August. These were then cleared off the ground making it ready for the next sowings. A quick maturing early pea is useful not only in spring for an early crop but also in the autumn for a late crop to mature by mid October.

Strawberry variety Mae is an early type which I grew under low polythene tunnels to give me an early crop. Although they finished many weeks ago I am leaving the beds until they give me some runners to start another couple of rows then the old plants will get dug in. Strawberry Symphony and Rhapsody fruited continued my strawberry supplies till the first week of August, then my perpetual variety Flamenco started to fruit and hopefully will continue till late autumn.

Once the old strawberry bed has been dug over the land will get a green manure crop of clover sown down to keep the soil fertility at a high level.

August is the month when a lot of crops get harvested and the land can then be cleared.

Early beetroot has all been lifted over several weeks then the ground cleared for the next crop.

Early and maincrop potatoes have also been lifted and the land cleared.

Onions have had a great summer, but got lifted ahead of the forecast for some serious rainfall.

Sweet corn always ripens all at once, usually in mid August so harvesting gets done in one day. The ground can then be cleared putting the old plants on the compost heap after chopping them up with a spade. This gives us more land for some more vegetables.

Summer cabbage and cauliflower using the clubroot resistant varieties has been very successful and gave us fresh vegetables during August and September, but after cutting and clearing up all the old plants there is plenty of ground for another sowing as the growing season is not finished.

An allotment need not just produce one crop per year, but with some planning can be very productive often getting in at least two crops per year.

If you keep a diary and record sowing dates and harvesting times you build up a picture over time of what is on the ground and how long each crop needs. With this knowledge you can plan crop successions efficiently. A lot of land is cleared of summer crops by mid August, so you can be ready for the next sowings and plantings to keep you supplied in fresh vegetables over a longer time.

Dwarf French beans sown in cellular pots in early July are ready to plant in mid August for a late crop.  Spring cabbage Wheelers Imperial and Cauliflower Aalsmeer were both sown the first week in July in trays and the young plants brought on in cellular pots were planted in early August. These will remain in the ground over winter and be ready to harvest in May next year.

I am trying out two varieties of lettuce, Hilde 11 and Vaila sown mid August for over wintering. Last year I tried Arctic King which was very successful giving me fresh lettuce from late autumn till spring, but then we did get a very mild winter.

Rocket, radish, mixed salad leaves and Mooli radish have all been sown on spare land to keep me supplied with salads till winter. Some of these will be transplanted into old growbags once these are free in late October.

However by early September it will be too late to grow crops but not too late to sow down a green manure crop of clover or tares. These can be left to grow for many weeks before digging in during the winter.

Plant of the week

Border phlox, Phlox paniculata is a must for the herbaceous border coming in a range of colours from bright reds to pinks, mauves and white. Newer varieties are less tall so do not need staking. They prefer a rich moist soil in partial shade and make a great companion to Heucheras.

END

BEETROOT

BEETROOT

Beetroot has been in cultivation for hundreds of years. It was grown by the Romans who prized it for its sugar content. Research has revealed numerous health benefits as it is rich in fibre, folic acid and the minerals potassium and manganese. Beetroot is in the same family as chard and spinach so the leaves and stems should be used as well as the red swollen roots. The leaves and stems are rich in calcium, iron and the vitamins A and C.

The juice of beetroots is used by athletes as a health drink. There are numerous recipes for using beetroot and the leaves and stems so although traditionally we have always pickled them, it is well worthwhile trying out other uses from soup to risotto, chutney to a beetroot dip, spiced beetroot, beetroot cake and roasted beetroot.

There is an excellent small book, Beetroot, on beetroot recipes published last year by Christopher Trotter that will explore its many uses.

My favourite has to be beetroot soup where the leaves and stems are included as it is very tasty and full of health giving attributes. Anna makes a fair quantity in a large pot as she knows I just love it. Half is frozen for future use and the rest is consumed over three days. It gets better on the second day and is brilliant on the third day.

This vegetable is an essential part of my allotment crop rotation. I grow several rows sown over many months so there are roots and leaves available over most of the year.

Growing beetroot

Beetroot like rich soil that has been manured for a previous crop such as peas, beans or onions. As it is a root crop it needs land that has not recently been manured or composted otherwise roots may split, but is still in good heart. I grow it together with other salads such as lettuce, radish and spring onions.

My first sowings are by seed in March into cellular trays on a windowsill. After germination they are transferred to my cold greenhouse to slowly grow on. Soil on my allotment is warmed up with a low polythene tunnel before planting out a range of salads in late April including my beetroot.

Seedlings are not thinned at first, but later on as the roots begin to swell I remove usable wee roots to allow the rest to bulk up. My first batch is ready in late May and the rest will continue to yield good roots and leaves till mid July.

Other sowings continue outdoors in April, June and late July to give a succession of beetroots over as long a period as possible. These sowings will be progressively thinned so I get baby beet initially then larger roots allowed to swell up. The later sowings will give me large mature beetroot which hopefully will be stored in the ground to be used over winter.

Last years mild winter was perfect as a couple of rows of good sized beetroots were slightly earthed up to protect them from frost. I was able to use these all winter as we never really got much frost.

If global warming continues my beetroot crop has a very happy life ahead.

In days before climate change it was the practise to lift beetroot in autumn and store them in boxes in frost free sheds or straw lined clamps to keep them dry and frost free. I no longer do this as I prefer to take my chance with the hope for mild winters to continue. However I keep an eye on the weather forecast so I am ready to fall back onto plan B and lift immediately or further earth up if frost threatens.

Plant of the week

Buddleia davidii has numerous hybrids though the most colourfull ones are in the deep red and purple range. Known as the butterfly bush as its flowers are rich in nectar and are a magnet for butterflies. Buddleias are very easy to grow on any soil no matter how poor. In fact they can be quite invasive on derelict land. They will grow quite tall even though they need pruning each winter to a few inches from the ground.

END

ALLOTMENT LIVING

ALLOTMENT LIVING

The popularity of having an allotment increases every year with demand from urban dwellers without access to a decent sized garden. An allotment provides an outdoor activity, fresh air, exercise and if you get the growing sorted out fresh organically grown fruit and vegetables. People have a lot more spare time today than in the past and as urban development expands the countryside seems further away. Most foodstuffs are cheap and available from supermarkets, so fewer and fewer people see how crops are grown. Berry picking and tattie howking are distant memories of the older generation as machines now do most of this work. The allotment today is now the means of getting back to nature, learning how things are grown then appreciating new found tastes when you learn how to use and cook your home grown produce.

 In my childhood most new housing estates built in the fifties had gardens as people needed to grow some food to keep the household bills down. Everyone had a wee patch of ground to grow their potatoes, peas, swedes, cabbages, onions and every garden had some rhubarb.  Knowledge of gardening was passed on from one person to another.

Today few people want a garden, and the kids are happier at home with a computer, television and the mobile phone or other modern gadget. Nobody plays outdoors any more. Kids are growing up with very little knowledge of outdoor life.

However as most people have more leisure time there is a move back into getting involved with nature. Allotments are now seen as a place for stress busting activities with hands on experience sorting out the land to grow some organic fruit and vegetables. It provides us with plenty exercise and fresh air, plus the benefits of very healthy produce all year round once you come up with a growing plan.

Most allotment sites have a healthy waiting list which continually grows, but turnover can be quite brisk as some newcomers with romantic notions of outdoor living get quite a fright when the weeds grow faster than they can dig them out. Then there is fence, shed and greenhouse repairs every year as nothing is permanent. When one season ends in late autumn the ground will need digging. In spring it will need raking, cultivating and sowing and planting. Then just when all the land is planted up and you think about relaxing those weeds appear and are determined to take over, so out comes the hoe. This can be more exercise than you will get in the gym and an awful lot cheaper.

Once the crops mature and you taste fresh grown produce grown from your own efforts you will reap the rewards and realise no supermarket produce can compare for flavour and freshness. Your crops are all very healthy as they are all organically grown apart from a wee bit of growmore fertiliser. There is no need for chemicals to improve their shelf life and it does not matter if the size is uneven or the lettuce has a couple of slugs in it.

Most allotments today will have a small patio area to relax in once the work is complete. To cut back on the workload ground under continual cultivation can be reduced as permanent fruit bushes are planted with a ten year life or so.

Growing some flowers is now part of the modern allotment to create an attractive garden and provide cut flowers for the home.

Plant of the week

 

Potentilla fruticosa Elizabeth is a yellow flowering deciduous shrub frequently used in urban landscaping as it is easy to grow, covers the ground to keep weeds down and is in flower from early summer till autumn. It will grow up to four feet tall and is happy on most soils but flowers better on moist soils that are well drained. It is easy to propagate from cuttings taken in summer.

END

THE SUMMER HARVEST BEGINS

THE SUMMER HARVEST BEGINS

The allotment garden is now fully planted and providing an embarrassing amount of produce. We eat as much as possible, find some friend to pass on our surplus and still have plenty to pack into the freezer. A glut of courgettes and beetroot is quickly converted into delicious soups some for immediate consumption over the next three days and the rest goes into the freezer. The leaves and stems of the beetroot are also used in the soup. We waste nothing as the foliage and stems are packed with goodness.

Salads that started under a low polythene tunnel in April are still giving us spring onions and beetroot. Lettuce and radish are now into their third sowing.

Pea Kelvedon Wonder and broad bean Exhibition Long Pod have been picked, cooked and frozen. At this time of year with plenty of warm sunshine and just enough moisture they have been very tender and full of flavour. I have another three sowings of Pea Hurst Green Shaft planted at different times to give a succession of cropping over a few months.

The broad beans really grew very tall and the cropping has been huge, so this will give us very nutritious soup over winter.

My Purple Top Milan turnip all ran to seed so this crop was a complete failure, but my Golden Ball turnips were just fine and quickly replaced them.

First early potato Lady Christl suffered some blackleg so I dug up a few shaws. The potatoes were brilliant, with a good shape and colour and a lot of spuds. This potato has an excellent flavour and is also great in salads. I lost a few spuds from the blackleg, but the rest have been fine. There is a fair bit of potato blight around our allotments as we have suffered a few days of heavy rainfall with warm weather so I will keep an eye on the foliage and may have to lift earlier than planned if the blight gets serious.

Fruit crops

Strawberries are now just about finished as are the summer rasps, but autumn rasps will come later. We have been eating fresh strawberries from a range of varieties for two months, and still had plenty for the freezer for jam, compote and summer puddings.

On checking out last years soft fruit picking dates 2014 is running three weeks ahead of 2013.

The mild frost free winter allowed most of the young fruit buds on our outdoor fig to survive the winter so we now look forward to this huge crop ripening up. The Brown Turkey fig size is quite large and the first ripe ones are ready for picking at the end of this month.

Blackcurrants, redcurrants and saskatoons are all giving great crops, but gooseberries are unbelievable. Every shoot is bowed down to the ground with the weight of berries. However there is some losses as the very hot sunshine in the middle of July cooked many berries, which swelled up and did not taste good. The crop is so huge that I can afford to lose a few and still have plenty left over for stewing, compote and wine making. This is one of my favourite wines and I should get about six or more demijohns of wine from my two bushes.

Last year I gave my Ben Connan blackcurrants a severe pruning. There may be a slight reduction in weight of crop, but berry size is now enormous. They were even bigger than my new Big Ben blackcurrants, though they are still young and will have their day next year.

Saskatoon bushes are all under nets, but good growth has taken them up to six feet and pushes up my fruit cage net. The birds sit on the top of the net and get a fair bit of my crop, but it has been such a good year for soft fruit that there is still plenty left for me.

Anna has made a brilliant Saskatoon jam by adding in some rhubarb to add some acidity and help setting.

Only disappointment this year has been the top fruit. There were plenty of flowers on apples, plums, pears, cherries and peach, but there were no bees around to pollinate them. I hand pollinated the peach but it was not successful as only one peach remains. The pear has one pear on it and the cherry only had about six cherries which the blackie got before they ripened up.

The apples and plums have just a light crop, but they are still growing.

Plant of the week

 

Crocosmia Lucifer makes a bright splash of colour with its vivid red flower spikes in mid summer. It is an herbaceous clump forming plant which grows about four feet tall. It is easy to grow on most soils but preferring moist rich well drained soils in full sun or partial shade.

END