LATE SUMMER HARVEST

LATE SUMMER HARVEST

The allotment crops are now being harvested at breakneck speed. Some crops such as salads, potatoes, broad beans, courgettes and turnips are running ahead of last year by a few weeks, but others not affected. In fact my summer cabbage and cauliflower are a week later to harvest. August weather brought a severe halt to our very warm and dry summer, but it was great while it lasted and summer fruit crops have never been better.

It is difficult to find room in our freezers for all the produce, and there is always some more to find a home for every time you visit the allotment plot. We eat as much as possible, but it is difficult for two pensioners to get through a cabbage, two turnips, three cauliflowers and five massive courgettes plus any amount of salads and beetroot each week.

Vegetables

This has been a great year for a succession of salads and beetroot, and turnips would also have been great if my Purple Top Milan had not all run to seed. Red stemmed Swiss chard has been prolific and though some has bolted and been removed, there has been plenty others ready to grow into the vacant space.

Onion Hytech bulbs were all lifted at the beginning of August before the rains came and are now being dried off for storing. The crop from my heat treated sets was decent, but not as great as it normally is when they are grown from seed sown in March.

Potatoes had to be lifted early as black leg disease appeared on a few shaws, then in early August the weather cooled down and the rain returned bringing on the blight which rapidly went through all the foliage. Lifted spuds need drying off for storage in an airy but dark frost free place. Keep an eye on then in case some tubers start to rot from the blight.

 Summer cabbage Kilaton and cauliflower Clapton have been brilliant as they are both clubroot resistant, though it has been difficult picking off caterpillers.

Sweet corn is running later than normal, but looks like a great crop still to come.

Fruit

This has been a great year for strawberries, raspberries, brambles, all the currants and saskatoons. Saskatoon picking ended at the beginning of August, but then the first of my blueberries started to ripen. Wasps have been a real pest on blueberries this year.

Autumn Bliss raspberries have started to crop and should continue till well into autumn.

Our first outdoor figs were picked in early August with a lot more to come, and now the early apples, Arbroath Pippin and Discovery are ready.

Flowers

Summer flowers, especially poppies, have responded to the hot dry sunny weather, but now they are taking a break. Fuchsias that were a mass of flowers have lost most of them and geraniums are well past their best. I hope that once this cool wet period finishes and the summer returns the flowers will all come out again.

Plant of the week

Cottage Pink Odessa has pink scented flowers all summer. It grows up to a foot tall but spreads in time giving good ground cover. They are best in well drained soil in full sun.

They are easy to propagate with cuttings in late summer.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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