Autumn

Brief late afternoon visit after weeks of neglect - surprisingly busy on the site, with quite a few around getting in last minute jobs before it gets too cold.

Still not planted garlic and getting a bit late unless we get a mild spell - or I cloche them to get them going (but plastic does not survive well in winter).  Corn never quite made it and a few frosts have seen them off - will have to plant earlier next year.

Cut down the remaining sunflower heads to extract seeds and cropped more (gigantic) sprouts, cabbage, sweded, beetroot and salad leaves.

Remaining pears had mostly been blown off trees but still good to eat and very juicy - mainly from Conference tree.

Spring Clean II

With a taste of winter forecast to return next week, made the effort to get down to allotment and get some preparation done.

Saturday - In addition to some weeding and tidying up, finally got first early potatoes (International Kidney) in the ground - bed E1. Broke the 'no-digging after Xmas' rule to get troughs deep enough. Usually would set them in peat but trying multi-compost/sand mixture this time plus a little hoof and horn - and then well rotted chicken manure over top of soil. Covered up E1 & D1(after a quick rake) with a big tarp to keep warm and give spuds a boost to catch up - should have been in 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Sunday - Another sunny day, with a bit of a cool wind that only briefly dropped. Bought and potted on some red cabbage, swede, cauliflower and khol rabi seedlings - 6 of each (with a couple of small extra's in the cauli's) plus a couple of pots (16) Broad Beans. Placed inside 3 tier polly house, but set up only to two tiers to keep it out of wind a bit more.

Managed to weed and rake all the other main beds, save for F1 which am leaving wild for now and A1 that still has last year's leeks and wind sown salsify. Limed B1/B2 in readiness for brassicas and dug C2 into 4 troughs ready for 2nd early potatoes in a couple of weeks hopefully. Scattered organic manure into troughs and left uncovered to let rain wash into ground.

Catching Up

June was a warm month and everything has been growing well so now seems an appropriate time to review where everything is at.

Bed A1 (Alliums)
- 2 salsify (2008) grown on for seed - has beautiful seed heads (hundreds collected already)
- Parsley (2008) also grown on - still edible if a little tougher
- 6 clumps of red spring onions
- Leeks, still very small so it may be baby leeks for Christmas dinner.
Bed A2
- Around 60 Stutgarter white onions
- 2 surviving garlic (2008)
- patch of sunflowers (giant russian)
- side row of Little Gem Lettuce

Bed B1 (Legumes)
- Broad Beans (had first early crop for tea last night)
- patch of sunflowers (giant russian)
- row of leeks (2008) - bit tough to eat but fine for flavouring stocks and hopefully will flower for seed
Bed B2
- Peas
- Dwarf French Beans
- Sweet peas for a splash of late colour and food for bees

Bed C1 (Brassicas)
- Khol Rabi - now swelling fast, still no idea what they taste like or what to do with them! Originally intercropped with oriental mustards for salads but now all eaten.
- Swedes (originally intercropped with radish, now eaten)
- Turnips (originally intercropped with radish, now eaten)
- Summer/Autumn Cabbage (with 1 last spring cabbage remaining)
Bed C2
- Brussel Sprouts (intercropped with summer cabbage)
- Red Cabbage (intercropped as above, and 1 savoy)
- Cauliflowers (eaten half so far, and intercropped with radish)
Bed F1
- radish
- oriental mustards
- little gem lettuce
these will all be eaten over the summer to leave just:
- broccoli
- kale nero

Bed D1 (Roots)
- Carrots
- Beetroot
Bed D2
- Charlotte 2nd early potatoes (first taste laste week!)
Bed E1
- Jersey Royal 1st early (about half plants eaten so far and absolutely delicious)

Bed E2

Sweetcorn (growing strongly, but not quite so good as last year as July has been so much cooler)
- a border of dwarf sunflowers on 3 sides
- side row of Little Gem lettuce (under a cloche to keep tender)