How Many Hours In A Day??

 If things don't change they'll stay the same, well that's no surprise, so what's changed since my last post at the end of July. Well the weather has changed for a start, although its very mild for this time of the year and a little damp caused by recent, frequent early morning mists. I made the first visit to my plots (or should I say plot), today, for a few weeks. I sold my house at the beginning of October and having purchased a bungalow, (still in Taunton), with a rather large rear garden I decided it would be prudent to hand back N2 Plot and utilize my rear garden, turning part of it into a vegetable plot. Moving house, clearing N2 Plot and being involved with the planning of a family wedding for this coming Saturday, (or maybe not, seeing as the bride and groom have just contracted tonsilitis??), has kept me extremely busy over the past month or so. Hopefully things will settle down a little within the next week or so.

N1 Plot, No 2 Bed + Bonfire October 2015

 N1 Plot now consists of 3 vegetable beds as before 1, 2 and the L-shaped bed, with the fruit cage still in place on No 1 bed. No 2 bed has been turned and covered with plastic sheeting for the Winter, except for the top end of the bed, (North end), where this years bonfire currently stands, awaiting its demise on the 8th of November. No1 bed still has carrots and parsnips left in the ground. I lifted about half a 15 foot row of carrots this afternoon, they were still in very good condition and a good size too. Most of the plot looked slightly neglected with the grass paths and borders needing mowing but being too damp to cut. The inside of the fruit cage requires a good weeding and removal of the fruit bushes foliage which is strewn across the ground, under the bushes. With the runner bean plants still standing on the L-shaped bed, needing to be removed and the lower end of the L-shaped bed requiring a good clearing up of the fallen leaves from my fruit trees.

Last of the Tomatoes Ripening Mid October 2015

A high percentage of the "flower borders" in and around the rear garden of my bungalow, were well overgrown with ivy, both variegated and the old english type as well as periwinkle and various other plants and shrubs, which had been neglected for quite some time. Thousands of Spring flowering bulbs were once planted under and around the border plants, shrubs and ivies. I have almost completed removing the ivy and periwinkle from the borders and fencing. Digging out the massive ivy roots without the use of a J.C.B. was rather physically challenging. Most of the various plants have been lifted, split and re-planted or discarded, depending upon their condition. All of the spring bulbs have been lifted, split and re-positioned/re-planted. The old garden shed which was in a state of disrepair, except for its roof, has been repaired, after removing the roof, dismantling and repairing the sides and replacing the roof, it is once again a viable work and storage area.

Unidentified Grub October 2015

Unidentified Grub November 2015

As this is supposed to be an allotment/gardening blog I won't mention the various other D.I.Y. jobs which have been required since the beginning of October even if I could remember them all!!

There's Always Tomorrow!!

Rooko's Novembers Top 10 Tips & Tryouts

Well after I missed last months top 10 (only the 2nd time since I started blogging), its about time I got back into some posting and allotment work.

1. Well I'm about to stick my neck right out with the first tip. 2 weeks is your deadline for getting out those protective fleeces, covers and any other plant protection items you can find. I'm predicting a cold snap across U.K. starting in approximately 2 weeks time, that will last into February 2016 with temperatures well below freezing day and night. Be prepared.

2. Deciduous and fruit trees can be planted this month but do not plant them on waterlogged areas of ground.

3. Many gardeners and allotment owners will be celebrating bonfire night soon. If you have built a bonfire, remember to check under/inside it for any hibernating animals such as hedgehogs, before lighting the fire.

4. Vacant patches of ground on your plot can be dug/rotavated if not too wet. Add compost/manure. Winter frosts should break down any heavy clumps of soil.

5. Cover rhubarb crowns with a mixture of soil/manure or soil/compost to feed and protect them over the Winter period.

6. November is usually a good time to repair and maintain garden tools and machinery, ready for next seasons gardening adventures.

7. Cuttings of evergreen shrubs can be taken this month.

8. Grapevines can be pruned this month, cutting back all fruited buds to 1 or 2 shoots from the main stem.

9. Protect the crowns of globe artichokes from frosts by adding straw around the base of the plants.

10.

SOWING/PLANTING IN NOVEMBER

1. Garlic cloves can be planted out.
2. Sow peas (round type) if the ground is not waterlogged.
3. Parsnips can be left in situ.

OTHER JOBS TO DO IN NOVEMBER

1. Lift and store any remaining carrots.
2. Harvest Winter Cabbage and Cauliflower.
3. Prune back fruit canes.
 4. Remove any rotting fruit/vegetation

Rooko's September Top 10 Tips & Tryouts

1. After several wet days in the past fortnight and temperatures dropping quite noticeably, especially overnight, check the ventilation of greenhouses and poly tunnels if you still have fruit and veg ripening within them. My tomatoes have been very slow to ripen this year. It may be prudent to strip all the leaves and stems from the plants to aid ripening.

2. Lifting potatoes is best done when the soil is reasonably dry. About this time of year slugs/worms are more likely to attack tubers and blight can set in after being spread around after rain showers.

3. If your beds are clear of veggies, now is the time to dig or rotavate them, ready for next season, adding manure or compost as required. This will save time next Spring.

4. If you prefer to dig/rotavate in the Spring, try sowing a green manure such as mustard. Mustard (a biofumigant) not only keeps many weeds at bay but is also useful in deterring soil borne pests.

5. Now is a good time to plant out Autumn onion sets & garlic.

6. If you don't have the positions of your perennial plants in the garden indicated with markers, why not draw up a map, before they die back, so you can remember where they are.

7. After harvesting the last of your Autumn raspberries cut back their canes.

8. Don't leave those runner and french beans too long before picking them otherwise they will become tough and stringy. Better to freeze them than waste them. Top and tail, slice, blanche for 2 minutes, open freeze then keep in the freezer in an airtight storage container.

9. Slugs and snails are still out and about especially under and around decayed vegetable matter. Keep beds and borders free of their hiding places. A sharpened stick or pair of garden shears will put an end to most molluscs.

10.

SOWING/PLANTING IN SEPTEMBER

1. Winter hardy lettuce can be sown in September as well as hardy Spring Onions.
2. Spring Cabbages can be planted out now.
3. Parsnips will taste better if left in the ground until after a frost.

OTHER JOBS IN SEPTEMBER

1. Prune Summer fruiting Raspberries.
2.  Runners from Strawberries can be planted now.
3. Add manure, lime or green manures to your soil, depending on each beds condition and your crop rotation.

Rooko's August Top 10 Tips & Tryouts

1. August is probably a good month to spray weedkiller, (if you use it), onto those nasty perennial weeds, whilst they have a good covering of foliage to absorb it.

2. Pick veggies, such as runner beans, french beans, peas regularly, which will encourage the plants to produce more fruits.  Biggest is not always best, small and sweet is often the best.

3. If you have an abundance of veggies, why not invite some friends over for a B.B.Q. and utilize the extra fruit and veggies in a salad/meal.

4. August can be a fairly dry month, regular, consistent watering, particularly of seedlings, potted plants and hanging baskets may be required. Don't get dehydrated, have a drink yourself too.

5. Taking cutting from half hardy bedding plants is a good idea this month.

6. If the weather has been particularly dry add mulches around beds and borders to aid water retention.

7. Watch out for signs of late blight on tomatoes/potato plants. Remove any infected plants and burn or bag and bin them, don't add them to a compost heap.

8. Weeding is usually a year round chore, but many weeds have seed heads throughout August, make sure these seed heads are not added to your compost heap, unless you can ensure temperatures within the heap are high enough to kill the seeds off. Remember the old saying, 1 years seeds = 7 years weeds.

9. On the subject of weeds, many of them or different parts of them are edible. Check out which ones can be useful before discarding them.

10.

SOWING/PLANTING IN AUGUST

1. Sow the following this month: Spring Cabbage, Chinese Cabbage, Kohl-rabi, Lettuce (Winter hardy), Spring Onions, Radish, Spinach and Turnips.
2. Plant out Savoys, Cauliflowers and Kale.

OTHER JOBS IN AUGUST

1.  Keep weeding & hoeing.
2. If you are storing potatoes for later use, ensure any damaged ones are used, not stored.
3. Pinch out side shoots on tomatoes, leaving 4 or 5 trusses on each plant in general.
4. Turn your compost heap and spray with water if it is very dry.
5. Compost & manure heaps are attractive places for wasps to build their nests, so be wary when disturbing the heaps.

9. 

Tray Bien???

Another good harvest today, salute the kernal 2015.

Todays Harvest (29/7/15)

There's Always Tomorrow!!

Parched

Some rainwater at long last pouring from the clouds, at least I think that's what it is, with weeks without any its difficult to remember what a good downpour of rainfall looks like. Although over the past couple of months we have experienced a couple of thunder storms and a little drizzly, muggy weather the allotments have been parched, up until last night when the rain started. My recent visits to the plots have been intermittent for a while now, mainly due to the fact that my house sale is still progressing and the priority has been, jumping through the various hoops associated with organizing completion of the sale. Watering the plots has been a pain lately with some varieties of veggies not liking the hot dry weather conditions at all. To compound problems it looks like the water fittings around our allotments will have to be updated, special underground tanks fitted and hose pipes and water meters banned in future. So far this year I have managed to use water from the drainage ditch at the southern end of my plots to water my plants. That source dried up about a fortnight ago. In fact over the past 2 years the only "mains water" I have used has been approximately 30, 2 liter watering cans full. If these long dry Springs and Summers continue, which I think they will, in this part of the country, I am seriously thinking of dispensing with growing certain crops. The main ones adversely affected by the dry conditions so far being, turnips, swedes, some oriental greens and certain brassicas. Germination of some seeds has also been hit and miss with temperatures being above their germination limits.

The Last of The Water (and mulch) Duckweed from the Drainage Ditch (17/July/15)

 Despite the dry conditions most of my crops have fared well with few problems along the way. Weeding has not been a problem, with many of the usual annual weeds not making an appearance, or the ground being too dry for them to fully develop this year. My sweetcorn has done exceptionally well so far, with up to 5 cobs per plant, (usually 2 max). I expect some of them to be fully ripened within the next week or so. Tomatoes, both inside my poly tunnel and growing outside are also excellent this year but slow to ripen. The fruit crops have done well, apart from cherries which I thought had been taken by birds last month, but on closer inspection, many were lost due to the June drop. Strawberries were rather disappointing this year, despite being well watered, both during and after cropping. Alpine strawberries on the other hand, have done well and are still fruiting vigorously after each picking. You win some and lose some!!  My apple crop in particular is very good this year. My 4 fruit trees, cherry, apple, pear and plum, were originally planted on the bank of the drainage ditch which is more or less the southern boundary of N1 Plot. Being close to a large hedgerow this area is home to hundreds of different weeds and wild plants as well as the insects and other wildlife they attract. In previous years I have kept the ground under and around the trees cultivated. This year I left it to grow wild. The result seems to be a lack of disease on the foliage etc of my fruit trees, which had been apparent in previous years. Bio-diversity at work no less. Runner beans again have been slow growing with the dry conditions this year and are only just producing a few beans. Looking around other plots on our allotments, very few seem to have lush growth on the plants. Climbing french beans (cobra) have again come up with the goods and several harvests have been done lately along with dwarf beans (purple teepee). 6 rows of peas have been harvested from No 3 bed, both (Hurst greenshaft) and 2 rows of  mangetout peas were prolific and good quality.  Marrows, courgettes and pumpkins currently growing away on N2 Plots' 5 bed don't seem to mind the dry conditions and seem to be producing fruit almost as fast as it can be harvested. Cucumbers within the poly tunnel are both prolific and gigantic. The specimens planted outside, (from potted seeds), have been slower to grow and are only just flowering. Onions again this year have been excellent with the majority of them already harvested. My sprout plants are in good condition in No 4 bed, which is more than can be said for the cavolo nero and the romanesco, with most of the romanesco quickly running to seed. Cabbages have remained in good condition, although a couple of seeded drills in No4 bed failed to germinate. Lettuce (mixed and crispheads) have done well again, even with little watering along with the reliable bolt hardy beetroot. My potato crop taking up the whole of No 2 bed seems in reasonable condition. The plants are not as tall or lush as last seasons specimens and the rain today will certainly freshen them up somewhat. 3 "trial" plants were lifted last week. One plant contained 10 rather large tubers with the other 2 plants containing a dozen tubers each, which I would class as medium sized. As these are main crop desiree spuds, planted early, another fortnights' time should see them being lifted. The quality of the carrots in No1 bed remains to be seen, again the top growth is not as lush as in previous years. My asparagus bed has come on leaps and bounds this year with plenty of strong growth, on the downside, picking off the ever increasing hoards of asparagus beetles has been a full time occupation. What looks like 2 good rows of parsnips are also doing well in bed No1, which I attribute to the mud and silt taken from the drainage ditch, which was spread over this bed last year, in lieu of manure.    

Tomatoes Poly Tunnel (Mid July 15)

Fruit Picking (Late June 2015)

No 4 Bed (7/7/ 2015)

Cucumbers Poly Tunnel (7/7/15)

There's Always Tomorrow!!

Rooko's July Top 10 Tips & Tryouts

1. Temperatures in many parts of U.K. have been in the high 20's to mid 30 degrees C making some gardening tasks physically challenging. Grass cutting being one of them. Lawns and grass paths etc can usually be left to grow for a while longer, which will prevent the grass scorching/drying out and save you some time and energy??

2. If you have house plants on windowsills in hot weather the sunlight can be magnified through glass windows, ensure plants are not being scorched or frequently drying out due to the extra heat.

3. Many types of fruit will be ready, or almost ready for harvesting this month. Consistent watering is required for fruit to bulk out. Water around fruit bushes and trees and avoid splashing water onto the fruit.

4. This year has seen a rise in the number of asparagus beetles attacking my asparagus plants, (hot dry weather conditions). The common asparagus beetle is about 1 cm long with cream, red and blue/black markings. The adults generally appear first in Spring and can produce several generations per year. Large populations can kill off a full crop of asparagus. Insecticides containing pyrethrum are effective against asparagus beetle. Hand picking them off the plants is an alternative if you don't use chemicals, but the beetles are very adept at dropping to the ground when threatened, where they are difficult to see.

5. Inconsistent watering of cucumbers may give them a bitter taste. Keep the soil around cuc plants evenly moist, add some good quality compost around the base of the plants with mulch on top of it, as they begin to fruit.

6. Continue with successional sowing of quick growing veggies such as, lettuce, radish, turnips, spring onions, beetroot, cucumbers etc.

7. Regular hoeing of beds and borders and removal of weeds will help to keep your plants healthy, whilst keeping the soil hoed will help water to soak easily into the soil. Some weeds are useful as host plants keeping certain insects away from vegetables.

8. Thinning out fruit if a heavy crop is expected may be an option this month. Thin out any diseased or damaged fruits first and support branches, stems of plants/trees to prevent them snapping under the weight of their fruit.

9. There are over 200 types of  hoverflies in Britain. They are useful insects to gardeners. Their larvae will consume aphids whilst the adults are good pollinators.   

10.

SOWING/PLANTING IN JULY

1. Sow French Beans, Beetroot, Carrots, Chinese Cabbage Spring Cabbage, Chicory, Kohl-rabi, Lettuce, Peas, Radish.

OTHER JOBS IN JULY

1. Watering is usually a major task during July.
2. Mulching may help to retain water in the soil but be on the lookout for slugs and other pests.
3. Keep weeds at bay with more hoeing.
4. Feed tomatoes and Onions.
5. Check Brassicas for caterpillars/eggs.
6. Water brassicas with a salt & water mix to keep caterpillars off them.