Autumn has arrived, but the temperature doesn’t feel like it. Even now on the verge of October, the temperature in the greenhouse was 65C (we’re old school) and at the beginning of the month it was pushing into the 80’s. Hopefully the colder temperatures will be with us soon, never thought we’d say that but it would be nice to get back to some sort of normality weather-wise.
The apples have began to drop in the orchard. There has not been as many fruiting this year. We’ve given them a really hard prune, the orchard looks bald, but next year we should be back to normal. The branches we cut down, are stacked on one of the beds, waiting for the burning season to begin, think it’s the first of October here. It should make some nice potash, which we’ll dig back into the soil.
We have had one of the best years for sweetcorn, and it’s been sort of by accident. The first kernels sown didn’t seem to be doing much. They grew very slowly and the changeable weather didn’t do them any good. So, we bought another packet of kernels ( we find Unwins the best) and started them. They all took! So we ended up having to find space for them and planted half of a tray of seedlings, then the other about ten days later. Successional sweetcorn planting is the future for us. Usually we just harvest and eat as quickly as possible to try and keep that flavour. This year we have actually had some to freeze instead of gorge on it!
The bean canes were taken down this month. They – the beans- had begun to dry out, so we picked them and have stored them safely in the green house. This is the first time we’ve not picked them to eat fresh and just grew them with the intention of drying. They were runners, violette and green french beans and Greek gigantes.
When we took off the netting on the brassica tent, we found some poor old leeks that we had planted and forgot about, but they seem to be doing OK, even if they do look a little bit bedraggled! The celery which was planted in the salad bed, is looking good, although it could do with earthing up a bit to blanche the stems and thicken them up. Not bad though. The parsnips are lovely! We planted them waaaaay back at the beginning of the year. Apparently they taste better after a frost, so we have left some in the soil to see.
We hope you have had a good September. Some gardeners find it a bit of a downer month – they view it as the end of the growing season – granted some allotmenteers do, ‘down tools’ and don’t visit the site until the following March – not us. We look forward to the coming months, and if nothing else it gets you off the couch and out of the house that keeps you going. Also, it’s a time to plan … what varieties can we grow next year!!! Happy plotting !
PlotDaze 