Self sufficiency

These photos show just how busy my allotment plot still is even at this time of year, when many around me have cleared their plots and started digging in manure before leaving fallow for the winter.
What a waste of space!
The brussel sprouts are swelling up well and we had our first meal off them last week, with many more pickings to come over the next month or so. By that time those spring cabbages will be ready for eating, and I have plenty of red cabbages to last all through the winter as well. We have already cooked plenty of red cabbage and frozen it for use later when other fresh vegetables may be scarce.
The lettuce is also growing well and providing some welcome winter salad.
And those carrots I sowed only 4-5 weeks ago are producing the first edible thinnings - with the promise of some lovely roots to follow soon.


But these are just a few of the vegetables I am harvesting at the moment. To add to the list are spinach, swiss chard, parsnips, beetroots, leeks, celeriac, jerusalem artichoke, and a little late fennel that the frost didn't catch! Not bad for a stony field that 3 years ago no one imagined would come to anything at all!

Summer holiday time

One of the problems of holidays is that the garden and the allotment grow apace and there is much catching up to be done on the return home.

Luckily it seems that whilst I was away there was an adequate supply of rain, and no searing temperatures to desiccate the crops.

The rain of course means that the weeds grow, but it was exciting to come home and see that the cabbages, lettuces and carrots I sowed before I went away have all shown a healthy germination. I am hopeful that the lettuces and carrots will mature before winter sets in. The cabbages are winter and spring varieties so there should be no problem there.

What is most exciting is the sight of two tiny melons on the plants I grew in the greenhouse. Melons are difficult to grow in England outside. Last year they came to nothing on the allotment. But they respond, apparently, to warm soil, and the greenhouse soil, under a black fabric, should provide the right conditions. I really hope I can grow at least one to an edible size. Watch this space!

Note on the photo of sweetcorn - not my favourite vegetable; it is after all used for fattening cattle in other countries, but we seem to be obsessed with eating it ourselves. One trick to make it more palatable is to ensure it is eaten really fresh, as close to picking as possible. Otherwise store in the fridge until use, to slow down the conversion of the sugar to starch and to maintain their sweetness. But it's all those bits between the teeth that I really object to!!

A wonderful miniature lettuce

This lettuce is simply wonderful! It is a perfectly formed Iceberg type but in miniature!
Measuring only 2 or 3 inches across, tennis ball sized, it is perfectly formed, with a tightly packed crispy heart, and the perfect mouthful for a single helping; useful for the person living alone, or where only one in a household likes lettuce!

What is more, it is showing exceptional drought tolerance in this extremely dry summer, and is showing no sign of wanting to bolt. I can leave them all in the soil and cut them one at a time as needed.

Note the dry and stony soil.

Harvest

The plot is probably at its most productive at this time of year. The runner beans are offering their first picking, there is plenty of lettuce, perfect beetroot, courgettes and marrows, the butternut squash are swelling nicely, the broad beans were splendid and the surplus frozen, new potatoes are in full swing and the main crop ones look good. In addition we are eating cauliflower and asparagus peas, and the rhubarb is still going strong.

Not everything has been successful. My carrots have been a disaster this year and I'm not sure why. Perhaps I shall do a pH test and see if that throws any light on their stunted growth. Could I have over limed for the brassicas last year?

But just look at these shallots.

I've never grown them before and this could be beginner's luck! Hard to believe that one tiny "seed" shallot planted only 3 months ago could produce 10 more! Not a bad investment return.
As soon as we have the prospect of a few dry warm days I shall lift them all and leave them for those few days on the soil surface to dry before taking them home to finish off and to store like onions for the winter. I could pickle some. Apparently if the summer has been wet (which this one hasn't!!) then shallots do not overwinter well and have to be pickled to preserve them for any length of time.

Hosepipe ban

Today the North West of Britain has a hosepipe ban introduced. This means the inhabitants can fill their swimming pools and ponds with a hose, but cannot water the garden with sprinklers and the like.

Here in the South East of England we have no ban as yet, but all my garden water butts, and I have quite a few, are all empty or nearly so. I have resorted to lugging my bath water downstairs to water the flower gardens. I wonder if my flowers appreciate the "stress reliever" bubble bath, the "pamper and nourish your skin" bubble bath or the "aching muscle relief" bubble bath - the last named has been used rather a lot lately! I only use these on flower beds and my home made compost only goes back on those beds, so I do not worry about the possible tainting with chemicals that may ensue.

I have always resisted watering on the allotment, apart from when plants are establishing themselves. I have been of the view that there is plenty of water deep in the soil and that the plants should be left to their own devices to find it and not encouraged to be lazy! But clearly this cannot apply to shallow rooted plants, such as radish, and other roots, including particularly celeriac, which is notoriously difficult to grow well in a dry summer.

This year all my best principles have gone out of the window. The strawberry plants have wilted, the potato crop is threatened, the lettuces are slow getting going, the celeriac are standing still and not growing at all, in short most of the crops desperately need more water. So every other day or so I give them all a jolly good soak. This is far more satisfactory than giving everything a dribble every day. And after watering, the straw in the farmyard and stable manure, spread around the plants, is acting as a jolly good mulch, helping to conserve the water for the plants rather than letting it evaporate and go to waste.

PS Note the organic slug pellets. I will never use non organic pellets on the allotment.