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Field Allotments at Amerton
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By Mrs FM
Hartley.
Unusual
& Old
Fashioned Fruit
Trees.
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Edible Plants.
Environmental
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By
Alan J Hartley
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Autumn - October.
I had tried to save an Apple
Tree that came from my mothers house a few years ago, but the variety of
the Apple was not what I thought it was and the tree undoubtedly had a
Canker on it, so a few weeks ago, I decided to remove it and bin it,
replacing it with both a better variety and a healthier tree. I could
have waited for Autumn to come to an end and the leaves had dropped, at
which time I would probably have been able to buy a tree a little
cheaper by buying it “Bare Root,” but as usual I couldn’t wait, so I
treated myself to a pot grown plant. “Bare Root,” trees can only be
bought and planted in the Winter months and in early Spring, but pot
grown specimens can be planted at any time, although it is never a good
idea to plant anything when there is a dry spell. The instructions said
that it would take a couple of years to produce any fruit at all and it
would be a few years after that before it was producing a really good
crop of Apples. However, this may be delayed as I intend to train it
Espalier style, (with it’s arms stretched out) so that it fits in with
my other trees. The tree should settle in a bit quicker and start to
grow faster than a “Bare Root,” tree would, but it will still need
watering during dry weather for a while to come.
Most years I don’t give my Chrysanthemums enough attention and as the
plants grow they topple over. Left like this the flowers try to
straighten themselves up and you get stems that are almost “L” shaped.
These are obviously no good as cut flowers, because you need the stems
to be as long and straight as possible. This year however, I put in lots
of canes and tied them up securely with soft string before they flopped
too badly from the winds. The plants have also grown very well this
season, and as I put in a lot of young plants that I grew from cuttings
taken off the old plants this Spring, I have about twice as many plants
as normal. Next Spring though, I might buy some rooted cuttings online
and make the effort to get a few more different colours, but I will keep
the old “Stools,” this Winter as I normally do. However, I will take a
bit more care in labelling the colour of each plant when I dig them up
at the end of the Season. Usually, I do the silly trick of cutting off
all the flowers and then when I want to label them I don’t know what
colour they are!
I finally got round to digging out my Compost Bin that was full of
lovely, rich, fibrous material. Most of the Compost was barrowed around
my plot and used as a “rough,” mulch. My Strawberries had long since
finished and as a lot of people cut back their foliage at this time of
year, I decided that if they got a bit of compost on them, their new
leaves would grow through it, so all 3 Strawberry beds had a good
covering. The beds had been given a thin covering earlier in the Season,
but needed some more to bring the soil level back up to where it should
be and the fresh Mulch would also act as a feed. TV Gardeners always say
that you should aim for a 3 inch layer of mulch to be effective and they
certainly had that this time as did the large “U” shaped bed that has my
Bay Tree Hedge, Gooseberries and Twisted Hazel in.
Some of the Compost was also bagged up and saved for later use in
potting up my Rhubarb. Every year I dig out one Rhubarb Crown and divide
it up to give me a number of small plants that I donate to the charity
where I work. This time though, I will pot some up for our planned
Spring Plant sale as well. Last year when I divided a particularly big
and old Crown, I had a lot of bits left over that I chopped up
thoroughly in an attempt to kill them and then I buried them. However, I
now have several new plants growing very well in the spot where I buried
the bits! Obviously I did not manage to stop the bits from propagating
themselves. It just goes to show how Rhubarb will cling to life however
badly you treat it!
Late Summer and Autumn is a good time to collect your own Seeds of all
sorts of things. On the Allotment it is a great idea to allow a few Bean
Pods on your plants to fully develop and dry out as these seeds in
particular are easy to save from one year to the next and they will have
good germination success. Beans will not Cross Pollinate easily so their
seeds will always come true unlike the F1 seeds of some vegetables that
almost certainly will not as they are a “First Cross.” However, most
seeds of most things will produce some plants like their parents with a
few variations, but it does depend on how “Stable,” the variety is
genetically and how much “Cross Pollination,” there is with other
plants. Older varieties of plants are likely to breed truer to type as
long as there is no “Cross Pollination,” so many Heritage varieties are
good to save. This year I made a determined effort to save some seeds of
my Dwarf and Runner Beans along with my Heritage Borlottie beans. In
fact the last couple of years I have harvested my Borlotti Beans as
dried beans anyway. This year they dried beautifully on the plants so
all I had to do was finish drying them on a big Gravel Tray, in the Sun,
in my Greenhouse. Most were then put in storage tubs to be used in
cooking with a few put in a paper bag which was labelled and then put in
the bottom of my Fridge. My Brother also saved some flowers seeds from
his Garden and dried them off before storing them in Paper Bags. If you
have only one variety of a particular plant in your Garden it is less
likely that the seed will be “Cross Pollinated,” unless a nearby
Neighbour has a different colour or variety of the same plant in flower
at the same time. Some seed of Perennials like Thalictrum and Biennials
like Foxgloves, that can be collected now, can be sown straight away,
whereas others like Poppies and Calendula should be Labelled and kept
over Winter in Paper Bags, in a tin somewhere cool like the bottom of a
Fridge, a Shed or a Garage.
As we started to go through October I began tidying up my Greenhouse at
home ready for the coming Winter. The first things to be sorted out were
my old Tomato and Aubergines Plants that had finished fruiting and were
of no further use. The large Pots were saved, of course, and the spent
compost did not go to waste as it was bagged up to be used in potting
some of the Fruit Bushes for the Spring Plant Sale. (When I reuse it I
will add some food Pellets and top dress the pots with fresh Compost.)
The old Tomato and Aubergine plants were added to my Compost heap on my
Allotment. A lot of people don’t like Tomato plants and old Potato
Haulms put onto Compost heaps as they can harbour and encourage the
spread of Blight. However, my argument is that, so long as you don’t use
the compost where you are going to grow Potatoes or Tomatoes, it doesn’t
really matter. The Blight spores will disappear given a few years anyway
and a good temperature in a hot compost Heap will kill them as well.
I took advantage of the extra space in the Greenhouse and gave it a bit
of a clean before Winter comes to get rid of some of the pests and
diseases that might have been lurking. The Glass had a clean as well,
especially the outside where I had painted the white shading. (Any
plants over wintering in the Greenhouse will appreciate the increased
light levels.) Also I started bringing in my tender plants with the
Cannas, Bananas and Palms among the first. A little later I will bring
in my Oranges and Lemons as well as the Chrysanthemums and Gladiola from
my Allotment. I don’t do Dahlias, but those would also need bringing in
as soon as the first frosts come. I won’t need any heat on for a while
yet in my Greenhouse, but I did check that the heater still worked and I
do close the windows and door at night now. As we go further through
October I will put the pieces of Bubble Polythene insulation, that I had
saved from last year, back up, with those little green clips.
With November nearly upon us things will really slow down now so it will
be more a case of getting things tidy and keeping them tidy with the
exception of a little late planting of things like Broad Beans, Garlic,
Onions, Jerusalem Artichokes, Bare Root Trees and Fruit Bushes, and some
last minute planting of Spring Flowering Bulbs like Daffodils, Crocuses
and Tulips. Obviously things like Leeks, Winter Cabbage, Chard and
Brussels Sprouts can be harvested for weeks yet, but not much else.
Then if it gets cold enough in the Winter, everything will shut down
until February comes around again, except for sowing Onion Seed at
Christmas, and then things will start to happen with some early Seed
sowing.
 
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