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Plough
Field Allotments at Amerton
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Tips
By Mrs FM
Hartley.
Unusual
& Old
Fashioned Fruit
Trees.
Unusual
Vegetables,
Herbs & Other
Edible Plants.
Environmental
Issues And Going Green.
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By
Alan J Hartley
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September Vegetable Harvest.
As we went through August many
of my Onions had started going to seed, but I left them in to see if
they would still bulk up a bit after cutting off the Flower Stalks. It
was very dry as well so I had started watering them a bit, but that only
caused some to start rotting. Onions actually come from Asia, so as long
as they get established they can cope with pretty dry conditions without
extra watering and mine obviously didn’t like the sudden drenching that
they got. Eventually, I decided to turn the tops down to start and
prepare them for harvesting. Some of the Tops were going down anyway and
this is necessary to start the ripening and drying process. After a few
days, when the tops had gone brown, I eased them all out of the ground
with a Fork. Then I brushed the soil from the roots taking care not to
damage the basal Plate which can cause them to rot in storage and left
them on the surface of the ground, in the Sun, for a few more days. This
helps sweeten them by using up the last of the green Chlorophyll that
may remain in the Onions. When the skins were thoroughly browned off and
crispy dry, I piled them into 2
 buckets
to take home, but they didn’t look very good. The best I will be able to
store by Plaiting them, but a lot I will have to use up quickly. They
were planted at the back end of last Autumn because they were what used
to be called the “Japanese type,” or “Over Wintering type.” Planted as
Sets they didn’t come cheap, so I had sown some Seed at Christmas which
were pricked out and later planted out in early Spring. These later ones
looked much better, when I got them out at the end of the Month, but
they were still a bit on the small side. Perhaps next year, I will just
do them from Seed as it will be less of a loss if the crop fails in
future. The value of the Onions that I harvested from those grown using
Sets was probably not much more than the cost of the sets as Onions are
so cheap to buy in the shops and the Sets are becoming ever more
expensive.
After clearing the Bed of Onions I thoroughly weeded it before
re-planting with a few Swiss Chard and Yacon that had been held back in
pots in case I wanted them. Chard will grow more, or less all year round
so is an ideal vegetable to plant whenever any other crop is removed and
you have a space regardless of what time of year it is. The Yacon is
very much a Summer growing crop though, as the tops will completely die
at the first Frost in Auntumn. However, they had been in quite big pots
so I am hoping they will have time to develop some of their lovely,
edible, tubers even if they are a bit small at the end of the day. Also
I will be able to harvest the Crowns to cut up, divide, over Winter and
replant for next year. I suppose I could have put some quick Salad Crops
in the space I created by taking out the Onions, but I am not a big fan
and we have had a very dry Summer that doesn’t suit such things without
a lot of watering.
When I started planting in the Spring I was impatient as always and
“Jumped The Gun,” with a lot of things including my Dwarf French Beans
that went in far too early, but as we had such a mild Spring I got away
with it. I ended up picking a lot of Beans, but they had more or less
finished by Mid August and I had also got off to a good start with my
Runners so I was picking bucket loads of them by Mid July. However, the
Runners stopped producing Pods for a while which I understand may have
been because they were too dry and the Flowers were getting Pollinated,
but the Beans weren’t setting. Since then I have been watering fairly
often as it stayed so dry, although I am trying to restrict watering too
much as many parts of the Country were in Official Drought by mid
August. With the French Beans just about finishing though, I left the
last few pods on the plants to over develop and dry, then I will be able
to save the Beans as Seeds ready to sow next year.
 The
same goes for my Borlotti Beans that also did well, but by the middle of
August they were starting to over develop and some were drying off. So
again, I am going to save those for Sowing next year.
Elsewhere on my Plot my Globe Artichokes did far better than last year
with a good number of Globes cut, but I left the last few Heads on them
for the Flowers to develop completely and open out for the Bees who love
them. I think several other Plot Holders did the same because you could
see giant, blue, Thistle like Flowers dotted around the Site. Then as
the Flowers started to fade, the foliage also started to wither and dry
up. I find that this always happens at the end of the Globe Harvest each
season, but after cutting everything down the Plants will re-shoot
through the Winter, as long as it doesn’t get too cold.
I have started chopping up the dead foliage and using it as a Mulch
around the Crowns of the Plants. Dead Leaves will drop and naturally
Mulch down throughout the Season anyway and this helps to create an
almost Peat like top layer that the Plants love as it helps to suppress
weeds and retain moisture.
Last Winter I planted a couple of little Bare Root Fruit Trees that I
felt need a little bit of T.L.C. to help them through the very long dry
spell that we have had, so I have been watering them on and off
throughout. Normally, if you plant a Bare Root Tree in early Winter,
they will get enough root on them by the following Spring to get them
through an ordinary year, but in exceptional conditions it is wise to
help them along. Indeed, long established Fruit Trees have been
struggling this year and the Seasonal June Drop has just gone on and on
with fruit steadily falling throughout the Summer. Having said that many
of the branches have still been sagging under the weight and I had to
retie a number of them. Perhaps I hadn’t thinned the Apples out enough,
but strings often give way under the added weight of Fruit anyway.
 Earlier
on there didn’t seem to be any Figs on my Trees, but now they are loaded
and developing nicely as we go into September. There are not so many
Asian Pears, or ordinary Pears on my Trees, although other Plot Holders
are doing well. Even my Medlar Tree is covered in fruit this year after
an almost barren year last year. September will see much of the Fruit
ready for picking with the exception of the Medlar that will not be
ready until after the first frosts. As regards the Medlar’s barren year
last year, Trees often seem to need a rest on odd years, particularly
after a bumper year. One thing that does concern me though is the Old
Wives Tale about “Lots of fruit on the Trees is a sign that there is a
bad Winter coming.”
Elsewhere on my Plot my Grape Vines needed cutting back again at the
beginning of August as there was lots more excess growth hiding the
embryonic Bunches of Grapes. Cutting the growth back will of course let
some more light in to ripen the Grapes as well as revealing them. I had
to do the same with my Kiwis that were rampaging across my path and into
other fruit Trees. As with all of the other bushes and trees, I was
careful not to cut away any of my precious fruit though. After the
spectacular splash of Flowers this year I was expecting to find a lot of
tiny fruit on the Kiwis, but I could only see a few. Still, it is the
first year that either Vine has flowered, so I will be hoping for more
in future.
Other things that I have recently cut back include my Early Raspberries
that finished fruiting a few weeks ago and are being replaced with Fruit
on my Late, or Autumn Fruiting ones, both the ordinary Red, and the
slightly exotic, Yellow variety. These “Lates,” will not be cut down
until Winter time, or they may even be left until early Spring.
With the Early Varieties though, it is easy to see which Canes to cut
out and which to leave, because those that have fruited will turn brown
and die. The same is true for the rather vicious black Raspberries and
Tay Berries. With all of these you need to tie in the remaining new
shoots that will then go on to produce fruit next Season.
The Committee don’t like old Raspberry canes being put onto the Communal
Compost Heaps, and decreed a long time ago that all “Woody Material,”
like this should be put into the Farmer’s Tractor Bucket to be taken
away. I do put them onto my own Compost Bins though. However, I do
sometimes put them through my electric, home Shredder along with any
Tree prunings, first. Occasionally, I can’t be bothered to bag them up
and take them home though, so I sit on the edge of my Compost Bins and
cut them up by hand using a stout pair of Secateurs. I find this
monotonous task rather restful and almost therapeutic, just sitting
there, patiently chopping away, in the sunshine and fresh air.
Pallets are the favoured method of constructing a Compost Bin on most
Allotments as they are usually free, but my own Compost Bins were made
from Bricks and Concrete, were expensive and will virtually last
forever. Generally Pallets will last a few years before starting to
brake up, but if they are free it doesn’t matter anyway. Indeed we had
some unwanted Pallets delivered to our site from a local business a few
weeks ago.
However, on our site we also have an assortment of Plastic Compost Bins
donated from time to time. Sometimes they are given to us by Villagers
and sometimes by Plot Holders who no longer want them, or who are giving
up their Plots. These are generally left by the Compost Storage Area to
be Recycled and are free for anyone to help themselves to. The most
popular design looks a little like a Dustbin that goes in slightly at
the top, however, there are other designs available. I understand the
one that is on a metal frame and can be turned, is rather expensive, but
does a much quicker job of turning the waste into Compost. I never used
to turn my compost Heaps in the past and indeed we don’t regularly turn
the big Communal ones, but in recent years, I have found that turning
them every few weeks does speed up the composting process. With a little
care there isn’t much that can’t be Composted, but it is often better to
cut the waste up a little first. With Autumn coming there will be lots
of Rubbish from everybody’s Plots soon to get rid of and if Composted
efficiently, it can then be dug into empty Plots in the Spring to add a
little goodness.
 
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