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By
Alan J Hartley
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The Harvest Continues.
It has been a bit of a strange
season this year with all of the exceptional weather. Spring in
particular was very mild with no late frosts at all. This meant that
although I was early putting quite a few things in, as always, I got
away with it in spades. Pink Fir Apple Potatoes are supposed to be a
“Main Crop,” but mine went in before other plot holders were even
planting their “Earlies!” Needless to say the
Tops went down and shrivelled up very early as well, but they were
ready. After removing what remained of the Tops I left the Potatoes in
the ground for a couple of weeks before harvesting them because it is
said that doing this helps the skins to thicken and makes the Potatoes
keep better. When I did actually dig them up they were a bit on the
small side and fewer in number, but they weren’t too bad. Because the
months of June and July were so dry we had no sign of Potato Blight at
all, (Blight likes warm, damp and wet conditions to thrive,) although it
normally runs rampant through our site infecting all of the non
resistant patches of Potatoes and Tomatoes that people have put in. We
try to discourage re-infection from one year to the next by telling plot
holders not to compost their infected Potato and Tomato Tops, and this
does help, but it doesn’t completely prevent re-infection. Apparently,
once infected, Soil will remain contaminated for several years and
Blight will always be blowing about in the wind from other patches of
land and gardens around the village anyway.
Enduring the second driest Summer on record, after that memorable one of
’76, we started getting the odd shower from the last week of August
onwards and the Runner Beans responded. As usual I ended up giving a lot
of Beans away to neighbours and friends, but my Borlotti weren’t so
prolific. However, I did manage to harvest quite a few letting them dry
on the vines before picking and shelling them. (See Picture.) I can then
store the dried Beans in plastic tubs and use them, either in cooking,
or as Seeds for next year. (Apparently, freezing the dried Beans
shortens the cooking time) I picked some dried pods off my French Beans
that had finished some time ago so that I will have some “Free” seed of
those as well and will do the same with my Runners when they eventually
finish.
Elsewhere on my Plot, my old Chrysanthemum Stools, that I replanted, did
well as they don’t mind it being a bit on the dry side, but although the
young plants that I had from this Spring’s cuttings grew, they didn’t
put on much of a show. The resulting plants were quite small and not
very bushy, but they did flower. However, I had plenty to cut from the
older Stools and they went on flowering for quite some time enabling me
to be generous, to various people that I knew, with lots of bunches.
At home, I continued cutting back more of my herbaceous perennials and a
few bushes including, my tall clump of bright yellow Achillea, the old
flower stalks on the ground cover Stachys and my rampant Escalonia bush
that had not only finished flowering, but was in need of cutting hard
back before it completely smothered everything else. Not knowing when we
were going to get some proper rain, I put most of the resulting
shreddings on my garden as a green mulch. I also did a bit of general
tidying up by pulling up a few odd weeds and I dealt with a few
Dandelions and Nettles that were getting established in hidden corners
of the Garden. The Tomatoes in my Greenhouse had finished early, so with
no more Flowers coming, and no more Trusses growing, I cut them down and
chopped them up for the compost Heap. When I emptied the large 12inch
Pots, I re-used the spent compost in topping up some of the many pots on
my yard where the soil level was dropping, due in part to weeding and in
part from the constant watering and compacting of the soil.
A few weeks ago I trimmed the established Eucalyptus Gunnii that is in
my Garden at Home and it seemed a shame to waste it, so I put a “Post,”
on the village FaceBook page. As a result of that, an old friend, who
had an Allotment some years ago, got in touch and collected it for
Flower arranging which she now does quite seriously. While looking
around my Garden she saw all of the Herbaceous Perennials that I had
growing on, my yard, ready for the Plant Sale and asked if she could buy
some. As a result of that she went away with quite a number and asked if
she could have some more tree prunings some time, to which I agreed.
A day or two before the Plant Sale, to which I knew my friend would be
going, I decided that my lovely, Red Leafed, Twisted Hazel, on my
Allotment, needed to be cut back. I was going to do it in the Winter
months which is generally a better time to do most pruning, but it was
spreading everywhere and covering up a couple of my Paths and other
bushes, so it got the Chop. I thought that my friend might like it which
she did and she collected it just before the sale. She was also pleased
with the little bunch of Twisted Willow that I trimmed from the Tree in
my Garden. In fact she ended up buying one of the young Twisted Willow
Trees that were on offer at the sale.
When I cut back the Corkscrew Hazel, (Another name for it,) on my
Allotment, there were a few Hazel Nuts on the tree, but there were a lot
more on the ordinary Red Leafed Hazel that I have in my Garden at Home.
Every year I try to beat the Squirrel to the Nuts and some years I win,
some years he wins! One year I picked them too early and although the
Nuts looked good, the Shells were empty as the Nuts hadn’t had time to
develop, but I got the timing spot on this year and I had quite a haul.
I gave a few nut clusters to a couple of my neighbours to try because
“Green,” Hazel Nuts are nothing at all like the normal Shop bought nuts.
They are sweet and juicy instead of drying your mouth when you eat them.
Talking of the Squirrel and Wildlife, the Wasps have still not been
dealt with on my Allotment, or in my Garden and I am learning to live
with them. They are enjoying my fallen Apples though, so I have to be
careful when I am clearing them up, which I do every few days. Some of
the better, but small, fallen Apples, are being given to the Lady who
keeps the Horses in the adjacent field. The Horses love them, but
Allotmenteers are not supposed to feed them with anything so she has the
Apples in a Bucket and rations them out as a treat for the Horses. At
the beginning of September I started picking the first of my Apple trees
in earnest. The different varieties all seem to ripen at different
times, even if it is only a week or two later than each other. This of
course means that a lot of them don’t even have to be stored as they get
eaten straight away and it is especially useful in enabling me to use up
the spoilt, grubby ones, before they go off and the next variety is
ready.
The Wasps have also started on my Figs which I began picking at the
start of September as well. However, they seem to go for damaged ones
first rather than actually eating into good fruit. So I deliberately
left one, or two, that they had started on, in the hopes that they would
leave the others alone, and it seems to be working. As of the middle of
September, I must have picked a dozen or more fruit already from just
the one tree. My Chelsea Fig seems to be a little later than the Brown
Turkey and a third tree that I have is starting to fruit for the first
time although I don’t know the variety. My Ice Crystal and Panachee are
both supposed to produce edible fruit, but the trees are only just
getting established and I never had any off their parents before I
moved. The fruits on my Medlar are looking good, but it will be a few
weeks yet before they are ready as they need to be frosted to make them
edible. Elsewhere on my Plot I haven’t even started to pick any Cape
Gooseberries yet, so I have those to look forwards to as well.
There are plenty of Vegetables still to come including my Red Cabbages
that are still a bit small and Kohl Rabi of which I have picked a few. I
am still working my way through my Beetroot and Turnips, picking the
best and leaving the rest that are a bit small for later. A few had gone
to seed as it was so dry and I had started watering, but the occasional
shower has now improved things. My Leeks won’t be ready for quite a
while yet, but both batches are settling in nicely, although here again
I was watering them until quite recently. Hopefully, the rain will
continue for a while yet and even into the Winter to replenish supplies.
I am sure that we have used a lot more on the Allotments this year than
we usually do. We don’t want wet Summers, but on the other hand we don’t
want them quite so dry!
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