autumn – My Plenty Food Project

An unproductive November

A combination of poor weather, a cold, a trip to London (on the best weekend of the month!) and a bad back have all contributed to a less than productive month on my plot. I have barely been there to do anything but have made a couple of quick raids to see if there was anything worth harvesting. And have been rewarded by still harvesting assorted lettuce leaves, oriental greens, kale, a couple of small cabbages, a romanesco cauliflower and finally last week the oca. I was disappointed by both the size of the oca harvest and the individual tubers. Not sure if it was the dry summer or maybe the hastily built raised bed and poor compost they were planted in. Will try again next year as I do think they are a tasty crop – my daughter got hold of these and turned them into a surprisingly good vegan curry.

Oca Harvest – Nov 2018
White Romanesco

With help from fellow allotmenteers plus my daughter and her boyfriend I finally managed to move the shed I had purchased in the allotment auction way back in June on to my plot. But I still have some issues to resolve before I feel confident about erecting it. There’s a vacant half-plot next to mine covered in brambles and I was asked to leave space at the top of my plot to allow access for the council to get across with machinery to remove them and rotavate the plot (personally I think this is a recipe for disaster!) and the route across would be just where I want to site the shed. I’ve also learnt that a new drain is to be put in across the top of my plot. And none of this work is scheduled to take place until February at the earliest so somewhat thwarted at the moment.

Shed moving
Shed stacked up

Late Autumn happenings on the plot

Hard to believe we’re into November already! Where does the time go? But even though the days are shortening and the temperatures dropping I’ve been finding lots of opportunities to visit my allotment plot and have been reaping the rewards of earlier plantings whilst getting lots of prep done for next year.

I’m still harvesting lettuce – Morton’s Secret Mix from Real Seeds – taking a few leaves at a time from each plant. Throughout the summer I’d had no success at all despite several sowings but by September my last sowing had germinated and despite a slow start finally produced a decent crop and the plants are still going strong. This mix includes Reds, greens, brights, darks, splashes, blushes, crisps, butters, leafs, heads, and tongues. The mix is really attractive in a salad and all of them are tasty.I’m harvesting a bag full of leaves about once a week. Surprisingly they last really well in the fridge – much better than a commercial bag of salad despite them probably being in a protective atmosphere (at least until the bag is opened!).

I’ve been able to supplement this late summer crop with oriental greens – particularly mizuna and with some mustard greens too. I was intending to make some successional sowings but haven’t gotten around to it (yet!) But if the mizuna keeps producing as well as it is at the moment maybe it’ll keep me going all winter….

I’d originally planted it in a bed in the polytunnel but once that had blown away I just put a fleece over it. I can’t quite believe that a thin fleece can do much to stop freezing temps – I’d need one more than a few microns thick! – but it will keep off pests including the local pigeons. And the plants are supposed to be frost hardy anyway.

The beans and tomatoes are almost a distant memory now although I do still have some from my garden ripening on the kitchen windowsill. I’m not a huge fan of chutneys (have to confess I prefer Branston pickle) so will wait for them to ripen gradually. I do fry some of them green and have with a breakfast fry-up.

Although not a huge radish lover I’m hoping to be converted by different varieties, especially not I’ve discovered that cooked in a stir fry they actually taste quite pleasant. So I’ve tried some Spanish black radish

I’ve not had a huge success with my brassicas although some are now coming on. Despite being netted they have suffered some insect damage and now seem to have a whitefly infestation – do they not get killed by the cold?

I’ve had a couple of small broccoli spears and one slightly manky cauliflower. But the Cavolo Nero is looking good and I’ve started harvesting it by taking a few leaves each week. There are a few cabbages which are starting to heart up and I even discovered some tiny sprouts starting to form – maybe they’ll be ready for Christmas? 😉

It was Halloween this week and I had managed to grow one pumpkin! I’d picked it a couple of weeks ago whilst still green and had hoped it would ripen and go orange by 31st but it was still mainly green. I did do a very last carving to put outside for trick and treaters.

But my daughter’s creative skills put my feeble efforts to shame – and will provide a much longer lasting autumnal decoration.

I’ve planted garlic and elephant garlic together with onions to see how they overwinter. And also field beans as a green manure on a couple of beds. Not too worried about the cold but am concerned about how wet it might be given that my plot was very sodden when I first took it on. I’m hoping that using raised beds will keep them out of the worst of the floods.

But I am disappointed about my leeks which have been infected by the dreaded allium leaf miner. The green leaves showed no signs so I was unaware of it until I harvested a couple of stems last week. So I’ve now harvested them all and disposed of any infected material. And so instead of a crop that I hope would keep me going over winter, I’ve been left with a few usable remnants that might just be enough to make me cup-of-soup! And of course, I am also a tad worried in case the bugs get onto my young garlic or onions. I’d planted elephant garlic in a gap in the leek bed but following the discovery of the ‘miners’ thought I should move them before they got too established. But furtling around in the soil to find them as they don’t have any green growth yet I was surprised to discover how much root growth they had put on. I didn’t feel I wanted to disturb them as they were doing well so decided to take a chance on leaving them in situ and will cover them with mesh to prevent any later infestations.

So all in all a bit of a mixed bag on the production side but I am pleased with the progress I’ve made on prep for next year already. I’ve set up several more raised beds using the lasagna bed methodology. Layers have included cardboard, horse manure, semi-rotted compost, green and kitchen waste and leaves. I’ll top up with a layer of compost when I’m ready to plant them. I’ve sown a couple with a green manure mix and another with field beans which I’ll possibly chop as a green manure but may be tempted to leave to produce a crop.

And I’ve planted a few perennials – currant and gooseberry bushes, Daubenton’s Kale and asparagus and moved the strawberry bed. So a productive month in many respects.

Will be concentrating now on prep for my first full gardening season in 2019; getting my shed built and hopefully salvage the polytunnel. And sorting out my already large seed collection and filling the gaps from the ever-growing stash of catalogues piling up by my desk.

Malvern Autumn Show 2018

I’ve been happily snapping away this year on my allotment and elsewhere and thought I’d have a go at putting some of the images together into a video format – if only because I want to teach myself a bit more about how to create videos for future projects.

So here, for anyone interested is my first small effort showing images from a recent trip to the Malvern Autumn Show. If you’ve never been I can strongly recommend it. I went with my sister and her only complaint – there was too much to see! So we’re definitely going back in the Spring to see what is on offer there.

Video from the Malvern Autumn Show 2018

And because I omitted to include it in the video here is a pic of my favourite exhibit at the Show – a Giant tortoise! So much nicer than the freak show of the giant vegetables;-)

Oh dear – it’s been a while……

So much for my good intentions to write regular blog posts about my allotment adventures over the summer! It’s not that I haven’t written anything but its been in my personal journal and not for public consumption – apart from the occasional tweet. So for the record and to catch up I’ll try and summarise what’s happened over my first 6 months on my plot.

April –

Germination

Seeds

Windowsill seedlings

1st pallet collar raised beds

New compost bin

Bokashi bin

Mulching weeds

Frustrating first month as waited for ground to dry out, weather to warm up, seedlings to germinate and to find a source of ‘cheap’ manure/compost. But the seeds did germinate and I had them all over the house on window ledges and in my shed. Assiduously labelled everything and enjoyed watching them grow. But quite a few got bit too leggy and spindly before conditions were good enough and I had some beds set up to plant them out. Constantly on search for more cardboard as mulch as I gradually used up all of my stores from the house move. Failed to stick to my plan – carefully drawn up in my garden planner.

Positives – found good source of pallet collars for raised beds. Also tracked down Care Compost for £2 per bag and eventually got hold of the manure man. And most seeds did OK.

Negatives – V disappointed with cheap(!) compost bin I had bought – thought it wouldn’t last (I was right!)

May –

Scorzonera?

Field beans

Chitting oca

Tractor delivery

1st rustic bean frame

1st bed planted – gooseberries, strawberries with wool fleece protection

Loading manure into bed

Lovely stuff!

Mad rush to get everything planted out and established before my trip to Canada at end of month. Financially strapped so couldn’t afford to splash out on enough compost etc so got fewer beds planted up than planned but manure man had eventually put in an appearance – delivery by tractor! Made a start with adding woodchip to paths between beds – with son’s help. First bed planted with free strawberry plants and gooseberry bushes from a Handsworth allotment by way of Gumtree. Constructed some bean wigwams for runners and french beans. Field beans planted out too.

Positives – definite signs of progress and v pleased to actually see some plants in the ground.

Negatives – shortage of compost/money! Huge storms at end of month put paid to some plans before holiday.

June =

First half I was in Seattle/Vancouver whilst kids looked after my plot! Did do a bit of horticultural tourism – a visit to University of British Columbia Farm for the Farmer’s Market and tour of their sustainable farm which was great. Worthy of a whole blog itself but a few pics will have to suffice.

UBC Farmers Market

UBC Farm Tour

Came home mid-month into a heatwave which was to continue for next couple of months or more. Son had done watering and most seedlings had survived but there were a few casualties – notably courgettes and squash which had disappeared completely. A & R had also gone ahead and used pallets I’d left to build a compost bin – not quite the design – or the position – I’d anticipated but I appreciated the gesture 🙂 Its proved useful since for several things but not yet making compost!

I’d missed the allotment auction but my neighbour T had bid on my behalf and I discovered I was now the proud owner of an 8×8 shed and a 20ft long polytunnel:-)

Polytunnel

Shed

Field Beans

Positives – great holiday! Excited by shed & polytunnel

Negatives – loss of courgettes & squash etc. Weeds! Sleepless nights trying to work out how to move shed and polytunnel.

July –

Velvet Queen – a stunner

Beetroot

Carrots

Manure with worms

Field Beans

More beans

1sr French beans – Cosse violette

Leeks

Potatoes in woodchip

Onions – Red Baron

Well this is when I really started to see results! Real actual harvests! From tiny seeds germinating on my windowsill back in the cold of spring to harvesting radish, onions, potatoes, carrots and beans in the heat of summer. This felt like success. But was still struggling to get my replanted courgettes & squash going and was on to my third unsuccessful sowing of lettuce. And there were some other casualties too – achocha, brassicas looking very peaky and most of my raspberry canes had all succumbed to heat or insects.

Positives – harvests and my beautiful Velvet Queen sunflowers

Negatives – hours of watering, crop losses and still those sleepless nights working out the logistics of moving shed & polytunnel!

August –

Aidan & me

Propping upthe beans – again!

Tree spinach

Bergamot

Digging trench for the polytunnel

Bee friendly sunflower

Tackling the brambles – this will be site of my mini-food-forest

A little helping hand with clearing brambles

Fermenting purple french beans

Chinese Gooseberry in the garden

Summer gloriousness of Velvet Queen

Chinese gooseberry

The heatwave continued unabated and lots of time still spent on watering. Some things still looked peaky – brassicas very motheaten (probably literally!) but decided not to uproot in the hope they’d perk up and I hadn’t got any plants to replace them with anyway! Still very little progress with the courgettes/squash and sweetcorn very slow. But lots of purple french beans (Cosse Violette) so had a go at fermenting some with OK results even if they lost their colour.

Having acquired blackcurrants from my neighbour’s plot in July this month I found plums & damsons on trees at the margin of our site – and apples in the communal ‘orchard’ – they found their way into crumbles and gin. And sheltering from a sudden deluge in one of my neighbours many structures I made good use of my time and helped myself to a couple of bags of her blackberries (with permission of course!) Good size but flavour not so good as wild brambles.

Had a helping hand from son and we made an impact on tackling a lot of weeds and brambles at top of plot and covered over to prevent further growth. Plan to put shed and move compost bin up here. After some rain we also managed to dig out the polytunnel I’d bought and my sister then helped dig out a couple of trenches around the space where it was going to go on my plot.

Positives: Clearing weeds, harvesting, and general progress

Negatives: Clearing weeds and sleepless nights thinking about the polytunnel!

September –

Month started very well with the moving of the polytunnel:

And then there was even some planting in the polytunnel:

But then we had the first of the named UK storms – Storm Ali – and this was the result:

Oh dear! I hadn’t completed the job of digging in the polythene cover – but it seemed sturdy enough and had been weighted down either side so I couldn’t imagine it moving very far. But the day I went to tackle the digging in ahead of impending storm Bronagh I walked down the path and suddenly realised I couldn’t see it behind my neighbours’ runner beans as I approached. It simply wasn’t there – and at first glance it wasn’t anywhere in sight at all. It was only after I’d walked up to the top of my plot that I spotted in in the distance having come to rest against someone’s compost bin right up against the boundary trees. I managed to get the cover off – surprisingly appearing to be in one piece with only a couple of small tears in the ventilation mesh – and stashed away. The frame appeared pretty mangled on first view but at the time of writing I have a plan to salvage it if possible with the help of Dave on my neighbouring plot. So all may not be lost just yet!

September wasn’t completely a failure – I discovered that where allotment growing is concerned patience really is a virtue! I finally harvested my first courgettes, lettuce, broccoli and kale. But can’t claim the tromboncino – that was from Kings Norton Farmers’ Market.

Yellow courgettes

Morton’s Secret Lettuce Mix

Pink tresses on sweetcorn

First courgette 🙂

Mange tout with flowers

Tromboncino – from farmer’s market

Tree spinach next to oca

Mizuna seedlings

And the month – and my first six months of being allotmenteer ended with a real treat. No! – not my Allotment Association AGM at which my election as treasurer at an earlier EGM was confirmed 😉 But a trip with my sister to the Malvern Autumn Show – an absolute delight.