Rain, Rain, go away, come again another day! The sentiments of many we are sure during this months onslaught of wind, rain, cold and turbulent climate conditions. Following this rather underwhelming period, our plot is unfortunately looking rather scruffy and unkempt as the flowers die off early and things you don’t always welcome growing vigorously on the plot such as grass and weeds, take advantage of the damp atmosphere. However August for us here at Lottieblogs has not all been about failure, although the few regular unwanted characters have chosen to rear their undesirable heads.
We have taken it upon ourselves to call our Lottieblogs Fruit Challenge to a close this month as it is very clear no further harvests will be able to be made, even from our unstoppable Rhubarb who must now be allowed to rest and rejuvenate itself before the winter. Our final tally of all fruit harvested from our allotment this year comes to a grand total of;
£121.29
which not only proves that keeping a plot can basically pay for its own rent ONLY IN FRUIT four times over but also that it can be incredibly productive and useful in terms of a very food source. Not a bad idea at all given the current climate, check out the Fruit Challenge page for full details. So why not consider giving it a go? Get in contact with an allotment officer at your local council or se our Getting Started page for more ideas.
The consistent wet has done wonders for one family of veg we grow and adore, more specifically cucurbits i.e. pumpkins, squashes, courgettes and marrows etc. Although the lack of sun and warmth concerned us slightly as the fruits began to set earlier this month we are now reassured and positively bursting with fruits in various stages of ripeness. Our round courgettes have most certainly enjoyed the damp conditions and have swelled to almost ridiculous sizes in incredibly short spaces of time. An experimental variety for us this year of Jack Be Little pumpkin is also impressing us, setting a plethora of fist sized fruits which not only look pretty but will hopefully be ideal individual sized portions to feed us through the long nights of winter.
Sweetcorn we have also found to be a huge success, yielding some massive cobbs with beutifully formed, well pollinated and utterly delicious kernels. This versatile and nutritious crop will most definitely be returning to our plot next year.
Further successful crops such as cabbage, beetroot and beans have been doing well to keep our spirits up and enthusiasm levels high. Sometimes even meaning we struggle to get it all in the car on the way home, which has been an incredibly welcome sight after such a disappointing start to the year.
On a more sombre note however, we have suffered some misfortune. Our tomatoes were once again struck by blight, even the so called "blight resistant" ones.
This is not such a shock or disappointment as last year though, as we had been able to prepare ourselves for the inevitability of its arrival following the prolonged wet and cold. Another positive is that unlike last year (where it hit before the fruits were able to form which meant we had no toms at all), this time the green fruits were set and so we could strip the bushes of them before they became too infected and have been able to ripen some at home. Hurrah!
Finally we have begun preparing some of the already harvested crops for storage over the winter, in particular our garlic. When the roots had dried completely and no green or moist foliage was left, the stalks & roots were trimmed, some of the outer skins were removed to get rid of soil and unwanted marks, then they were tied together. This produced several wonderful bundles of beautifully formed bulbs for culinary use, a very tasty and aesthetically pleasing gift which we were able to share with many of our friends and family.
SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER LOTTIEBLOGGERS!!!!!