The visit to the allotment was supposed to have been a quick visit but as it almost always does turned into a long but very enjoyable day. Once we arrived we had realised a good weed was in order to make sure that the plot was kept nice and tidy and to keep the growth up on the crops. As always a bulgin harvest basket is alway collected of the crops grown. This week m,asses of beans, beetroots, carrots and our first sweetcorn.
'September and harvests keep coming'
I started on the back end of the plot and the giant stinging nettles which had taken over the compost bins and then sweet corn areas. The stinging nettles had reached enormous sizes and had started to flower and thus had to be removed, not only severed to the ground but also their roots. If this was not done then they would grow back within a fortnight. After this was completed this meant that the compost bins are again useable and the wonderful well rotted compost can be used without being stung. However I am still feeling the stings three days after the event.
My partner started from the other end of the plot making sure that each of the rows were weed free to ensure that there was no competition for the crops which are still growing strong. Also making sure that the plot looked respectable. However it must be said that there are a lot less weeds growing this year on the plot than last, meaning that all the work that we did last year to prepare the soil has paid dividends this year and fingers crossed should also get better next year.
'Cillit Hoe - Bang and the weeds are gone.....'
After the weeding the first task was to clear the monolith of the tomato plants which were effected by the major blight outbreak. We had cut the plants down to see if any new growth would come however the blight had killed six of the eight plants which we had in the monolith. These were totally removed and burned to make sure that the pores didn’t enter our soil, polluting it for next year’s crop. The two remaining plants had any blight effected leaves removed and the rest of than plant tied onto the canes which were in situ. these two plants were in fruit and the first tomatoes were turning a lushness red colour.
'Blight struken toms - the clearout'
After the monolith was cleared we were able to see the growth of the chilli and pepper plants more closely and were very pleasantly surprised to see that the majority have formed fruits and were even starting to turn a chilli red. The first crops from these plants will be harvested in a fortnight and these will continue to grow well until the first harsh frosts. However the chillies can still be eaten / taken when they are green and will just have a milder taste (from experience these are still VERY strong).
'Its never Chilli in the monolith'
Also this week were pleased to see that the first good croppage of carrots could be achieved. This had mixed results although the carrots were a good size and nicely shaped, because we hadn't dug over the bed properly and removed any stones which were lying in the soil this resulted in a lot of the carrots forking and looking like a pair of legs. Nether the less though these have a fantastic flavour and you can’t tell their shape when cut up and boiled. Any allotmenteer should grow carrots on their plot and is a real sign that organic home grown crops taste that much better.
'Thinning? Whats that then'
Our sweet corn from the minipop variety were ready for a test harvest also this week, we peeled back the outer casings of the corns to find the kernels had turned a milky yellow, meaning that they were indeed ready to be harvested. Once pulled from the plants we noticed that there was a large amount of the corns missing from the cobs. After searching the internet we have found the corn plants were not fertilized properly meaning that not all kernels had formed. With this in mind we shook the other pants onto the freshly formed cobs to ensure this doesn’t happen on the rest of the crop, fingers crossed!
'Sad Sweecorn'
As always on the plot this week the pumpkin count took place and the news is that no new pumpkins have formed but the ones which are there are starting to swell and the first butternut squashes are taking on their yellow / orange flesh colour meaning that they are coming near a stage of ripening. In cut properly from the plants at harvest time they can be stored quite easily for six months. The giant pumpkin is living up to its name and had swelled significantly from last week. The whole section were given a handful of chicken manure and a whole watering can per plant and we look forward to next weeks count.
'Pumpkins transform and rollout'