Monday 28 October 2024

Life on The Weald - September 2024

Life on The Weald - September 2024

and other distractions

We were away for the first weekend in London for the Big Half  and stayed at the Abbey Wood campsite on my old manor!  Its a very eco-friendly site and has an amazing 5-star bug house/hotel, the size of a garden shed!  So another weekend where nothing was done on the plot.

2 September - Bug hotel at Abbey Wood

3 September
A visit to the plot was full of good surprises.  The Nasturtiums, a little late, were now in full flower.

3 September - Nasturtiums

I planted out some perpetual spinach seedlings which I had grown from seed at home.

3 September - spinach

The sad news was that the sweetcorn had been subject to an attack by rodents - probably squirrels.
3 September - Squirrel attack!

The good news was that the squashes were growing in size and some beginning to ripen.

3 September - Turk's Turban squash

And the Kalettes had not been damaged by slugs or snails and as they are growing in a "fruit cage" had not been attacked by pigeons - so fingers crossed for a good harvest.

3 September - Kalettes

Despite the squirrel attack, most of the sweetcorn was edible.....

3 September - Sweetcorn
.....and delicious.

3 September - Sweetcorn

4 September
Mountaineering snails had climbed to the top of the bean poles and were devouring most of the leaves on the borlotti beans.  Thankfully most of the beans were mature and ripening so not so dependent upon the leaves.

4 September - mountaineering snails

I decided to leave the pods on the plant to ripen/harden in the sunshine, which, hopefully, we may see more of.

4 September - Borlotti beans

I weeded around the Rainbow Chard and removed some of the lower/outer leaves to discourage snails and encourage new growth.

4 September - Chard

At home the tomatoes had not been as prolific as last year and the beefsteak varieties were smaller but we are still picking them anmd more are ripening.

4 September, Marmande, Sungold & Yellow perfection

5 - 6 September
On the news on Thursday 5 September it was reported that July in the UK had been the coldest July for 9 years!  And the following dayreports were published showing that, globally, June and August were the hottest ever recorded.  We have had some days that have been real scorchers but we have also experience unseasonal strong winds - up to 75mph in parts of the UK and very heavy rain, which has delighted the slugs and caused further devastation. 

Despite the weather, and the slugs, there are many more squashes to come which will be suitable for storing but we decided to try one of the first Patty-pan, stuffed and roasted.



5 September - Patty pan - time to remove the lid!

5 September - remove the seeds ready for stuffing


5 September - stuffed and roasted



8 September
In the morning, at home, I spotted our resident fox, looking confortably settled in on our lawn!

8 September - Fox at home on Sunday 

9 September
Monday was dry but slightly overcast.  All of the rain we have had makes the plot look very lush and green.

9 September - the plot looking north

I managed to harvest a courgette and Patty pan squash

9 September - courgette and Patty pan

It was a dry day and I took some preventative measures to deter the squirrels. I neighbour said that squirrels don't like cayenne pepper or chilli powder, so I decided to go one better.  Last year I had a glut of fiery Habanero chillies and had made lots of chilli sauce much of which is still in the fridge.  I took a pastry brush and gently painted all the corn cobs with chilli sauce.  If it doesn't rain that should keep the squirrels away!

9 September - painting the corn with chillie sauce

9 September - painting the corn with chillie sauce


10-11 September
I had been given a trail camera for my birthday, which I want to set up on the allotment, but gave it a trial run at home first.

Our resident Fox arrived quite early in the evening around 7.40pm, found something to eat, returned again after 9pm and again during the early hours of the morning around 3am



And at 10am Fox was back, basking in the sunshine - whose garden is it anyway?

11 September - Fox is back

On the plot there was another Patty pan ready to pick as the foliage had died back. But I have since learned from BBC Gardeners' World  that I cut the stalk off too close for storing - they advised not to cut the stalk, but to cut the stem to which the stalk is attached, leaving a T-junction.  I'll get it right next time.  It is to help the stalk dry out properly and avoid rotting due to dampness.

11 September Patty Pan, Custard White


11 September Patty Pan, Custard White

I also lifted a few more Charlotte potatoes

11 September - Charlotte potatoes

12 September
Woke up to glorious sunny blue skies with white fluffy clouds and an ideal day for work on the plot.

12 September - Plum trees and blue sky at The Weald

The area between the potatoes and the brassica cage was covered in annual weeds that could be removed easily, or strimmed, but there was also some field bindweed  which needed a trowel and fork and a little more effort to remove. Having removed most of the bindweed I will lay some cardboard this autumn and cover with compost and manure to leave over witnter.
 

12 September - The weeds - Before

12 September - The weeds - After

Whilst most of the squashes were free from damage, there were a few that had been attacked by slugs before the skin had hardened.

12 September - slug victim

Indeed with this one, the slug, a large brown and orange one, looked very comfortable inside.  I thought I might at least let the slug finish the job and consigned both to the compost bin.

12 September - Slug, snug as a bug in a rug

At home, there was one tomato plant which was several weeks behind all the others and I wondered why.  But then I realised it was a black cherry tomato  given to me by a neighbour that I had forgotten about!

12 September -  black cherry tomatoes

13/14 September
Friday was another day of amazing cloud formations over the allotment

13 September - clouds over The Weald

I harvested some more sweet corn and the Habanero chilli sauce seemed to have had some deterence effect: John 3 - squirrels 2!  I took them home and took this photo with Wednesday's squash, just to give some perspective.

13 September - squash and sweet corn

Saturday was another day away from the plot as I was in London to cheer on the 5,000 swimmers in the SwimSerpentine event organised by the London Marathon, and in particular my stepson, Luke who was doing his first Mile swim in an event.
Obviously the "no swimming" notices did not apply today!

14 September - The Serpentine, Hyde Park


15 September
Onions and garlic will soon need to be planted so it was time to prepare the beds by removing any weeds and applying a layer of compost with a light dressing of blood, fish & bone fertiliser raked in.  The frame around one of the beds was in good condition but the other was rotting away and full of woodlice.

15 September - Bed prepared for onions

At some stage I will need to decide whether to renew the frame and if so with what material.  Wooden frames have a limited life and any frame becomes a home for slugs and snails.  Many "no-dig" enthusiasts don't use frames at all for their raised beds, so I may give that a try.  It does provide more flexibility.

15 September - 2nd bed prepared for onions

We had picked a number of squashes and hopefully they will store well through the autumn and winter months.

15 September - Turk's turban & Custard white squashes

16 September
Having prepared the beds, now was time to plant out the onion sets, red onions, Electric, and yellow onions, Shenshyu, and the garlic, Kingsland Wight, a hardneck variety.

Hardneck or Softneck? So what is the difference?  The main difference is their hardiness. Hardneck garlic is very hardy and will tolerate cold winters better, and would certainly be recommended in more northerly locations. Softneck varieties are less hardy, but normally produce more cloves and can be stored for longer. Softneck might be the choice for southern counties, such as ours, perhaps with a back-up of Hardneck just in case we have a very severe winter. Some would argue that the Hardneck varieties have the best flavour whilst those preferring a milder taste might opt for Softneck.

The Hardneck varieties are closer to wild garlic and will readily produce a flowering stem (scape) which should be removed. The scape is perfectly edible though and can be used in stir fries, salads etc.


16 September - garlic planted

16 September - Shenshyu onions

16 September - Red onions, Electric


I still have a few onion bulbs left from the sets, which I will plant out later to fill any gaps.

Our bay tree was now encroaching on the footpath and putting the garlic bed in the shade, so I cut it back drastically,  I have left the cut branches on the ground for the leaves to die back and will then shred the wooden branches.

18 September
A cooler day, so decided to use some of the squash in a warming,Thai coconut curry.

18 September - Thai coconut curry

19 September 
Snails seeem to like my broccoli and kale, so I sprayed all the brassicas with home made garlic spray, while Sylvi was tackling the brambles and bindweed that had invaded the raspberries.  We still had some wood chips with which we renewed the paths around some of the beds on top of a layer of cardboard to suppress weeds.

19 September - Path renewal

20-23 September
A weekend away from the plot and a trip to London and another weekend with our campervan!.  It was the Westminster Mile on Saturday and the London 10k on Sunday and we had decided to stay at the Abbey Wood campsite in SE London,
situated in what used to be the Co-operative Woods, previously owned by the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society, joining Bostall Woods

20 September - Abbey Wood Campsite

On the Saturday, I was actually running the Westminster Mile, with lots of family and friends to celebrate my 80th birthday and raise money for the Friends of Brighton and Hove Hospitals for improvements to end of life care. We raised £1,500.

Westminster Mile 2019

Westminster Mile 2024

I had previously run the Westminster Mile for my 75th birthday - what a difference 5 years makes - in my case two minutes (slower)!

2019                                        2024

25- 30 September
There was more heavy rain and strong winds - not conducive to allotment work!
Between the showers I managed to plant several pots and troughs at home with spring flowering bulbs that I had ordered online.

I had two large square pots. In one I planted white tulips, Swan Wing, and in the other, near black, Queen of the Night . Above the tulips I planted some mixed crocuses which hopefully will appear before the tulips and planted some Cyclamen on top to provide some winter colour.

We have also acquired a number of new containers from a friend of a friend who is having a clear-out before moving to Australia.  These include 4 Grey troughs in which I have planted Tulips as follows:
        1.      Rasta Parrot (Purple, red & orange) and Shining parrot (Red), plus Crocuses, King of the Striped and winter pansies
        2.      Belicia (pink & white) plus Eyelash (pink, purple and white), plus Crocuses, King of the Striped and winter pansies
        3.      Dow Jones (red and yellow) plus Anemones and pansies
        4.      Firework (red and yellow) plus Anemones and pansies

There are also two large round pots which I have planted with Narcissus.
        1.      Narcissus Apricot Whirl (peach, salmon, cream and white) plus Anemones
        2.      Narcissus Fragrant Spring (white,cream and orange) plus Anemones

I've written it all down now so that I know what they are when they flower next year, providing that the squirrels don't eat them first!

There was a brief dry period on Saturday 28th when I managed to get to the plot to lift a few Charlotte potatoes. 

28 September - Charlotte potatoes

Sadly the yet to be completed greenhouse had lost a couple of panes in the high winds - another task for Sylvi!

28 September - storm damage

And then it was back up to London, for my Grandson Felix's Golden Birthday - 28 on the 28th - for a small family dinner at Restaurant 28, Marylebone

Granddaughters Tilly & Kitty, Felix's partner Lauren, and Felix with me and Sylvi


Back at home the following day, I sorted my Borlotti beans.  There had been so much rain that not all had dried out on the plant and I had brought them indoors away from the damp.  Sadly quite a few had rotted so we had fewer than previous years - but, with our home-grown Cavolo Nero they will be excellent in my Ribollita  a great dish for cold autumnal nights.

30 September Borlotti beans

John Austin

Hove, September 2024






Wednesday 18 September 2024

Life on The Weald August 2024

Life on The Weald - August 2024

and other distractions

1 August 2024
We hadn't seen the plot since 16 July as we had been on holiday touring the Basque country and were not sure what we would find on our return.  Much of the chard had bolted and run to seed...

1 August - Rainbow chard

... the cobs on the sweetcorn were beginning to swell; there was considerable leaf growth on the squashes, but few female flowers and no sign of beans climbing the corn on our 3 sisters bed.  They seem to have been victim of the snails and slugs.

1 August - sweetcorn and squashes

The broccoli was protected from the pigeons but not from snails who had stripped many of the lower leaves, but thankfully they had left the kalettes alone.

1 August - purple sprouting broccoli

Among the squashes, I spotted what I thought was a patty pan squash ready for picking - which I did.  It was growing where a patty pan had been planted but it was not until I picked it that I realised it was not a patty pan but an unripe Turk's Turban  which had trailed across the bed from where it had been planted.

1 August - not a patty pan but a Turk's Turban

1 August - an unripe Turk's Turban

I am hoping that it will ripen indoors.  There was a rather large courgette, the size of a marrow, and quite a lot of Cobra climbing French beans ready for picking.

1 August - French beans, courgette and squash

The lawn at home was rich with clover and a few dandelions but also the rather pretty flatweed (also known as catsear/cat's-ear or false dandelion).

1 August - Flatweed

2 August 
The birds appeared to have feasted on the blueberries whilst we were away, but we did manage to harvest a few.  There was also a plentiful supply of blackberries from the brambles that seem to have taken over the the bottom of the plot.

2 August - blueberries

2 August - blackberries

I was also pleased to spot a Gatekeeper (Hedge Brown) butterfly on the chives. We have had few butterflies and moths this year and they are important pollinators.

2 August - Hedge Brown butterfly

5 August
More butterfly good news, as I spotted a Red Admiral on the nettles.

5 August - Red Admiral



The Marmande tomatoes were much smaller than past years but to date have not been attacked by birds or slugs, so I decided to pick them as soon as they begin to ripen ie change colour.  Once the ripening process has begun, they no longer depend on the plant for nutrients and they begin to produce ethylene gas which stimulates ripening so they will continue to ripen off the vine with nodetriment to taste.  They don't even need to be in the sunshine - they will ripen perfectly well in a paper bag or kitchen drawer.  Putting them in a bowl with ripening bananas will also hasten ripening as the bananas also give off ethylene.

5 August - ripening Marmande tomatoes

7 August
The Charlotte potatoes had been in the ground longer than I had expected and the foliage had died back.  We didn't need to lift them earlier as we had a plentiful supply of first early Red Duke of York.  Charlotte are a second early and I was worried that having left them in the ground, the slugs might have got to them. The area where they were growing was now covered in field bindweed! - but we were lucky.  They were large and undamaged. We also picked a ridge cucumber.

7 August - field bindweed on the potato patch!

7 August - Charlotte potatoes

7 August - Charlotte potatoes and cucumber

The Teepee French beans were flowering and I am hoping for a good crop.

7 August - purple Teepee French beans

There were several flowers on the squashes but still mainly male ones!

7 August - squashes

A pile of Wood chip and leaf cuttings had appeared in the central car park the day before, so it was a good opportunity to continue to repair the footpath and the area between the beds.

7 August - Woodchip

7 August - renewing the footpath

9 August
With a plentiful supply of woodchip I extended the footpath, removing bindweed and couch grass and laying cardboard topped with the woodchip.

At Seedy Sunday, in February, I had bought the last odd few remaining maincrop Pink Fir Apple and Orla potatoes and planted them in grow bags. All the foliage had now died back so I emptied the Orla bag and one of the two Pink Fir Apple bags leaving the other for later.  They weren't heavy croppers but the Pink Fir Apple were delicious.

9 August - Pink Fir Apple potatoes

9 August - Orla potatoes

More work on extending the footpath....

9 August - extending the footpath

9 August - extending the footpath

10 August
Today was a day for finally doing something that I had been putting off for months - clearing the shed!  I hadn't realised how much space we had.  I also discovered another pile of plum stones with tiny holes where the kernel had been extracted - i'm told that these tiny holes are typically the work of field mice.

10 August - inside the shed

10 August - plum stones

10 August - inside the shed

11 August
I decided to lift the red onions.  Some had previously grown scapes which I had broken off. These ones will need to be used soon as they probably won't store well as they coould rot from where the scape (flowering stem) was removed.


11 August - Red onion that had bolted - scape removed

14 August
With people coming to stay at the weekend and the prospect of a garden party, it was time to tidy up the back garden.  I was delghted to see a Mint moth on the Lemon balm.

14 August - Mint moth

The large pot in which the Moroccan mint was growing had developed a large crack and when I tried to move it, the pot fell apart.  Little wonder as the plant was completely pot-bound.

14 August - pot-bound mint

I saved a few bits of root and repotted them and disposed of the rest.  There are many varieties of mint and it is so easy to grow - but best grown in a container or it will take-over a vast area.  For general culinary use, I think Moroccan mint is the best.  I gave the rest of the garden a general tidy-up and mowed the lawn. It was sad to see the flatweed go but they probably wouldn't have survived the grandchildren's kick-about at the weekend!  I was very pleased to see the proliferation of berries on the Spindle bush (Euonymous).

14 August -fruit of the Spindle tree

16 August
Part of the tidying up process was to store the onions that hadn't bolted. We have found a use for old tights, other than repairing a car fan-belt!  They are excellent for hanging and storing onions.

16 August - storing onions

It was the beginning of the big weekend when family descended upon us for a weekend of celebrations in advance of my 80th birthday the following Wednesday - but it was also my step-son's and two of my grandchildren's birthdays within days of each other, so a big party at a beach-side venue on the Saturday and a garden party on Sunday.

17 - 25 August

17 August - 4 days premature

18 August - in the garden with family

18 August - in the garden with family

 And we also celebrated my grandson Shay's and granddaughter Kitty's 18th birthdays.

Kitty and Shay celebrate their 18th

My big day, and a rather nice T-shirt

21 August 2024

Obviously a lot to celebrate. Having reached 80, I have a letter from the DWP to say I will get and extra 25p per week because of my age! Last of the big spenders.

We had some family staying with us until Thursday 22 when we set off to North Wales to take Ross, our nephew, home.  Having dropped Ross home, we stayed at a hillside campsite in Denbigh in our campervan where we experienced 70mph gusting wind.  We headed south the following day intending to spend a few days in the Cotswolds and west country but after one night near Cirencester and torrential rain we decided to cut short our break and return home on 25th.

22 August - preparing for departure

23 August - Denbigh

23 August - Denbigh


25 August
Having got home in the late afternoon I ventured to the plot in the evening to see how things were and was pleasantly surprised. There was a Turk's Turban squash. some Patty pan and French beans.

25 August - Turk's turban 

23 August - Custard Patty pan

23 August - Cobra  climbing French beans


26 August
We seemed to have left the wet weather behind and it was a glorious day.

26 August - looking south

I weeded one of the vacant beds to begin preparation for the autumn planted onions.

26 August - bed preparation for onions

The Borlotti beans were ripening nicely and the snails seem to have left them alone whilst they have munched the leaves of the French climbing beans.

26 August - borlotti beans
27 August 
We harvested one of the remaining cucumbers and a few Cobra beans...

27 August - cucumber and Cobra beans


...and lifted some more Charlotte potatoes

27 August - Charlotte potatoes


28-30 August 

We spent a couple of days tidying up before heading off again.

I was pleased to spot a buff-tailed bumble bee on the winter savory.

28 August - bumblebee on the savory

Sylvi emptied the bottom trays of the wormery which were full of worms.  The compost had not fully rotted down but, nevertheless, I spread it on some vacant beds to complete the process and get it integrated with the soil.

30 August - compost from the wormery

This was our last visit of the month and on Saturday 31 we set off for a weekend in London for the 2024 Big Half

John Austin

Hove, August 2024