It's late October - what should we be doing now on our allotments?

Late October

The clocks have just gone back by an hour in the early hours of this morning. Of course various pets and young children have not yet grasped this issue and continue to waken up and hassle us at their usual time. I do continue to wonder what the purpose of this change of time is all about. I had understood it was originally to help dairy farmers but really – what you gain at one end of the day you lose at the other and in any case, the days get shorter during the winter and longer during the summer. For our young children going to school, they will still be travelling in the dark at one end of the day or the other – am I missing something here?

However, for a couple of days, people – who don’t have children or pets, going to work will enjoy an extra hour of sleeping in, until their body clocks adapt!

Oh gee! I guess I’m just being a bit cynical and annoyed that we have to go through this bi-annual tradition.

We have been forecast ferocious storms for the next couple of days – perhaps to equal those of the hurricanes of 1987 and 1990. Already, I see the sky darkening over in early afternoon of 27^th – you never know, this might be my last Blog!

I had planned to travel to London tomorrow but as I started to book my ticket I was somewhat dismayed by ‘RED’ warnings of travel disruption due to severe weather conditions.

This weather warning has been around for some days now. I have been to my plot and done the majority of the essential autumn digging. Of course, as I look around, I can see other areas I need to dig before winter sets in but, I won’t feel too guilty if I don’t achieve the digging of the extra areas I put on myself.

I think I have cleared most of the dead, dying, already harvested growth for composting. This stuff is, more than, keeping up with the space my compost bins can cope with and each day I have to wait before I can add more.

I have harvested as much as I can from my poly-tunnel – tomatoes, peppers and chillies. There are few tomatoes left to harvest and the plants should be dug up soon and composted. I must also dig over the ground in my tunnel, water well and compost well. Although I have re-cycled the ground regularly since I’ve had my poly-tunnel, I am aware that most of my crops have been of the solanum family – potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, chillies. I have planted some other crops – carrots [which have been brilliant] and over wintered cabbages – also excellent. But, the problem remains. I cannot continue to grow the same family of crops, year-on-year, successfully.

If the forecasted storm brings about the devastation which is expected I might be encourage to re-locate my poly-tunnel [but what a pain!]. The polythene cover has now been there for 4 years so, doesn’t owe me anything. If it survives, I think I will struggle through for another year with careful cleanliness and copious amounts of well-rotted manure and bought-in compost. No doubt, lots of you will disagree and think me a careless gardener!

This year, I have planted my broad beans outdoors fairly early, [7th October Aquadulce Claudia] -  and this year I didn’t chit them beforehand and plant into pots to grow on before planting out. I see that this variety has already put up growing shoots. I also planted, a couple of weeks later, ‘The Sutton’, a dwarf variety which is also suitable for autumn planting. These have not yet appeared. Anticipating another cold winter, I will cover these plants with environmesh [supported well above the young plants]. I have found that horticultural fleece can lie down on the young plants trapping moisture which can rot them. Of course, in a normal winter [what is that any more?] would any of these precautions be necessary?

I have planted several varieties of garlic – I do love my garlics and can use amazing amounts of this wondrous vegetable in cooking – [roasting, stewing, casseroles, pizzas, pasta dishes, preserves - relishes, ketchup, chutneys, etc and, of course, curries! and in preserving.

I see that my Early Purple Wight has already put up early ‘spears’ of growth above ground. I have covered the garlic beds with netting to keep the birds from lifting the emerging bulbs – I believe this is because they think the emerging shoots are worms or other similar prey but, who knows?